Guard Tracking On A Budget?

[DJB204 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DJB204]

Does anybody have any ideas o how to track guards on a budget? Any tricks to ensure rounds/patrols are done?

The site has no cell phone service and/or internet service. We don’t have a checkpoint system to tag checkpoints.

[copelandamuffy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close copelandamuffy]

Please describe site? Manufacturing, warehouse?

Are there cameras recording at various points inside the building?

If a guard proclaims they did patrol the rear of the building, and some incident does go down.

can a camera verify he or she was at the spot where the incident happened?

Can you speak with the client? We need verification our guards were at warehouse # A at 0300 hours

Are there good honest employees inside this site? I have good workers defend me that I was walking my patrol at 0400 hours

[Condo Guard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Condo Guard]

With no cell phone or internet, you almost have to have a tracker wand & tags, if the client or management want accurate tracking. Like Cope said, if you have cameras, you can look at the night's footage and spot check. If there is a vehicle, you can track the mileage each night, but that can be faked. (One guard I worked with just drove to his buddy's house, caught a nap, and drove back - he'd take various routes so the mileage always varied slightly.)

Several companies I worked for you called in and out from the site phone to dispatch or the supervisor. That at least tells you they were there for the shift, but not what happened on shift.

Best way is to hire honest guards and have them log events that can be verified, i.e. if you have deliveries on site at a certain hour the guard can log the company and truck number.

Surprise inspections have to be handled correctly - don't go in with the attitude of, "I'm here to catch you slacking off," go in with "Checking to see you're OK." Bringing the guard coffee or a sandwich occasionally is a nice morale booster.

[copelandamuffy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close copelandamuffy]

Best way is to hire honest guards and have them log events that can be verified, i.e. if you have deliveries on site at a certain hour the guard can log the company and truck number.

Surprise inspections have to be handled correctly - don't go in with the attitude of, "I'm here to catch you slacking off," go in with "Checking to see you're OK." Bringing the guard coffee or a sandwich occasionally is a nice morale booster.

If the factory, warehouse is open at least 24 hours a day, 5/6 days a week, bos on the 2nd and 3rd shift can verify you did your patrols,
and not sit in the guard shack.


Weekends can be tougher if nobody on site, but few sites do not have any cameras. Even if there is one camara
at the entrance/exit it is recording whether you stayed on post.

I know this is a bit corny, and maybe old time, but good old fashion honesty of Guards on duty
There are still a few honest guards who do their job

CG: I like the idea of the road supervisor and stopping by with some coffee

[Condo Guard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Condo Guard]

Thought about this a bit more. If it's a remote site, it is almost impossible to verify that the guard isn't sleeping. I've worked sites that had tracking that still had bad guards that "beat the system" (for awhile).

Look at the DARs. Even if the guard is watching a hole in the ground, you can still record weather conditions, people who may be in the area but not necessarily actively trying to trespass, etc. He can write up lights out, missing fire extinguishers, etc. If the guard writes "All secure," 8x for a shift, you might want to give him more to do.

On a quick tangent, Copie, I'd love to take credit for the coffee idea, but I learned it from one of the best field sups I ever met - a guy who was a real people person. Even if he had to write you up or transfer you, he always did it with compassion and kindness. A rare breed...

[copelandamuffy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close copelandamuffy]

God how many construction sites I have I worked, where you are out in the middle of no where
Pitch black. Thank God it was summer so I did not have to run my car motor for "8" hours to keep warm
Only sounds you hear are the crickets, frogs and other animals in the woods, and a lonely train coming down the tracks

Once an hour you use a flashglight to wriite in your DAR all is well

You keep awake by listening to talk radio on a portable radio

I stayed off the cell phone to conserve power, as their is no electrical outlet anywhere


And that cup of coffee brought by the road supervisor? Charlie was his name
Rough tough, ex-Marine Drill Sergeant
Roared like a Lion, but gentile as a lamb
In the wee hours of the night you'd see the beam of his headlights of his car at a construction site
bringing you a cup of coffee

[copelandamuffy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close copelandamuffy]

On a quick tangent, Copie, I'd love to take credit for the coffee idea, but I learned it from one of the best field sups I ever met - a guy who was a real people person. Even if he had to write you up or transfer you, he always did it with compassion and kindness. A rare breed...

Okay I admit one time Charlie road supervisor caught me dozing. But I had been awake since 0700 hours Saturday morning
Charlie called me at 2300 hours Saturday at the last moment for a construction site to cover
Construction site near my home. I was tired to begin, but hobbled to work
0400 hours sitting in my car, and dark, and I forgot my portable radio, and I did not want to drain my car radio, I nodded off
Charlie fond me dozing He woke me, and had a nice cup of coffee for me

As a supervisor myself I have had to awake a dozing guard
One time warning, and 2nd time I call the branch office

[Condo Guard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Condo Guard]

How times change. The issue used to be the guard falling asleep on the job. Now it is getting the guard to look up from his iphone long enough to see the three guys loading all the inventory into a truck.