We have seven guys. So you just tell us what you need
and we'll, this is Mayor Marcus stand by. He brought us
to this gun range to show us how he trains people to
become armed security guards. So I'll just tell you
guys what we're going to do and we'll just go through
it one by one. The majority of it is classroom. Th
you have hands on courses that cover combative ha
cuffing, pepper spray, baton and firearms and you'll
actually do those things hands on as part of your
training. Stand by Marcus works for Ranger Guard, a
private security company based in Houston with roughly
400 security guards in Texas. It also operates in
Florida and Nevada. A big part of that comes down to
response time. You can't beat the response time of
someone that's there on site already. Many of the
guards he trains will patrol parking lots, constructi
sites and even schools like this private one in Houston
in the past, the way that security guards were
perceived was bad. When I think of the word security
guard, I think of the Ranger Guards founder David Kar
may be aware of what some people think of security
guards. But he says that's changing, especially wit
property crimes increasing last year in many large
cities. According to a report by the National nonprofi
the council on criminal justice crimes like car thefts
and break ins are solved only 13% of the time.
According to pew research, he says businesses are
willing to pay him more for someone to stand guard. If
we go back, I would say five years ago, where polic
would come in, let's say $45 an hour and a security
guard company would come in at around 19 to $20 an hour.
Today, I can say that we're even while more businesse
may be turning to private security with many poli
departments stretched thin. Robert mccree who teaches
at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice in New York
and has studied private security since the seventies
tells me it's important to understand the difference
between private security and private police. The
industry doesn't like that term, private police because
they really aren't police. Private security office
are there to deter to, to respond but not to put their
lives at risk. If something untoward is occurring
qualifications to be a security guard vary from state
to state on the target. Along with the firearms
training we saw in Texas security guards also need to
pass background checks. Every state is different. And
so it's a state run industry. And so even even to the
local level. Sometimes I spoke with Steve Amate with
the National Association of Security companies. He
travels the country in support of states adding
training requirements for security guards. There's no
national standard but more cities and states are
putting in training requirement laws. He says right now,
28 states require specific hours of training for a
security guard to carry a gun. This week. Maryland's
governor signed a bill that will make his state the 29
th next year. A law is now in effect in Tennessee that
requires security guards to go through de escalation
training as well as learn CPR and first aid. The law is
called Dallas's law named after a man who died after
being restrained by security guards in Nashville in
2021. I did ask what concerns Amate as security guar
are being hired to protect more places. I do worry that
people are going to think that this private securit
officer, he, he's wearing a uniform, he's armed but
he's not a police officer. And so tempering that
expectation, it's very important. He says it's
important people remember the job of many security
guards is to deter crime. It's a deterrent for crime to
potentially happen. It's not going to stop everything.
But like if you see a car that's marked with lights a
somebody's driving around constantly being present that
criminal looking to score a quick couple 100 bucks from
a Cadillac converter is going to think twice before
stepping foot on your property, Jared Dubin, whose
property management company hires Ranger Guard says
even with high tech tools and camera systems on the
market that can observe crime, fire power in the human
touch and people like those markets.