Security Guard shot twice in the chest

[security steve]

I work for Allied Barton in Washington DC. We are armed and carry a full rig. We are issued vests, handcuffs, oc spray and a nice duty belt. The only think I have provided is my sidearm and a stinger flashlight. Allied Barton has many armed positions in the area.

Allied Barton is kind of a cheap company as far as benefits and holiday pay go (there are none). I have worked for them for over a year and make a great wage for being an armed guard for the washington dc water and sewer authority.

[Mr. Security]

I work for Allied Barton in Washington DC. We are armed and carry a full rig. We are issued vests, handcuffs, oc spray and a nice duty belt. The only think I have provided is my sidearm and a stinger flashlight. Allied Barton has many armed positions in the area.

Allied Barton is kind of a cheap company as far as benefits and holiday pay go (there are none). I have worked for them for over a year and make a great wage for being an armed guard for the washington dc water and sewer authority.

That could be a problem unless you are covered under another policy. Regardless of how much you earn, it can all be lost with one hospital stay.
At any rate, welcome to the forum.

[security steve]

By no benefits, they make them too costly to obtain. We get paid every two weeks and the cost of insurance along with all the deductions (they make us pay for our own training) leaves us with little to nothing. I work part time at a grocery store (have for ten years) and since I am in the union, we get health insurance, life insurance, dental and vision for around $20 a month with a low deductable and no co pay.

Also, we do not get holiday pay unless we work on that holiday. Everyone gets the standard base pay regardless of experience and we have to pay for our own state licensing. Other than that, we get the basic three uniforms, hat and duty gear. Allied Barton is not the worst company I have worked for, but they certainly are cheap. They even make us purchase our own nameplates and shields.

Is this pretty standard of most security firms? I have a guard card for Virginia and a card which is specific to my worksite in DC which I had to pay for out of my own pocket. Sometimes I think the reason Allied Barton is the "premier" security firm in the nation is because they are so stingy with doling out funds for anything.

[davis002]

Is this pretty standard of most security firms? I have a guard card for Virginia and a card which is specific to my worksite in DC which I had to pay for out of my own pocket. Sometimes I think the reason Allied Barton is the "premier" security firm in the nation is because they are so stingy with doling out funds for anything.

I wouldn't say that a company forcing you to pay for training & equipment is standard, but alot of them do. One of our competitors in our market charges you $90 for First Aid/CPR training and $200 +/- for Firearms training. I could understand why you might charge new hires for training if you contract it out. I don't like it, but I understand. Now, if the company offers that training in-house, then I think it's awfully cheap to turn a profit off of new hires.

[N. A. Corbier]

I am interested to know, since you work in Washington DC, if you are a "special police officer" under federal law? I had once read that all armed security in DC had to be "special police," because citizens were not allowed to be armed in the district.

If you are a "special police officer," and have authority in the name of the state as well as blanket immunity for your law enforcement function... I can see why Allied would have armed. The liability is lessened when everything you do has the same blanket immunity that a LEO does.

[security steve]

I am interested to know, since you work in Washington DC, if you are a "special police officer" under federal law? I had once read that all armed security in DC had to be "special police," because citizens were not allowed to be armed in the district.

Yes we have SPO for DC, but I am only allowed to be armed on the job site which I am assigned. I also had to pay for the classes and licensure. If you are an armed guard in DC, you must possess a SPO license. Unarmed guards I think only have to take a few basic classes. Allied Barton has the highest number of armed guards in the district yet the turnover is ridiculous. I think if you hire on as a SPO in the district, you will receive a $1000+ signing bonus. If we stay 3 months, we get an extra $500, 6 months $1000 etc.

Being an armed guard in the district is stressful, but overall a good job. I basically do access control for the WASA of DC.

[N. A. Corbier]

Do you have powers of arrest, or is it basically to get around the concept that "only police may carry guns, so we'll give them a little police power?"

[security steve]

We have arrest powers BUT we can only effect an arrest on the property for which our SPO is valid.

IE: We get our SPO, but unlike a state guard card, it gets assigned to a specific work site. My SPO is only valid when I am clocked in at a WASA site. When I leave that work site, my SPO becomes "open" and I can get it assigned to another site.

