The demand for security guards and protection officers will increase appreciably over the next 25 years. These are the days of homeland security. The war against terrorism will last a generation, as did the Cold War that preceded it. At the same time, despite the heavy presence of the federal government, there is a trend toward privatization of basic government services, including the police. In many communities, traditional police functions, such as traffic control and parking enforcement, have been privatized. Furthermore, the private security businesses that serve these sectors will continue to seek out and create new markets.

Despite these indicators of growth, the daily routine of most security guards will change little from norms established a half century ago. Pay will continue to be low. Wage benefits such as healthcare insurance and vacation will be minimal, if offered at all. Nevertheless, for some, adapted to an ever-changing global marketplace, opportunities will bring rewards.

The numbers tell the story. This is a $40 billion industry, growing at over 4% per year. Two-thirds to three-fourths of all patrol officers – over 1.5 million – are privately employed. The private sector invests more money in security than the total budgets of all local police departments in the United States. The full range can best be appreciated by considering that such numbers – however respected their sources – are always approximations because we do not even have good definitions. Should we include school crossing guards? What about the fences and outdoor lighting sold in home improvement stores? To the extent that such hardware is a barrier to crime, it substitutes for the reactive response of a patrol officer.

Despite the fact that city police represent only one-third of all patrol officers, we still define the basic functions of a security guard against the benchmarks of the cop on the beat. Private police are paid only one-half to one-fourth as much. Private guards typically have fewer tools, less modern equipment, and thinner infrastructures. On the other hand, private guards have narrower responsibilities, less demanding assignments, more flexibility, and significantly lower risks for injurious confrontations.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides information that outlines the job of security guard, but misses the significant details that complete the picture. (This is inevitable in any large-scale statistical study, but it does underscore the limitations of big numbers.) The U.S. Department of Labor places special emphasis on one aspect of this job by defining the occupation as "Security Guards and Gaming Surveillance Officers." In other words, there are so many casinos in the country that this type of guard has become 50% of the rubric. It is not clear that any significant fraction of the 1.5 million security guards actually works in gaming. What is significant, perhaps, is that casinos often are on Indian Reservations which are legal entities in their own right.

Generally speaking, security guards are at the low end of the career spectrum. The BLS summary is succinct.

The BLS does note that because of the high turn-over and large part-time contingent, anyone who sticks with the job tends to rise to whatever level of supervision they wish to achieve. That advancement often depends on education which the BLS does not acknowledge.

In point of fact, as will be shown, employers seeking the best patrol officers will require that candidates have earned at least an associate’s degree. Job openings posted right now by a wide range of employers specify a four-year degree for supervisory positions. Security guards typically complete the same educational requirements as city police officers, allowing that many cities hire cops with only a high school diploma.

Furthermore, not on the BLS radar is the aggressive marketing campaign by ASIS International for a curriculum of certifications. Ranging from Physical Security Professional to Certified Protection Professional, these require from five to nine years of experience, two five years of supervisory experience, and at least a high school education (or GED) and up to a bachelor’s degree. Those benchmarks are prerequisites to taking the examinations. Exams are $300 each. ASIS conferences in Singapore, Las Vegas, and Berlin draw speakers from the largest private and government organizations, most of whom append their ASIS certifications to their names.

Over the course of 150 years, private guards and public police have changed roles several times. When the U.S. Constitution was written, there were no police officers. Sir Robert Peele’s London Metropolitan Police dates to 1828. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia organized their departments in the early 1830s, each claiming some primacy as having the "first" or "first full time" or "first permanent" city police department.

Generally, the early police guarded the best homes and neighborhoods and most important thoroughfares. The working classes and the petit bourgeoisie were left their own devices; and those markets were served by private guards on an ad hoc basis.

