Security guards can be beneficial when it comes to protecting yourself, your home, or your assets.
Making sure you choose the right security guard for the job is an essential task.
The first step in choosing the right guard is knowing the options you have.
Here are many types of security guards you could choose to hire.
Types of Security Guards
1. Residential Guards
A residential guard will work to protect homes.
A residential guard can work to take care of an entire neighborhood or be hired by one person to protect their private residence.
Residential guards who service a group of residences typically work in a gated community, and they are in charge of the common areas and individual homes.
These residential guards will usually be the first to respond if a resident has an issue in their home, but they will also keep an eye on suspicious activity around the community.
Residential guards can work at a gate or they may patrol the area.
Larger residential communities will have several security guards working at any given time.
Some residential guards will be armed, but most are going to be unarmed security guards.
2. Business Guards
Business guards are in place to help protect a business.
The type of business you have can vary, and therefore, the kind of business guard you can choose from will also vary.
There are guards who specialize in protecting an establishment like a bar or a retail store.
Some guards will work to take care of warehouses.
Corporate guards are those who deal with the headquarters of a business, and they may have a large area to keep an eye on.
Corporate guards may also deal with the security and safety of the high-level executives who are in the building.
Some corporate guards will eventually become almost like personal guards for the well-known business executives.
The warehouse guards are usually good at keeping an eye on safety issues and any people entering the warehouse who should not be there.
Warehouses are dangerous places, and without a guard in place, a person can accidentally enter and get themselves hurt.
For the establishment guards, the job is going to change quite a bit based on the type of establishment.
If you work for a bar or a restaurant or a toy shop, the type of work an officer does is going to be quite different.
Certainly, the job of a security guard at a bar will be a bit more challenging than that of a security guard at a candy store.
Sometimes a business will hire a security guard themselves, or they will go with a company that has a group of security officers, and they hire the company, not the individual.
Getting a security guard to protect your business is extremely important as the security guard can work to protect your investment.
3. Personal Guards
A personal guard is also referred to as a bodyguard.
With a bodyguard, you will have the officer with you the entire time.
Most of the time, personal guards are reserved for famous people and athletes.
The personal guard has a difficult job because they don’t even have the same job two days in a row.
The job of a personal guard can be difficult because they have to learn how to protect their client in a variety of scenarios and situations.
Personal guards go through quite a bit of training, and sometimes they work with a team.
As one person rotates in, another will rotate out.
The personal guard is a highly specialized position which requires quite a bit of training.
This extra training is going to directly result in the personal guards being priced quite a bit higher than other types of security guards.
4. Patrol Guards
Unlike stationary guards, patrol guards are supposed to be moving throughout their area while they are on a shift.
For some patrol guards, the area will be a one-hundred-yard radius, and for others, it will be a neighborhood with 4000 homes.
The patrol guard’s duties can vary greatly, but they have quite a bit of responsibility on their hands.
For many patrol guards, they are instructed to repeat the same patrol repeatedly throughout their shift.
Others will be encouraged to change up how they patrol so that the regulars do not get too accustomed to the routine.
When people can predict how security guards will respond and act, they can plan theft or other poor behavior.
Patrol guards usually have quite a bit to look out for and keep an eye on, and they must stay very alert during their shifts.
5. Stationary Guards
A stationary guard stays in one spot for the day.
They are specialized in their area, and they are very focused on what they need to look after and take care of.
When you hire a stationary guard, they are traditionally placed in different areas around the building.
These positions are often strategic placements where one guard can see another while they are in different parts of the building.
This often allows a security guard to make sure they have a clear view through the building and that all areas are covered.
Stationary guards can also be placed in a control room in charge of the surveillance cameras.
Their job is to watch the camera feeds consistently and stay in front of those screens to watch for any irregularities.
It can be challenging to keep an eye on all these screens at once, but the guards eventually get used to what they have to do.
It takes a great eye and lots of focus to watch so many screens throughout a day.
6. Government Security Guards
Government security guards are in charge of taking care of government buildings.
They can work for the local, state, or federal government, and they are typically government employees.
The security at government facilities is usually quite tight, and these types of guards have to be well-vetted before they can get these positions.
The government security guards are sometimes people who have had other government positions and now want to protect the government’s assets.
