Unarmed Security Officers – Are They Effective?

Austin Unarmed security guards

If a crime occurs on your property and the criminals involved are armed, how effective will unarmed security officers be to you and your staff? What can the guards do to protect you and your staff while waiting for police to arrive?

Although armed guards may appear too “aggressive-looking” for some, when faced with this type of scenario, one must question the efficacy of unarmed security officers.

Let’s state the obvious here: We live in a world where crime takes place in a matter of seconds every single day and active shooter incidents are reported quite frequently throughout the nation.

Where there is crime, it is common for some form of weaponry to be involved. If the guard on your property has no way of defending you and can’t do anything to shield your safety… what do you do? What's your next move? What’s plan B? 

Are Unarmed Guards Effective?

Unarmed officers serve their purpose – they act as a deterrent as all guards do; however, when the worst-case scenario is occurring and one must react, an unarmed guard has absolutely nothing to help out in this situation.

All lives are on the line and the guard has a flashlight, pepper spray and nothing of use to fight off a deadly attack. At the very least, the guard should have a conductive energy weapon of some sort, which is not considered a lethal weapon.

Some individuals and companies are even threatened by officers carrying conductive energy weapons; so again, what on earth should the guard do in this case?

Companies avoid having armed guards on their property to elude the risks of liabilities, lawsuits and being negligent for accidental shootings at their place of business. Which is quite understandable, but if the companies would conduct their due diligence and contract with security providers who hire licensed, competent officers with extensive training, the risk of injuries and damages would drop significantly – as the armed guard would possess the skills necessary to handle this type of occurrence.

See how quickly this armed guard wards off robbers:

Unarmed versus armed guards

Often, unarmed guards are hired to appease a company’s visitors, staff, and so forth by giving the “presence” of security but that’s about it. They simply add a layer of protection but a very thin layer at that. The thin layer becomes completely nonexistent when unarmed guards encounter a high-level threat – life or death situation; and at that point, their effectiveness is unsubstantial.

Austin Armed security guardsNow you may say to yourself, “my business is in the safest area of my city; that type of crime doesn’t happen here;” most victims of America say the exact same thing. They never foresee the crime because they always say it can’t happen but the fact is, it can; and if it does, what level of security will you have at your establishment – armed or unarmed guards?

For more information about unarmed and armed guards, contact SRS Services.

June 9th, 2020 by