Private Security

The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals:

  • Content Knowledge—You will examine the roles and functions of private security in public safety.
  • Inquiry—You will conduct online research,in which you will collect information, make observations, and analyze results.You willcommunicate your results in tables and in written form, and draw conclusions from those results.
  • 21stCentury Skills—You will employ online tools for research and analysis, use critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and carry out technology-assisted modeling.

Directions

You will evaluate these activities yourself. Please save this document before beginning the lesson and keep the document open for reference during the lesson. Type your answers directly in this document for all activities.

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Self-CheckedActivities

Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. At the end of the lesson, click the link to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work.

  1. Private Security Agency

Select any prominent private security agency in the United States. Write about the founding of the agency and the security services it offers, and list some of itsclients.

Sample answer:

(Answers may vary.)

AlliedBarton Security Services is amajor private security company in theUnited States. This security agency is one of the largest private security firms in the nation, and its headquarters are inConshohocken, Pennsylvania.

In1957, Allied Security Inc.began service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Then in 1977, Barton Protective Services began operations in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1980, Spectaguard went into business inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.In 2000, Spectaguard took over Allied Services to form one of the largest security firms in the United States at that time. Then in 2004, Allied Security acquired Barton Protective Services, and the agency received a new name: AlliedBarton Security Services.

AlliedBarton providessecurity services to clients in various sectors, which include industries, commercial estates, healthcare facilities,financial institutions, educational institutions, residential areas, manufacturing companies, malls, and many other commercial and private facilities.

  1. Interview a Private Security Officer

Create a questionnaire and interview a private security officer that you know (such as a private security officer at your school,apartment building, nearby mall, etc.). The questionnaire should include questions regardingthe agency for which the private security officer works, the skills and training the agency requires for the job, and the duties and responsibilities of the job.

Sample answer:

(Answers may vary.)

Question:What is the nature of your job?

Answer:I work as a private security officer in an apartment building in New Jersey. I work for Pinkerton Security Agency,which provides private security agents for public and private institutions.Its headquarters are in New Jersey as well.

Question:How long have you worked as a private security officer?

Answer: I’ve worked as a private security guard for nearly eight years now.

Question:What are the skills and training required for the job?

Answer: Private security officers need to be physically fit.The long hours standing guard and patrolling on foot require considerable strength and stamina. During our training, we endured long hours of foot patrolling and working at erratic hours. All private security officers must have good written and oral communication skills. We need to create precise incident reports that are factual and free from conjecture. We also need to be able to communicate effectively with our clients and those we protect.We receivetraining in using firearms and nonlethal weapons to ensure we can protect our clients from any criminal activities.

Question:What are your primary duties?

Answer:My main duty as a private security officer is to maintain public safety.I have to perform various duties, including monitoring the security cameras that overlook the public areas of this building, such as the mailboxes, the foyers, and the elevators. I also maintain a visitor’s log where I register all the details of visitors who come into the building. Before I allow any visitor into the building, however, I use the building intercom systemto contact the apartment the visitor wants to go to, seeking confirmation of the visitor’s identity. I alsolook after the emergency exits, fire alarms, extinguishers, etc.

  1. Collaboration

Research and list some of the advantages (and any disadvantages) that arise from the collaboration between government law enforcement and private security.

Sample answer:

(Answers may vary.)

Government law enforcement and private security work together at all levels: local, state, national, and international.Government law enforcement agencies work in collaboration with private security companies to maintain law and order in the nation.

Private security agencies, with their larger staffs and additional resources,can providesecurity in public places such as malls, restaurants, stores, healthcare facilities, apartment buildings, etc., which law enforcement agencies cannot always monitor because of their limited human, technological, and financial resources.

Collaborating allows government law enforcement agencies and private security agencies to dotheir jobs more efficiently.While the government agencies have access to databases and records that private agencies do not have, private agencies have access to a larger work force, better funding, and more modern technology than government-funded agencies have. While the collaboration does result in more enhanced public safety, keeping citizens under constant surveillance and subjecting them to searches at every public place is a violation of constitutional rights.

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