Following the American Civil War, structural changes in society created many of the symbolic interactions that we accept today. Policemen took to wearing blue uniforms made popular by the success of the Union cause in the war. Rising expectations of newly-enfranchised immigrants brought these people into the police forces and required that the police pay attention to those neighborhoods. It is no accident that cities and their police were both organized along "precincts." The job of policeman was often a reward for electioneering. The rich were left to their devices; and they hired private guards.

Among those private guards were Pinkertons, Burns and Wells-Fargo. Allan Pinkerton’s company, created in 1865, was arguably the first professional private detective firm. Not limited by civil jurisdictions, Pinkerton could do what the county sheriffs and city police could not. Whereas bank robbers, train robbers, murderers and thieves could evade the police and sheriff by crossing a border, nowhere on Earth was too far for Pinkerton’s, which advertised itself as "the eye that never sleeps."

Similarly, the Wells Fargo freight company needed to be able to pursue stage coach robbers across the unorganized territories of the American West. Therefore, their agents tended to be resourceful, dogged, intelligent and occasionally ruthless. Except for ruthlessness, those generally were not the attributes of local law enforcement in the 1880s.

Perhaps even more than his competitor, Allan Pinkerton, William J. Burns was a self-promoting entrepreneur. Eventually called "the front-page detective" Burns became head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, got caught up in the Teapot Dome Scandal and left his successor, J. Edgar Hoover, as a legacy to American law enforcement. The Burns agency provided protection to scab laborers during strikes, rousted "communists" from labor unions, and performed a host of similar duties that Pinkerton had abandoned a generation earlier. When it was sold by its conglomerate parent company, Borg-Warner, to the Swedish holding company, Securitas, in 1999, Burns was the largest privately-held guard firm. Pinkerton – until then the largest firm in terms of manpower – had also been acquired by Securitas in 2000. Adding Wells-Fargo Loomis to the mix that same year made Securitas the largest firm in the world, with revenues of $2.5 billion and over 100,000 employees, globally.

In the early 20^th century, promoters of public policing took a lead in improving their profession. In the 1920s, August Vollmer in Berkeley, California, created the first motorcycle police, used an early form of polygraph, and eventually required that all of his officers have college educations. Vollmer’s apprentice, O. W. Wilson, tested and improved these and other methods in Omaha and Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s. The rise of police professionalism drew resources from the private sector. Better wages and higher perceived status attracted better candidates to public service.

Supporting this trend, America developed a nationalist value system. This meant that police were tied to the military – directly contrary to the intent of the British "Pealers" or "bobbies" and in violation of the intent of the American principle of posse comitatus. Police departments adopted paramilitary management structures with patrol officers reporting to sergeants, reporting to lieutenants, reporting to captains. Also – more subtly, perhaps, but more consequential, certainly – police department hiring gave priority to military veterans. It became unarguable – even unquestionable—that policing was a public good: non-rival and non-exclusionary and a monopoly. Therefore, public safety had to be a public service, by definition.

Under the shadow of the public police, private security grew slowly through the 1950s and 1960s. Large corporations had their own security. Industrial parks – often located in new suburban and exurban developments – also contracted with private firms. Armored car services carried money to and from banks, retail stores, and other volume users of cash.

In the 1970s, crime was on the rise. There was more demand for security and safety beyond the level of support offered by local police. In addition, there began a new trend that would become all-too-visible in the 1980s: local governments, especially those of the older, larger cities, were running out of money. Cleveland and Detroit were not alone in feeling the pinch. Sometime in the 1970s, the number of private patrollers exceeded the number of city cops nationwide. By 1984, it was clear that more money was being spent in the private sector for protection than was being invested in the public sector. The relative positions of the city guards and private police was beginning to shift.

Cities were finding it necessary – and useful – to contract for services that were once the bailiwick of the local police. Parking enforcement is just one example. In many cities, private companies rather than the police tow away and store cars that are in violation of street parking ordinances. Parking meter enforcement no longer defaults to police officers. School crossing guards are frequently neighborhood volunteers or part-time employees. Stadiums and arenas – often "public" by perception only and actually just structurally large retail shops – also rely on private, not public, police. Shopping malls have become inextricably woven into the fabric of our society and they are kept safe by their own patrols, sometimes as direct hires, but more often under contract.

