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The Real World
and property he/she is hired to protect. The world is changing all around us and
we as a profession must keep up. We must train our Security Officer personnel to a

readiness level so they have the opportunity to be prepared to properly mitigate or
respond to an incident professionally. Our counterparts in the fire, EMS and law en-

forcement services have always received continual training, sometimes even cross-
training. Public Safety professionals have stepped up their game. In protecting vital D
assets such as airports, nuclear facilities, healthcare institutions and others, real and E

proper training is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Security Officers have every C
right to be able to respond to and defend themselves and others in any situation. E
P

Second, many private Security Officers work alone and are not properly equipped T
to respond to a potential threat or incident. As with training, Security Officers must I

be equipped to perform his or her responsibilities of a Private Officer. Many in the O
profession are not armed. Some may have handcuffs, batons and even OC. If a Se- N

curity Officer encounters an armed individual, the Officer will already be at a dis-
advantage and have few choices in the response to that situation. As I stated earlier,
the Officer has every right to defend themselves so why not properly equip and train

them? One word: Liability. I was once told that many sites and properties dimin-
ish their liability simply by having a security “presence.” What good would a pres-

ence do if I can’t actually do anything about the situation? Insurance: Companies
do not want to be involved in a lawsuit because, unless commissioned, we’re not
Police Officers. Yet, we were in a police type uniform and people would want us

to do something if it were necessary. If something does occur, rest assured people
will be looking to the Security Officers to respond quickly and effectively. The last

thing someone want to hear from a Security Officer is that they only “observe and
report!” We can’t allow the threat of liability and insurance dictate how we protect
others. Think of it this way: If something were to happen and the response was any-

thing but, a lawsuit might be headed your way for doing nothing at all because the
training consisted of only observing and reporting to police.

The uniform, it represents our authority to enforce the property rules and regula-
tions as well as jurisdictional crimes that may be committed on them. Private Secu-

rity Officers should be proud of what the uniform stands for as sometimes they are
the difference between chaos and order. Wearing the uniform also makes these

Officers a target. Recently Law Enforcement officers have been shot and killed
merely for wearing the uniform and being a Police Officer. The same

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