Talking on the Cell Phone

[propilot5000]

is your employer ok with you talking on your cell phone when the location you are guarding has nothing going on?

[N. A. Corbier]

is your employer ok with you talking on your cell phone when the location you are guarding has nothing going on?

Depends. Is it the site's cell phone?

Usually, most don't care, unless it interferes with your duties. If its a high profile site, they don't want you doing anything remotely related to personal time, including reading (unless its your post orders or log book) or talking on a cell phone (unless its to the client or 911.)

[knotquiteawake]

I was just reading an article about how here in california talking on the phone or reading the newspaper is not allowed to be a fireable offense. This stemmed from a mayor who fired an employee on the spot when he walked by and saw the employee with a game of solitare up on the computer. Apparently the article brought up the talking on the phone and reading the newspaper because some people would like to add surfing the internet for personal things to that list. I know at my work personal calls are ok on personal cellphones as long as it doesn't effect your work.

[ozsecuritychic]

its in our standard operating procedures that we are not permitted to have a personal mobile on us at work or read papers.this all came about from one guard doing the wrong thing.i was asked why do i carry my mobile and i replied that when they can guarantee that the work phone will always be 100 percent reliable i will no longer have my phone.they agreed with me on that. i find it safer to carry my personal ph as back up.

[1stWatch]

its in our standard operating procedures that we are not permitted to have a personal mobile on us at work or read papers.this all came about from one guard doing the wrong thing.i was asked why do i carry my mobile and i replied that when they can guarantee that the work phone will always be 100 percent reliable i will no longer have my phone.they agreed with me on that. i find it safer to carry my personal ph as back up.

What if you need to call for police while on foot and your radio stops working?

[Mr. Security]

Making long-distance personal calls on the client's phone is considered theft here. Local calls are OK in moderation. Your personal cell phone can be used, but only when the facility is closed for business and the employees have left.

Eating, talking on the phone, or playing on the computer looks very unprofessional to the client and any visitors that may be present. The key is to be discreet, use good judgment, and don't abuse any perks that are made available to security by the client.

[N. A. Corbier]

What if you need to call for police while on foot and your radio stops working?

To put it simply, run. The company I worked for provided no radios or cell phones. The client could pay for a company owned cell phone (i.e. they're paying the bill every month) if they wanted one.

[Echos13]

I fellow worker that has a P/T job at a gated retirement facility keeps his in his briefcase sitting on the forward looking window sill. He wears one of those pinlite bluetooth H3 ear set thats not much bigger than your thumb. He can talk, walk and run with it. Not sure on the range though. But holy cow they are not cheap.

[N. A. Corbier]

I fellow worker that has a P/T job at a gated retirement facility keeps his in his briefcase sitting on the forward looking window sill. He wears one of those pinlite bluetooth H3 ear set thats not much bigger than your thumb. He can talk, walk and run with it. Not sure on the range though. But holy cow they are not cheap.

They've gotten cheap now, with universal bluetooths being about 40 bucks at Radioshack.

The range is about 40 feet. Bluetooth is extremely useful, the only issue is data security. While your talking on your cell, someone with a laptop and bluetooth 1.1 "sniffer" can listen in, then decode what the bluetooth message traffic is saying.

I've heard of some companies making wireless shoulder mikes and the rest via bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network). If they figure out how to make it secure, it'll be extremely useful.

[Guest]

We are allowed to talk on cell phones. I talk on mine while in the gatehouse and while I'm driving the patrol rover. My employer stresses that cell phone use must not interfere with our duties. The way I use it is fine, because I don't say things to people waiting in line "oh hold on I am on the phone" and I don't answer my phone if its ringing and I am already talking with someone.

[EMTGuard]

We are allowed cell phones as long as they are not interfering with our duties. I get poor coverage with my cell so often use a small ham radio portable to keep in touch with my better half. The radio fits in my shirt pocket and is relayed (cross banded) by my car in the parking lot to a repeater about 40 miles away. With this I can talk from work to home, a distance of about 50 air miles.

[ozsecuritychic]

i was called in to cover the relief because he claimed to be sick.the work phone kept on getting text messages from his friends asking what pub and what time was he having a couple of cigarettes so he looked sick.i found this rather amusing seen as it was not his personal mobile and he wasnt supposed to be texting from it or rining his mates.the next time he worked he read in the book that messages and prank calls were being made and sent to the phone he snapped the battery and put soap right through the phone.he thought it was pre paid and the boss wouldnt get a bill.he ended up owing a weeks wage for the bill and got sacked.

[N. A. Corbier]

That guy sounds like a winner. Why would a business use a pre-paid phone? You always get better rates with a contract.

[Blame_The_Guard]

I was just reading an article about how here in california talking on the phone or reading the newspaper is not allowed to be a fireable offense.

I get very, very, very ticked off when I see one of the guards reading a newspaper, or anything else, when I know, for a fact, they haven't read the post orders.

[The Lord of the Keys]

Our client doesn't say much about cell phone use as long as it doesn't interfere with our duties. Of course in New York its illegal to drive and talk on the cell phone. I've giving tickets inside our park to people doing that and I have on occasion spotted fellow guards breaking that law inside our park.