The shopping mall is a proprietary community. Described by Spencer Heath MacCallum in The Art of Community (Institute for Humane Studies, 1970), a proprietary community is a contractual agreement by a land owner to provide services to tenants. High-rise office buildings, office parks, and industrial parks all can be analyzed according to this model. The relevance here is that as such communities multiply over the next several decades the demands for private security systems and services will continue to increase. Among the reasons for the growth in proprietary communities – both for business and as residential parks – the inability of national governments to secure their citizens from terrorist assaults, to say nothing of ordinary "street" crime.

Those private security guards whose roles mimic the ones defined for police officers will continue to be underpaid "rent-a-cops." To the extent that innovation brings new products and services to the markets, new profits can come to entrepreneurs and thereby to their employees.

Table 1 provides a snapshot of the 50 largest guard companies. Typically, these firms earn about $26,000 per year per employee and pay out about $20,000 in wages. The large deviations from the norm are telling. The number 4 company, Akal, specializes in providing highly-trained, long-term, and experienced officers, usually weaponized, to federal agencies, including the U.S. Courts, the Army and the Air Force. Akal earns an astrounding $83,000 per employee per year for this, about three times the norm.

Appendix A provides several representative job openings posted on the website of ASIS International. These are not typical of the market for guards, but are the kind that were both in demand and hard to fill. All require some college, usually a bachelor’s degree, as well as five or more years of experience in management, sales, supervision, etc., depending on the requirements of the assignment. In addition, holding ASIS certifications is a plus.

For the guard at the bottom of the stack, life continues as it was in the 19^th century. Pay is low. Supervision is lacking. Equipment is seldom provided and is poorly maintained when it is. Not surprisingly, there is a large component of undocumented work with such jobs. In The Managed Heart Arlie Russell Hochschild examined the ways in which airline flight attendants were required to engage in "deep acting" to manage their passengers on behalf of the company. For a security guard without a weapon, legally prohibited by state law and company policy from using even retaliatory force, the only way to deal with a confrontation is via "verbal judo" i.e., deeply acting as if they should be obeyed and hoping that the audience will go along with the performance.

For the average guard, work life is well-defined and circumscribed.

According the BLS:

Security guards have always had to manage a situation that has become common only in the last couple of decades: as contract laborers, they enjoy an ambiguous role on the job. It can create a lot of tension when you do not know where the lines of command and authority are. That can be true in any organization, but it is especially critical in a paramilitary hierarchy. They are hired to be the guardians of a community to which they do not actually belong, but within which they must function. The failure mode often shows up as corruption, when the security force falters in its primary mission, the watchdogs now lapdogs.

For those who have families, balancing the needs of homelife and the demands of worklife creates stress. Admittedly, many security workers are semi-retired, young, or part-timers. Therefore, they do not suffer the same tensions are as their peers. For others, the allegedly middle class lifestyle of one-and-a-half incomes simply does not apply. Single parents – realistically: single mothers – are common. The structural demands of the job run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can hardly be otherwise and when it is, the greater perceived needs for security are in the late evening and early morning hours, which are usually least convenient for parents.

Police protection is a basic government service. Therefore, perhaps since its inception, private security has provided concretes examples of the many consequences of the shift to a "service economy." In the late 19^th century, Alan Pinkerton preferred to hire contractors, rather than to take on employees. Private protection agencies did the work that civic police did not want, or could not do. That created a two-tiered environment of "bulls" too dumb to be policemen (and therefore paid less than public peace officers) and highly-paid (and highly touted) "Sherlock Holmes" types who were brought in as expert investigators or expert witnesses at trials. In the sixty years since World War II, private guards have usually been "cop wannabes." At best, they were retired police officers who could not leave the job behind. Sometimes they were off-duty police officers who were "moonlighting" at part-time jobs, thus creating a conflict of interest. Too often, they were candidates for police opportunities who could not make the grade. Only in the last 20 years have we seen any large numbers of private guards who value the job and the industry on its own terms, and still, such workers are rare today.