7. Proprietary Guards
If you want to hire a security guard directly, this is called a proprietary guard.
These guards are not part of a security company.
They are independent workers who become employees of the company they are hired by.
The proprietary guard can be taught lots of different skills specific to the job, and therefore people like the option to customize their service.
The proprietary guards will be on the company’s payroll, and they will need to be considered an employee.
The downside to hiring a proprietary guard is that they must be trained.
If you do not know anything about the security industry, you will have a tough time teaching a proprietary guard everything they need to know.
Sometimes the proprietary guard will be a retired security officer or will have just left another company, and in this case, they may have plenty of training.
If you are hiring a security officer with no experience and don’t have any experience yourself, it could be a rough fit for your company.
There is quite a bit to know about protecting both assets and people.
For the job to be done correctly, someone will have to have been formally trained at some point.
8. Uniformed Guards
Uniformed guards do some great work without even having to do anything!
Just having a security guard in uniform is sometimes enough to deter someone from getting into trouble.
When people see a uniformed guard, they will usually decide it is not worth it to cause a problem.
Of course, this is not always the case, but this is a large part of security and protection.
Certain areas that have cameras will post signs about the area being under surveillance, and sometimes this is all that is needed to keep people from acting poorly.
Sometimes knowing there is an authority figure around will simply keep people in line.
Uniformed guards can be different types of guards when it comes to being unarmed or armed, but they will be recognizable.
There will usually be no questioning or wondering if there is a guard in place that day.
9. Plainclothes Guards
There are two significant reasons to consider a plainclothes security guard.
The first is if there is a situation where a uniformed officer could cause distress or make people uncomfortable.
You may see this at a special event or a wedding where security is necessary, but a uniformed guard walking around would probably look out of place.
The plainclothes guards make people feel more comfortable, but they still provide much-needed security in certain situations.
You may see a plainclothes guard when there are assets to protect, and store owners or homeowners don’t want outsiders to know they are being monitored.
Without seeing a person in uniform, people are bound to act more naturally.
When they act more naturally, they are more likely to steal or take from a business.
Of course, this is not like sneaking up on a person, but it simply allows people to act as they would and then adequately protect assets and other people.
Plainclothes guards are also good for high-end stores where the store does not want the image of a uniformed officer.
The security guard image can sometimes bring down the feel of the store and make people feel uneasy.
10. Unarmed Guards
Many times, people think unarmed guards are left to fend for themselves with just the strength of their hands.
This is not at all the case.
Just because a security guard is unarmed does not mean they have no weapons to protect themselves.
Unarmed guards are usually equipped with things like pepper spray or a baton.
The unarmed guards are still able to restrain a person should they need to.
Generally speaking, an unarmed guard is going to be a bit less expensive than an armed guard.
This is because of the weapons training an armed guard needs to go through.
Unless a guard is in a high violence area or protects a valuable possession, there may be no need for them to be armed.
11. Armed Guards
An armed guard is one who carries a weapon with them.
Depending on the reason a security officer or guard has a job, they may need a weapon to get the job done correctly.
The armed guards are very highly trained security guards.
They have to go through training not just to be an officer but also to handle weapons.
Anytime there are weapons involved, there will be life-and-death situations and scenarios, so these guards go through much more training.
If you are looking to hire an armed guard, chances are you will pay quite a bit more money than for an unarmed guard.
This is kind of like choosing someone with a bachelor’s degree as opposed to a master’s degree.
The extra training and experience the armed officers have will also make them a bit more expensive.
The expense may be worth it if you are in an area that requires armed protection.
Some businesses that are not in high-risk areas choose not to use armed guards because they see it as an additional risk to have someone who is armed.
Many times, if a security guard is protecting a very valuable asset, there will be a need for them to be armed.
When the risk of someone stealing a product is high, the need for an armed guard increases.
12. Event Security Guards
Event security guards are used when there is a large event with many people in attendance.
Because these events have so many people in attendance, they need lots of security in place as well.
These types of security guards are going to keep an eye on crowd control by keeping people moving and making sure they stay in areas where they should stay.
Event security guards usually work for larger security firms and they will work a variety of different events in many areas.
Event security guards have the opportunity to see quite a bit including sports events, fairs, and concerts as well.
The event security guards sometimes have other security positions to fill in the time between events they need to work.
