The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Armed security training; armed professionals....

papershotshells · February 20, 2014, 08:28 PM

I couldn't agree more. I work security, and some of our posts are unarmed, due to client preference. Even in these "non-permissive" situations I am armed in some way in order to defend myself. I have no faith in the uniform intimidating anyone into not trying to harm me.

One post in particular that I work on a regular basis has a strict no weapons policy (mental patient treatment facility) and if I ever were to use a weapon to defend myself (or others) there it has been made very clear to me that I would be fired post haste. That's fine with me, I'll find another job, they don't pay me enough to die for by not being armed. The mindset of some of the security industry clients is hard to wrap my mind around. They want a security presence, but they don't want the guards to have any real "teeth". It's the classic dog and pony show a lot of places. Security guards are not allowed to have the needed tools to perform their jobs for these clients and they're treated as second class citizens by the clients and their employees, but they're the first ones called in a sticky situation and are expected to handle any situation professionally.

While I'm on my rant (lol I really do enjoy my job, believe it or not), the level of training for private armed security (at least in Ohio) is a absolute JOKE. I have many years of shooting experience, some law enforcement experience and armed security experience in another state and I found the training here to be an armed guard laughable. My "instructor" was a complete clown and the training was just a bull**** session to get money. Nobody ever fails the training, no matter how bad they deserve to fail and we were given the answers to the written test before we were given the test and told to just copy them onto the test paper. The shooting part of the training was even worse. 8 of the 10 people in my class shouldn't be allowed to ever touch a gun, let alone carry one for a job. One guy in particular, when we were shooting at 20', missed the entire PAPER 4 out of 6 times, and HE PASSED. It was scary. Most of the people in my class, if they're ever forced to pull their weapon in the line of duty, will probably get themselves or someone else killed. Any sort of real life tactics training was totally non existent in the class. Fortunately, I have a LOT of tactical training in my past, so I didn't need to learn anything from my class, I only needed the paper. lol

Now that I'm done ranting, you are correct that a LOT of the people working security REALLY need to rethink their line of work.

Papershotshells

February 20, 2014, 08:28 PM	#3
papershotshells Senior Member Join Date: November 13, 2013 Posts: 134	I couldn't agree more. I work security, and some of our posts are unarmed, due to client preference. Even in these "non-permissive" situations I am armed in some way in order to defend myself. I have no faith in the uniform intimidating anyone into not trying to harm me. One post in particular that I work on a regular basis has a strict no weapons policy (mental patient treatment facility) and if I ever were to use a weapon to defend myself (or others) there it has been made very clear to me that I would be fired post haste. That's fine with me, I'll find another job, they don't pay me enough to die for by not being armed. The mindset of some of the security industry clients is hard to wrap my mind around. They want a security presence, but they don't want the guards to have any real "teeth". It's the classic dog and pony show a lot of places. Security guards are not allowed to have the needed tools to perform their jobs for these clients and they're treated as second class citizens by the clients and their employees, but they're the first ones called in a sticky situation and are expected to handle any situation professionally. While I'm on my rant (lol I really do enjoy my job, believe it or not), the level of training for private armed security (at least in Ohio) is a absolute JOKE. I have many years of shooting experience, some law enforcement experience and armed security experience in another state and I found the training here to be an armed guard laughable. My "instructor" was a complete clown and the training was just a bull**** session to get money. Nobody ever fails the training, no matter how bad they deserve to fail and we were given the answers to the written test before we were given the test and told to just copy them onto the test paper. The shooting part of the training was even worse. 8 of the 10 people in my class shouldn't be allowed to ever touch a gun, let alone carry one for a job. One guy in particular, when we were shooting at 20', missed the entire PAPER 4 out of 6 times, and HE PASSED. It was scary. Most of the people in my class, if they're ever forced to pull their weapon in the line of duty, will probably get themselves or someone else killed. Any sort of real life tactics training was totally non existent in the class. Fortunately, I have a LOT of tactical training in my past, so I didn't need to learn anything from my class, I only needed the paper. lol Now that I'm done ranting, you are correct that a LOT of the people working security REALLY need to rethink their line of work. Papershotshells