As service-sector employees, guards are most often part-timers without any kind of fringe benefits, such as retirement funds, vacation time or healthcare. That last is especially problematic in a career that is inherently dangerous. We rightfully honor the New York firefighters who died in the 9/11 attacks. We never think of the eleven private guards who also died.

For all of that, the private security industry has grown in the last two decades to include several kinds of licensings and certifications, both state-required and privately-monitored. More jobs require two-year or four-year degrees; and those jobs do come with the salaries and benefits to be expected for their higher status. Even so, the culture of work at any of the 25 largest guard companies (see Table 1) is not surprising to a sociologist. The higher up the ladder you go, the less you do and the more you get paid. With or without college degrees, the people working midnights and weekends are patrollers and their frontline supervisors. Women are paid less and are found less frequently in higher-status jobs. (Considering the realities of a paramilitary job, that may be strongly cultural – if not genetic.) Guard work interferes with family life and places the employee in an ambiguous context, serving a client as well an employer.

Campus Security/Public Safety Officer

Employer: University of Oregon

Source: The Oregonian Employment Ads

Location: Eugene, OR

Date: 02-25-2007

Responsible for responding to crimes in progress and calls for assistance, administering first aid, providing escorts for individuals feeling threatened and cooperating with the Eugene Police and Fire Departments in making arrests and completing investigations. … Pay scale is 13.38-16.06 per hour.

http://hr.uoregon.edu /jobs/

Protective Services Officer

Job Code: # 07-026 POSTED: Feb 21

Salary: Open Location: United States

Employer: Emergent BioDefense Operations Type: Temp to Full Time - Entry Level

Category: Physical Security Preferred Education: 2 Year Degree

Qualified candidate will have previous experience as an officer in a Corporate Security Department and will be knowledgeable on the private industry corporate culture, standards and training. … be responsible for: effectively monitoring security related systems (BMS, FAMS, SACS/ FAS) and operation of security console to include CCTV equipment.

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY

POSTED: Jan 30

Salary: 70,000.00 - 80,000.00

L ocation: Radnor, PA; Employer: Cabrini College

Type: Full Time - Experienced

Categories: Facility Security, Physical

Security Required Education: 4 Year Degree

Requirements All qualified candidates must possess excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, as well as a Bachelor’s degree. Advanced certifications such as a CPP (Certified Protection Professional) are highly desirable. The candidate must have a minimum of five years management …

Ethics & Compliance Specialist

Job Code: 1071714 POSTED: Feb 12

Salary: 58,000.00 - 77,000.00 Location: Columbus, Ohio

Employer: American Electric Power Type: Full Time - Experienced

Required Education: 4 Year Degree

Participate in the development of and/or participate in the implementation and maintenance of prevention, compliance review, and quality assurance programs, as well as on-going training and communications programs …

Security & Emergency Services Manager

Job Code: Riderwood POSTED: Feb 02

Salary: Open Location: Riderwood

Employer: Erickson Retirement Communities Type: Full Time - Experienced

Oversee the day-to-day functions of Security and Emergency Services department. • Assist the Director of General Services in developing, tracking and analyzing quality control measures and data to ensure that each department supervised delivers quality service in an efficient manner. • Assist the Director of General Services in ensuring that all departments …

Investigator-Corp Security

Job Code: 187255 POSTED: Feb 22

Salary: Open Location: Schaumburg, IL

Employer: Verizon Wireless Type: Full Time - Experienced

Category: Investigations Required Education: 4 Year Degree

The position conducts and supports Company-wide investigations regarding fraud and suspected violations of Company policy, the Verizon Wireless Code of Business Conduct, and the law. …

