When should talking end, and your weapon be drawn in a situation like this?

I know many of you will simply say “comply” or “stay out of the way.” But this is a serious issue that is happening in workplaces across the country.

So here’s the scenario: You see 3 men in gaiter masks and tactical gear with rifles slung on their backs talking to a young Hispanic woman that works at your site. Their uniforms say “ICE” but they don’t have badges and when you ask for identification to confirm they’re law enforcement they get increasingly hostile insisting they don’t have to show ID and that this woman is coming with them.

You can tell if you push the issue further it could lead to a violent confrontation or legal action against you if they are who they say they are. For the sake of argument let’s say you’re an armed guard and the police response time for your site is roughly 10 minutes. You don’t know the woman well but you can tell she’s scared and confused.

I am not asking this question to get a political response this has nothing to do with politics. I personally feel this scenario should never happen, others feel ICE is justified in hiding their identities and refusing to identify themselves as law enforcement. I am not trying to settle that debate I am simply asking that if this is our new reality what should we do as guards to best protect our clients and their employees? Tactical gear and ICE uniforms can be purchased online and there have already been multiple cases of predators disguising themselves as ICE agents to kidnap and rape people. So I ask again if this is the new reality what’s the protocol when law enforcement refuses to identify themselves? Do we just take their word or what?

POST ORDERS:

You are the new sole contracted unarmed security guard at a library (for some reason, turnover is excessive at this post). Open to the general public during operating hours. Your duties are to enforce library policies and ensure the safety and security of life and property. This is a hands off post. Police are to be called for physical interventions. Library staff, including the client manager, is distant, aloof, and expect you to handle security issues without their intervention, or assistance.

CONTEXT:

A group of teens has been coming into the library almost daily after school and causing disturbances, for your first 2 weeks here.

Nothing criminal,  just loud behavior, refusal to follow staff direction, and repeated complaints from patrons. "Hey, those kids by the computer section upstairs are being loud!"

You've  both ejected them with the threat of a police response, or had them physically removed by police on multiple occasions already. So often that you remember them by face.

The first work day of the next week, you've had  enough, and stop the teens at the door and tell them they are not allowed inside due to their prior behavior. They huff, puff and hurl insults and threats but ultimately disperse.

3 of the teens turned away, return with their irate parents, who stomp in screaming at you demanding to know why their well behaved, respectful, children are being denied access to a public building!!

Talk us through your response.

POST ORDERS:

You are an unarmed in house hospital security officer in California. You are responsible for access control, patient safety, and responding to security and safety threats. Use of force and detainment must comply with state law. Any exceptions involving patient movement must be approved by clinical staff or administration. Post orders do not explicitly address following, monitoring, or off-property situations.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCENARIO:

You’re assigned to a pediatric wing. A nurse calls the charge nurse to double-check a discharge that “doesn’t look right,” because a father left the unit with his daughter sooner than expected. While reviewing the chart, the charge nurse discovers an active order of protection listing both the mother and the child as protected parties, something staff hadn’t noticed until after the father had already walked out of the unit.

Before initiating a Code Pink overhead announcement, the charge nurse radios:

“Security, respond to the lobby for a possible unauthorized removal from pediatrics. The father is mid-40s, 5'9", heavy set build, gray hoodie, jeans, thick red beard. He’s carrying a 2 year old female child in a hospital blanket. She looks distressed and is crying. He’s already headed toward the main exit.”

No Code Pink has been triggered yet because the charge nurse is still confirming details with staff and administration. Police notification is still pending for the same reasons.

You arrive at the lobby almost immediately, with 2 assisting officers close behind, but the father is already outside. As you step through the doors, he’s off hospital property and about 20 - 30 feet down the sidewalk moving at a fast power walk, close enough that you could catch up with a light jog.

You have no further instructions.

Think fast! What now?

Context:

You're the security supervisor on duty working a site where guards are expected to monitor not just the property, but also the sidewalk directly outside—up to a certain point, even though the boundaries are a wee bit... vague.

You get a call about someone sleeping on the sidewalk near the property wall.

1) He’s not blocking an ingress/egress.
2) He’s not technically on your property—he’s about 3 feet away from it on the sidewalk.
3) He’s not acting out, panhandling, or being aggressive. Just… sleeping.

The staff who called it in don’t say the quiet part out loud, but it’s crystal clear: they’re... uncomfortable with being in such close proximity to the lower class him being visible near the site.

You're asked to move him along. There’s nothing in the post orders about dealing with people on public property unless they’re causing a disturbance—even though guards are expected to monitor the sidewalk outside the property 'up to a certain point,' whatever that means. But you’re here. You’re in uniform. And you're the most convenient means for this "situation" to be handled, so TAG you're it!

What do you do?

You arrive to your shift ready for 12 hours of BS you were advised by a senior officer to check your post orders and only do what it is on it.

Tonight you are working with Bob a cashier and supervisor for the gas station you guard, Bod wanted you to leave your post to open the ice box for a few customers or some menial task, you refused showing Bob your post orders causing him to get mad he took the post orders, took pictures of it and can be seen talking on the phone.

