am i working a dangerous post??

[rekaepa]

Greetings! New to the site. I've been doing security for 11 months and recently changed employer. it's a patrol job, unarmed, solo, no gear, in the city of pomona for all of the "quikemarts".
i don't know if maybe im in the minority here but i feel like this is too dangerous. pays 14 an hour. hostile homeless people and gangbangers and all i got is a pen and note pad and phone
would you walk from this?
I need answers.
thanks in advance.
I hope this is in the right section

[TOII]

I would be finding something else first then walking

[Condo Guard]

The short answer is, TOII is right. I'm surprised you're a patrolman with no equipment. Most of the patrol guys I've seen carry something, at least OC spray and handcuffs.

There is a broader question here, which is when is unarmed security too dangerous? I'd say the simple formula is look at the risk, the pay and what you are expected to do. If I'm just an o & r guard in a protected booth, then a certain amount of risk might be OK, because I'm basically safe. If the pay were much higher and you were unarmed, then you figure out if that's worth it to you.

Looks to me like you work in a high crime area. So, $14.00 an hour is too low a wage, and your co. is nuts to have you driving around with nothing.

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/pomona/crime

[Ingio Montoya]

Before we can answer that question we have to know what it is exactly that you're expected to do. If you don't have to interact with the street slime you're probably OK

[rekaepa]

I'm expected to convince loiterers to leave. i arrived at a site on my list and there was a brawl in the rear parking lot.
I'm going to look at other options because this is crazy.

[rekaepa]

thanks for the replies everyone.!

[Ingio Montoya]

I'm expected to convince loiterers to leave. i arrived at a site on my list and there was a brawl in the rear parking lot.
I'm going to look at other options because this is crazy.

Brawl in the parking lot? Stay in the car, call the police. If you are NOT ALLOWED to call the police HUGE red flag.

[Consolewatcher]

Brawl in the parking lot? Stay in the car, call the police. If you are NOT ALLOWED to call the police HUGE red flag.

That depends; I've worked for reputable companies/organizations that generally said to their guards "call your supervisor/client instead of calling the police". Of course, that also came with the warning "if you feel your safety, or the safety of others is in danger, or if you think it's an urgent matter then call the police". Companies/organizations don't generally want the guards to be the one to decide to call the police for non-urgent matters.

[Ingio Montoya]

I know this has already been quoted but autocorrect butchered what I was trying to say and I need to fix it.

No. A brawl in the parking lot shouldn't be a judgment call it should be an automatic call to the police.

I've worked for companies who won't let you call the cops before and what ends up happening is you end backed up against a fence with nowhere to run and one hand on your gun with some homeless crackhead telling you he is going to kill you with an axe and you're answering b******* questions from dispatch like "The police want to know if any weapons were involved or mentioned".

Where I'm at now there are certain crimes I don't have to ask anybody before I call the police. If I ask a trespasser to leave one time and he doesn't I call the cops. Anytime I find an open door when doing a building check I call the police. Believe me it works much better then going through a dispatcher who doesn't give a damn because HE'S not in danger and you interrupted his lunch.

[Consolewatcher]

No. A brawl in the parking lot shouldn't be a judgment call it should be an automatic cal tol the police.

I'very worked for companies who won't let you call the cops either and what ends up happening is you end backed up against a fence with nowhere to run and one hand on your gun whith some homeless crackhead telling you he is going to kill you with an axe and you're answering b******* questions from dispatch like "The police want to know if any weapons were involved or mentioned".

Where I'm at now there are certain crimes I don't have to ask anybody call the boys ask a trespasser to leave one time if he doesn't I call the cops. Anytime I find an open door when doing a building I call the police. Believe me it works much better then going through a dispatcher who doesn't give a damn because he's not in danger and you interrupted his lunch.

It's not your property, it belongs to the client and it's up to them and your company's supervisors if the police are called or not. There are various reasons why they might choose not to call the police and if they are willing to accept the consequences of not having them called that's their choice to make. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, there are exceptions such as when your safety is in danger.

[Condo Guard]

That's why you have to know your company's policies. Another example would be retail security - a lot of places the security for the facility is not responsible for loss prevention - that's up to each shop. If there is a disturbance in the common area or clear threat to patron's safety, then the facility security officers would act.

Calling PD is such a complicated thing anymore that I'm on the fence. On the one hand, I've worked for companies that drill in you to call the police for every little thing; you learn really quick what PD will actually respond to in a decent amount of time. In the case of the brawl, I can tell you that one of my supervisors would have done nothing except observe and report if he thought it was "mutual combat" and no bystanders were in danger.

As Console noted, I can see the point that if the merchant knows of an active situation and doesn't call PD, he shouldn't expect you (the underpaid, unarmed S/O) to make that call unless he can't for some reason.

[PhantomX0990]

To add on to what the others said, you're just a pair of eyes in a flashy car at this point.

It's not dangerous unless you make it so, by getting into situations you shouldn't be.

[Squid]

sounds bad to me. LA county is gangbanger central, period.

I'm guessing the "loiterers" aren't just harmless smelly bums or bored uppermiddle class teenie boppers.

Sounds like a typical "set up to fail" gig. Even that Verbal Judo guru would fail once the gangbangers quickly figure out he has no real power.

[PhantomX0990]

Everything considered.

Learn to duck.

[TOII]

I know this has already been quoted but autocorrect butchered what I was trying to say and I need to fix it.

No. A brawl in the parking lot shouldn't be a judgment call it should be an automatic call to the police.

I've worked for companies who won't let you call the cops before and what ends up happening is you end backed up against a fence with nowhere to run and one hand on your gun with some homeless crackhead telling you he is going to kill you with an axe and you're answering b******* questions from dispatch like "The police want to know if any weapons were involved or mentioned".

Where I'm at now there are certain crimes I don't have to ask anybody before I call the police. If I ask a trespasser to leave one time and he doesn't I call the cops. Anytime I find an open door when doing a building check I call the police. Believe me it works much better then going through a dispatcher who doesn't give a damn because HE'S not in danger and you interrupted his lunch.

If you didn't mention the axe to the dispatcher, you should have. 911 will need that info, and honestly you want them to have it. It would change the priority of the call. And I know Pomona. It is a gang infested area. I would not work that post.