Security Guards Needed, but Low Pay a Problem

As workplace violence and international terrorism have raised lethal threats in American offices, stores and factories, one major response by businesses even before the Sept. 11 attacks has been to build up a vast army of 745,000 private security guards.

The terrorist assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have dramatically accelerated recruitment, leading to the expectation that tens of thousands of new uniformed security guards will be stationed in the lobbies, parking lots and concourses of corporate and government properties in cities across the country.

The nation’s two largest security firms anticipate hiring a combined minimum of 10,000 to 15,000 new guards. U.S. officials have estimated that federalizing airport security, under consideration by government leaders, could require as many as 28,000 new hires. Air marshals for domestic flights could necessitate thousands more.

The majority of guards receive scant training, are paid well under $10 an hour and have limited responsibility for protecting public safety. They typically do not carry weapons and are instructed to call police in the event of a disturbance.

Security experts and even private guard firms acknowledge the forces generally don’t represent a bulwark against terrorism.

“Would you risk your life for $8 or $9 an hour? Probably not,” said Steve Kaufer, an expert in crowd control and workplace violence. “People are under an impression that a guard may do the same for them as a police officer. But security officers providing access control to a corporate structure are sometimes called lobby ambassadors. They are not there to jump in front of someone in harm’s way.”

Nonetheless, corporations have little choice about increasing security. In the days since the Sept. 11 attack, movie studios, high-rise buildings and other businesses have received threats that disrupted business and left employees terrorized. One of the few options is trying to find more security guards.

“The demand is overshadowing the supply. We’re actually beyond the ability to rely on overtime,” said Ray O’Hara, senior vice president for Pinkerton Consulting Services’ Western region.

Patrick Cannan, director of corporate relations for Wackenhut, a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based security firm, said the company could use 5,000 more people.

“But we won’t find that many,” Cannan said. “We’re having a difficult time recruiting quality people.”

Pinkerton and Burns International, security companies owned by Stockholm-based Securitas, together make up the largest security force in the U.S., with 125,000 employees. Wackenhut ranks next in the U.S., with 47,000 guards worldwide.

In California, the number of security guards is projected to swell to 142,070 by 2005 from 35,640 in 1993, according to figures from the state’s Employment Development Department.

Security firms have had trouble finding and keeping people, particularly during recent strong economic times. Turnover is high. In 1999, the latest year figures were available, more than a third of guards were in their jobs less than 11 months, according to the Labor Department.

“Security work is not respected as a profession, and mostly it’s very unregulated and low-paying, which is part of the problem,” said Jim Battersby, owner of JRB & Associates, a security consulting firm in Alta Loma. “There are very few guards out who are saying, ‘Man, I want to do this for the rest of my life. I aspire to a minimum wage.’ ”

At the high end of the industry hierarchy are bodyguards for chief executives and other high-income individuals, often recruited from the ranks of former Secret Service and FBI agents. They can command $800 to $2,000 a day for guarding individuals on high-risk trips, said William J. Ackerman, a former Secret Service special agent.

The Federal Aviation Administration also is becoming a high-end employer. The agency has begun posting on Web sites openings for civil aviation security specialists, otherwise known as federal air marshals, at a salary range of $35,100 to $80,800. The FAA said that candidates “must be eligible for and maintain a top-secret security clearance,” based on the results of a special background investigation.

El Camino and Rio Hondo community colleges in Southern California have highly regarded public safety training programs, but 80% to 90% of their graduates aim to become police officers.

Though the vast majority of guards in the U.S. receive little training and fewer rewards, there is a hierarchy. Highest on the list for basic security work are off-duty police officers, said security expert Kaufer.

But in major cities concerned with possible terrorist threats, that’s a dwindling resource. Next, Kaufer said, are recently retired police officers, but there aren’t enough of them either.

Pay for private guards at the bottom of the hierarchy runs about $8 an hour without benefits. Experts say corporate America pretty much gets what it pays for.

“A company’s security force isn’t generating any revenue for them, so a lot of companies just drag people in, hose them off and put them in a uniform,” said security consultant Battersby.

Kit Freman, who runs Background Check International in Temecula, said a “sleeper” terrorist won’t show up on the kinds of criminal background checks and credit checks he can run.

“How can I assure you that you are not hiring a terrorist? The answer is, I can’t,” Freman said, adding that certified investigators ought to have access to federal watch lists and national criminal databases.

Most experts said that guards should be subject to background checks in many more parts of the nation. Among the states, California and New York are leaders in the requirements, training and restrictions they place on security companies and in the standards expected of anyone who wants to be a security guard.

In California, for example, security companies have to be licensed and their employees registered with the state through its Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, according to state officials.

To hire an unarmed security guard, the employer of record must submit the candidate’s fingerprints to the state, which runs them through California and FBI files. Candidates have to pass a written test on the powers of arrest. Armed security guards must go through the same requirements and also must take firearms training from a California certified instructor.

The work of security guards can be tedious. Todd Blumfield, a Pinkerton security guard in Los Angeles for less than a year, said the job involves a lot of telephone work, clearing visitors with building clients, handling voicemail and working the computerized directory of tenants.

Federal statistics show that security guard work is no more dangerous than being a janitor or a taxicab driver or a chauffeur, in terms of the likelihood of getting killed on the job. In 2000, 72 security guards and their supervisors were killed at work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In California, the most recent statistics available show that annual deaths among guards dropped from 29 to 13, or by more than half, from 1994 to 1999.

Juan Luquin, 30, who works with Blumfield at a downtown Los Angeles high-rise building, said his normally nameless role as a person to whom office workers never pay attention has changed.

“People tend to notice us more now,” said Luquin, who has been a security guard since 1994. “I think they are looking to us now to help them feel safer.”