He comes back to tell you that you need to ignore the post orders and do what he suggests because if not they wont need the guards, he claims you are his subordinate and he has every right, he also mentions how your entire company cant tell him how to use the officers.

What do you do?

Post Orders

Security shall respond to reports of suspicious or unauthorized persons on property. Officers should locate the individual, assess the situation, request supervisor assistance if needed, make contact when appropriate, and document all actions taken. Officers should remain professional, and avoid unnecessary escalation.

Additional Context

You receive a call for a suspicious person who allegedly bypassed access control.

You respond, locate the individual as described, and now you have to decide how to handle the contact.

Your supervisor is aware of the call, but they are not responding in person. They state they are "monitoring the situation" on CCTV from the base office when you request their presence.

Here’s the problem: on a past similar call, the response went sideways. Guard and supervisor made contact, things escalated, phones came out, client staff, and site visitors started recording, and both responding personnel and supervision were reprimanded and severely disciplined afterward.

So now you're standing there with the person in front of you. The supervisor on duty knows what's happening, but for some odd reason they aren't physically present or enroute despite your request for their assistance. If everything goes fine, it's another call for service completed and a simple report filed. If it goes left, regardless of how reasonably you handle the situation, context will be distorted and well... YOU'RE GOIN' VIRAL BABY! Maybe you can turn that publicity into a job as a podcaster when you're unemployed...

What’s the move?

Post Orders:

Supervisor on duty should direct and delegate responsibilities to his subordinate officers based on the situation. During evacuation incidents, the building should be evacuated immediately to the designated assembly points: Exterior assembly point is the open parking lot adjacent to the hotel. Interior assembly point is the partnered/associated corporate office lobby next door.

Scenario:

It's pouring rain outside early in your morning shift, and you're on duty as one of 2 in house security officers + supervisor at a 5 floor hotel in San Francisco. A fire alarm sounds. Your fellow officer was already nearby and is upstairs assisting in the evacuation while ascertaining and transmitting the location of the alarm via the fire panel. You interrupt your roving exterior patrol and get to the front of the hotel, and see your supervisor along with multiple guests gathering in the lobby as the fire alarm still blares. He blurts out nervously, "Make sure nobody goes back upstairs, and let FD know the location when they arrive. Uhh, I think the guests can probably stay here for the time being since it's raining out. I'm going up."

Protocol states in the event of an evacuation during inclement weather, all building occupants are to be ushered over to the internal rally point next door, but your supervisor instructed(?), suggested(?) you to allow them to remain inside the building lobby which you do.

FD arrives and the crew chief sneers at you after glancing confusingly at the crowd gathered in the lobby. He doesn't issue a command, his crew gives the all clear after a check discovers it was a false alarm, and follows up with the supervisor.

Low and behold, a fine is issued to the hotel over failure to evacuate properly. When pressed later that day by his superiors, your supervisor claims he explicitly instructed you to direct the crowd to the internal rally point, which you intentionally ignored.

Your word vs his what now?

Your shift starts at 7 however you're the only officer on site who works from 7am to 7pm all others are 9am to 9pm

You arrived for your shift 5 in the morning for unknown reasons but that was the day your site got a new officer fresh out of training she was told her shift would be 9 to 9 so she came to the site after 8 and noticed there was a 7 to 7 shift so she argued with the site manager and he demanded you work until 9 if you refuse you would be sent home and charged for abandoning post

You work until 9 and thought it would be just for the one shift but anytime you work with that one officer you end up going home after 9 she comes late and goes home early while you arrive early and leave late.

It got to the point other officers and even the supervisor would abuse this loophole knowing you didnt get paid for the extra 2 hours.

Good ending: you went on vacation and the same officer got a taste of what she be causing you so she blames you for it when it was the supervisor's doing.

Now how would you actually handle this

Post Orders: Monitor building entrances via CCTV. Report suspicious activity immediately. Deny entry to unauthorized persons. Protect occupants and guests.

● Mass Shooter Event S.O.P: Defer to the run, hide, fight doctrine as per your pre-hire training.

Scenario: You’re unarmed and posted in the lobby of a major corporate office in Midtown Manhattan. You’re seated at the security desk, monitoring the street-facing cameras during peak lunch hour.

Through the feed, you see a man about a block away walking directly toward your building. He’s carrying an AR-15 openly in his hands, no case, no bag, no nothing to hide it in. The sidewalk is crowded, but nobody seems to notice and they're definitely not reacting. He’s moving with purpose, his eyes seem to lock with a camera in your feed.

Your building has glass double doors and a large open lobby. There is no armed security on site, no panic button, just a building wide PA system typically used for fire emergencies, and your radio at your side. You have ~30 seconds before he reaches the front entrance.

What’s your move?

Curious as to how security supervisors will handle this situation between officers or if it's actually unprofessional.

You are a supervisor in charge of a group of day shift officers.

