Overview

Overview

An Overview of Duties and Responsibilities

Security Guards protect people, property and information. The duties and responsibilities of a guard are extremely varied from site to site. In order to satisfactorily undertake these responsibilities, a Security Guard must understand the importance of the position and the general duties that a Security Guard may be asked to play on a day to day basis. Guards must be well attuned to changes and developments within the industry and the expectations and obligations that are owed to the client, the public, and his or her employer.

 

The security industry is one of the fastest growing industries in North America, as private policing enjoys an increasingly public role. According to a recent Statistics Canada survey, there are more Security Guards working in Canada today than Police Officers:

Private Security personnel outnumbered Police Officers in both 1991 and 1996. In 1996, there were 59,090 Police Officers in Canada compared to 82,010 private security personnel: 12,230 Private Investigators and 69,780 Security Guards.

Criminal activity is not decreasing in frequency. Police agencies are expected to do more with fewer resources. The widening gap between Police service and demand must be filled with, and based on the experiences of the last few decades in the United States, presumably it will be filled by private policing.