Education: 4-year college degree, or equivalent combination of education and work experience, required. MBA, or equivalent advance degree, preferred. · Certifications: Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Protection Professional (CPP), Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or equivalent certificate preferred. ·

Security Manager

Job Code: SM-Sec/FV POSTED: Feb 19

Salary: Open Location: Los Angeles

Employer: The J. Paul Getty Museum Type: Full Time - Experienced

Categories: Asset Protection, Facility Security, Personnel Administration Required Education: 4 Year Degree

Manages the activities of the department and supervises security staff supporting site access, parking, and related site-wide functions. Reports to the Security Director. Regular schedule includes weekend and evening …

Earnings [About this section] Back to Top

Median annual earnings of security guards were $20,320 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $16,640 and $25,510. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $14,390, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $33,270. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of security guards in May 2004 were as follows:

Elementary and secondary schools $25,030

General medical and surgical hospitals 24,750

Local government 23,690

Traveler accommodation 21,710

Investigation and security services 19,030

Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators had median annual earnings of $25,840 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $20,430 and $33,790. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $17,710, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $42,420.

Security Magazine

LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

GUARD RANKING: Third Annual Ranking of Top Guarding Firms

February 6, 2006

PRIVATE SECURITY BUSINESS AND SECURITY ALARM ACT

Act 330 of 1968

Eff. Oct. 1, 2002

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

338.1051 Short title.

338.1052 Definitions; persons not subject to act.

338.1053 License required; permission for device delivering recorded message to public service, utility, or police agency required; violation; penalty.

338.1054 Issuance of separate licenses for different security services; private detective or investigator services.

338.1055 License; issuance; term; local license not required.

338.1056 License; qualifications.

338.1057 License; application; references; investigation; approval; nonrenewable temporary license; fees.

338.1058 License; application; signature and verification; contents; photographs.

338.1059 License; issuance; fees; bond; insurance; term; form; additional license for branch office; refunds; receipt of completed application; issuance of license within certain time period; report; security business fund; "completed application" defined.

338.1060 License; revocation; grounds; failure to pay fines or fees; surrender of license; misdemeanor.

338.1061 Refund of application or license fee.

338.1062 Posting certificate of license.

338.1063 Change in name or location; report; failure to notify department.

338.1064 Identification card; issuance; form; contents; recall; custody; unauthorized use; suspension and reinstatement; duplicates.

338.1065 Nonassignability of license.

338.1066 Unlawful manufacture of badge or shield; unlawful display of badge, shield, card, or license; distribution of card or license; buying or receiving spurious identification; violation; penalty; confiscation of card or license; separate offenses.

338.1067 Employees of licensee; conduct and qualifications; personnel information; employee roster to be filed with department; false statements or representations; revocation of license; misdemeanor.

338.1068 Employment of unqualified employees; fingerprints; fee; background check of prospective employee; employment application; refusal to surrender identification.

338.1069 Uniform and insignia; shoulder identification patches or emblems; badge or shield; deadly weapons; tactical baton.

338.1070 Confidentiality of information; false reports, penalty.

338.1071 Violations of act; report of convictions.

338.1072 Advertising.

338.1073 Trade names; approval.

338.1074 Compliance with labor laws.

338.1075 Renewal license; application; bond; fee; date; form; approval; effect of failure to renew; deposit of fees into security business fund.

338.1076 Continuation of business upon death of licensee; notice; sale of business.

338.1077 Departmental agents; employment, powers, rules and regulations.

338.1078 Repealed. 2000, Act 411, Eff. Mar. 28, 2001.

338.1079 Licensure of private security police; rules; applicability of act to private security guards and police; use of pistols.

338.1080 Private security police officers; arrest powers; limitations.

338.1081 Training requirements.

338.1082 Violation of act; penalty.

338.1083 Installation or operation of security alarm systems; requirements.

338.1085 Repealed. 2000, Act 411, Eff. Mar. 28, 2001.