The foundation for creating a security department is risk evaluation and training, and taking training out of the binder and using it in the field could be the key to a thriving program.
No matter if you have a proprietary or contracted security force, these officers must be properly trained. You can leave it to the company you contract with, but a hands-off approach can leave you with less than what you wanted, and you may not even know it. If you are a proprietary security force, you have to figure out how to train and maintain these officers yourself.
My take on the importance of an effective training program in any security department comes from the hundreds of perspective security officers I have interviewed over the years. Never in any of my time as Director of Security did a perspective security employee come to me and say, “I just graduated from Security University and have wanted to be a security officer all my life.” Rather, I heard how their plant closed down and they are a good worker and need a job, or “I’m a retired police officer and want some extra spending money,” or “I’m in college and need a job to pay for books,” or some other reason. These scenarios seem to be common in both the contracted and proprietary security officer business – good people wanting to work, but have little training in security. While the lack of security training is evident, there is great opportunity for an organization to grow their “own professionals,” but it begins and ends with effective training. Recently, I was presented with a great opportunity to run a program of security training and risk evaluation with Tech Systems Inc, a security integrator that sees the value in partnering with the client through the full spectrum of security systems, which includes the human systems, that must use the ever increasingly complex security devices to aid in an effective security force response.