[Image placeholder: photo of a SecureOne officer or patrol vehicle at a Phoenix-area property. Jim to supply]
Most advice about choosing a security guard company reads like it could be about any city. Phoenix isn't any city. A plan that works fine somewhere mild can come apart here in July, when the officer on your exterior post is working through triple-digit heat, or on a monsoon evening when the power drops and the lights and cameras go with it.
SecureOne has been in the security business since 2002, and our Arizona office is in Tempe. Over that time I've seen what separates the security companies in Phoenix that hold up from the ones that don't. A lot of it comes down to questions most buyers never think to ask. Here are the ones I'd bring to every walkthrough.
How do you protect officers working in the heat?
Summer is the first test. For months at a time, Phoenix heat is a real safety issue for anyone who works outdoors, and that includes the officer walking your parking lot or standing at your construction gate. An officer who's overheated isn't alert, and an officer who gets sick on shift leaves your post empty.
Ask each company how it handles exterior posts from late spring through early fall. Where does the officer take breaks? Is there shade, water and an air-conditioned space or vehicle nearby? Are patrol rounds adjusted around the hottest part of the day? Are officers trained to spot heat illness in themselves and in the people they run into on your property?
Our officers are trained in First Aid and CPR, and our patrol vehicles are equipped with 360-degree cameras and backed by a 24/7 command center. An officer working a July afternoon for us isn't working alone.
What happens to my coverage during monsoon season?
Monsoon season brings dust storms, sudden heavy rain and power outages, and it usually arrives in the middle of summer. A storm can knock out gates, lighting and cameras all at once, often right around dusk.
Ask what the officer is supposed to do when that happens. Are there written instructions for storms and outages? How does the officer keep reporting if the building's power is out? If your site depends on cameras, do they have a backup power source?
This is one place where technology earns its keep. Our mobile camera trailers are built to run off the grid, often on solar power, and they're professionally monitored around the clock. On construction sites and large lots across the Valley, they keep watching when the power doesn't cooperate.
Can you really cover the whole Valley?
Phoenix isn't one compact city. The metro spreads across Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Glendale and more, tied together by I-10, the 101 and the 202. A company can have a good name in one part of the Valley and still struggle to get a supervisor to your site in another.
Ask where the company's local office is and where its supervisors are based. Ask how long it takes a supervisor to reach your property, and how a post gets filled when an officer calls off at 5 a.m. If you manage several properties in different cities, ask whether one manager will oversee all of them or whether you'll be juggling several contacts.
Our office is in Tempe, near the middle of the Valley, and our patrols are tracked with GPS Insight, so you can see where officers have been and when.
How do you handle the busy season?
Phoenix runs on its own calendar. Winter brings seasonal residents and visitors. Spring training fills ballparks around the Valley in February and March. The cooler months are when festivals, tournaments and outdoor events crowd the schedule. HOAs, retail centers, hotels and event venues can all hit their busiest stretch at the same time.
Ask whether the company can add officers for a few weeks and scale back when it's over, and how much notice it needs. Ask whether event staff are trained in crowd management and briefed on your specific site. A security company that can only staff the same post year-round will leave you short in exactly the months you need help.
We provide event security alongside our on-site officers and mobile patrols, and we build plans that range from full-time coverage to temporary help for a single community event.
Are you licensed in Arizona, and what training goes past the minimum?
Arizona licenses security agencies and registers security guards through the Department of Public Safety. Ask each company for its agency license and how it confirms that every officer's registration is current. Treat that as the floor, not the finish line.
Then ask what happens after the state requirements are met. Does the officer get trained on your property before the first shift? What about de-escalation and emergency response? We have an in-house Director of Training, and every officer gets site-specific preparation before an assignment, so they know your layout and your procedures from the start.
What will I see every morning?
Ask how you'll know what happened on your property last night. Ask for a sample report and a look at the system behind it. We use Vision Insights, our reporting platform, for real-time incident documentation and patrol logs that property managers and owners can actually see and use.
That visibility saves our clients time. The property manager of an 1,800-home community in Phoenix told us our technology alone had saved tens of thousands of dollars in management time. That's the kind of answer you want from a reference call.
A word about price
I'll be honest. SecureOne is not the cheapest of the Phoenix security guard companies, and we don't try to be. Our clients tell us they stay because of our attention to detail, the technology behind our officers and how quickly we respond. About 76% of our new clients come to us through referrals from existing clients, and I think that says more than any sales pitch could.
Whoever you hire, ask these questions before you sign. The answers will tell you a lot more about the security companies in Phoenix you're comparing than the hourly rate will.
Talk to our Tempe office
If you're comparing security guard companies for a property anywhere in the Valley, we'd be glad to walk it with you. Call us at (888) 834-5285 or request a quote at https://www.secureone.com/request-quote.html.
SecureOne Security Services, 1414 W Broadway, Ste 115, Tempe, AZ 85282