It gets complicated - guard cards allow you to work anywhere. You can work two part time security jobs under one state guard card. With the SPO, we can only work one site - and we can only carry/arrest when we are on the clock at that specific site.

We are police officers in the city of DC - for our site. We can arrest in instances of criminal behavior (trespass/theft etc). We are the lowest police in the city - hence the SPO. In DC there is the police department, uniformed secret service, capitol police and many more. Now we can be sworn in and ordered to serve outside our site in cases of emergency (such as a katrina/ 9.11 like incident) but that is rare.

SPO's in DC are in high demand and you can make some serious cash if you are single. I know of a single guy who worked approximately 80 hours a week at a site and made some awesome bank. We are seriously short staffed and to be honest with you, we only make arrests when we are absolutely sure that the police cannot arrive in time. Currently, I work access control and only make arrests if I come across illegal narcotics or other paraphenlia when checking ID's or conducting searches.

[security steve]

A lot of police officers are SPO's because our pay is better. I make over $30/hr because I have stuck around, but most SPO's start off at approx $25/hr.

We carry full duty rigs and wear vests. The only thing different is that we are not allowed to wear patches which say police. I currently wear an Allied Barton uniform with our gold Allied Barton Shield, and patches which say Security Services on them. In a nutshell, we are the police, but in reality we are not the police (sworn officers), if that makes sense.

[LPGuy]

I work for Allied Barton in Washington DC. We are armed and carry a full rig. We are issued vests, handcuffs, oc spray and a nice duty belt. The only think I have provided is my sidearm and a stinger flashlight. Allied Barton has many armed positions in the area.

Allied Barton is kind of a cheap company as far as benefits and holiday pay go (there are none). I have worked for them for over a year and make a great wage for being an armed guard for the washington dc water and sewer authority.

Wow, it seems that things sure have changed since they became Allied-Barton Security. Or maybe they just do things differently in other regions. When I worked for Allied Security, they told me that the company was "strictly unarmed"--no weapons whatsoever. I knew of only one client in the area that Allied had where the officers carried handcuffs.

[N. A. Corbier]

Keep in mind, SPO's have full police authority in DC, so its easier for the company to perform those duties. The liability is a lot lower in some aspects (except that as an agent of the Government, you can get your company in a Section 1983 lawsuit like a publicly employed police officer can....) so its easier and cheaper to arm them.

[security steve]

While we have police powers, don't think for a moment that the company wants us to use those without discretion. The only time we are to effect an arrest is when there is immediate danger to people, the perp will get away before LE arrives and/or we witness a felony.

Some Guards bend the rules (IE LE can't arrive on time to prevent escape) and others do nothing more than observe and report. I find myself in an inbetween mode and will use the police powers depending on the situation.

Interesting note - look under Spectaguard in the directory, I think they are the entity which owns Allied Barton - not sure though.

[N. A. Corbier]

Do you have a legal duty to enforce laws and protect people as a special police appointee of the Mayor's Office? Its very interesting that Allied is applying warm-body concepts to sworn law enforcement positions.

(Many people are going to say that an SPO isn't sworn, but they are. The federal law creating SPOs creates LEOs. The normal public LEOs don't like that concept, and refuse to acknoledge it, but it creates LEOs just like any reserve or auxiliary program does.)

[security steve]

Do you have a legal duty to enforce laws and protect people as a special police appointee of the Mayor's Office? Its very interesting that Allied is applying warm-body concepts to sworn law enforcement positions.

Yes on that job site only to which our license is valid. Many of the SPO's I work with are LE. Allied Barton wants us to enforce the "major" laws while leaving infractions etc to local LE.

It is all up to the officer how far they are going to take their SPO powers. Some go gung ho and others are lazy. The LE community is pretty resentful and talk about us as wanna bes or has beens. I am neither, I just like getting a solid check without the risk that they take daily.

[N. A. Corbier]

Wow. I really couldn't see a warm body company getting into that, when there's an actual legal duty to enforce law.

Keep in mind, no security officer has a legal duty spelled out in statute to enforce any law. They may have a legal duty, contractually, to protect someone, but never to enforce a law.

A Sworn Law Enforcement Officer has that legal duty, as they're sworn to enforce laws as well as protect people.

Like many service professions, private policing is... a lottery. Your company hopes they don't get sued for what you do, or don't do.