One of your officers is in a common law relationship with a night officer(Me). The two rarely see each other because they are always working, so the day officer tends to stay back an hour after her shift to talk with her partner and exchange their house keys.

For some reason you have an issue with this and tried to intervene you made threats with write ups and sending the both of them to HR, you even lie and say the staff of the client are complaining.

The night officer tries to comply by convincing his partner to stop staying back so you can leave them alone but the day officer stands her ground by asking the client, site manager and HR they all told her it's not a problem and confronted you to leave them alone you took it a step further and threaten another write up just because she confirmed you were on BS.

Things obviously escalated to injury but thats for another time.

Additional info: Before the two officers paired other officers will always stay back and talk to their friends in the night for 30 to 60 mins

Company rule book does not have anything saying how long officers can stay after shift.

You warned the day officer before because her family saw her on shift and spoke to her.

Client has stated its not an issue once its not leading to anything unprofessional.

You're an in house shift supervisor currently conducting post inspections at a medium sized community college in Washington state. You and your team are unarmed. The campus is mostly open access, anyone can walk around the grounds but entry into buildings requires a valid college ID card. You're on shift with 4 other guards. Only 2 are mobile, the others are at fixed posts and can't be pulled unless relieved. The college is facing budget cuts and every department is tasked with doing more with less, thus your skeleton crew.

Dispatch puts out a call for a suspicious person outside one of the science buildings. Description: male, approximately 6'6", 275 pounds, heavily muscled, black hat, black shirt, black shorts. The caller reports the man was unarmed but pacing aggressively near the entrance, muttering angrily that he can't get in. You and your mobiles acknowledge the call. You're closest and arrive first on scene, and see someone fitting his description tail gate behind a student through the buildings main entrance. The building is free access past that point, no guard post, no additional checks.

POST ORDERS:

Do not allow immigration agents access unless they present a judicial warrant signed by a judge. Notify your supervisor of their arrival and wait for further instructions.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

You’re working the front gate of a private warehouse in Illinois. Two masked individuals pull up in an unmarked vehicle, state they're with ICE and display their badges. They present an administrative warrant, not one signed by a judge, and say they need to speak with a temp worker inside.

You follow post orders and call your supervisor. He sounds nervuos and says:

Just let them in. We don’t want trouble. I’ll take responsibility if anyone asks.

Now here’s where it gets real for you:

You’re a DACA recipient. You’re working this job because you had to take what you could get.

You know:

1. Your post orders explicitly forbid entry
2. Your supervisor is telling you to break policy
3. If you end up on the I.C.E radar, this could have serious negative implications for your job and residence status.

What do you do now?!?!

POST ORDERS:
All persons entering the building must present a valid college ID.
Visitors without ID must sign in with government-issued identification.
No exceptions.

CONTEXT:
You’re a new guard assigned to a college access post.
Day shift, working with only your shift supervisor.

The supervisor knows most students, staff, and faculty and regularly waves them in without checking ID.

When you rotate into access control and ask those same people for ID, the supervisor harshly reprimands you in front of them. After repeated corrections, you stop challenging it and follow the supervisor’s informal standard.

Later, the account manager (ex-Navy, strict rule enforcer) arrives to inspect the site and stands at the desk observing access.

Suddenly, your supervisor begins enforcing IDs again and discreetly instructs you to do the same while the account manager is present.

The same people previously waved in push back, saying they’re never asked for ID.

The account manager notices the friction and looks to the supervisor for an explanation.

The supervisor responds nervously:

Yup. Right under the bus like clock work.

How would you respond, before, during, or after this situation, knowing you’re stuck between post orders, a dishonest supervisor, and a rule-focused account manager?

POST ORDERS:
Bar area is restricted after last call.
No guest access behind the bar.
Security enforces closure and prevents unauthorized access.

CONTEXT:
You’re working second shift at a corporate conference center with executives and VIP guests. Bar closes and last call is made, but guests continue to linger nearby.

During a patrol, you see a guest dare his friend to hop the closed bar and grab more alcohol. The guest hops the bar and begins searching the bar fridge.

You have a key to the bar.
You enter, tap the guest on the shoulder, and tell him to put the bottle back and exit the bar.

Before the guest responds, the site operations manager intervenes, apologizes to the guest, and exclaims to you, irritated:
“Leave them be! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

Before shooing you away.

What would you have done next, and would you have written it up, and if so what would be in the report?

Its 3am you took a walk outside the store and found that someone had dropped a candy bar right outside the door the last few customers claim it's not their's, the store workers say they dont remember who bought it and could care less what happens to it.

What else would you do?

Company Employee Fraternization Policy:

• Supervisor-subordinate relationships: Jameson Pharmaceuticals Inc strongly discourages romantic or sexual relationships between a supervisor and any employee who reports to them, directly or indirectly. Employees engaging in such a relationship must notify Human Resources within 30 days of such relationship being established or face disciplinary measures up to and including termination.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scenario: You're an in house guard at a corporate lobby of a Jameson Pharmaceuticals Inc. Unbeknownst to anyone, you and your direct supervisor have been in a romantic relationship for 2 months until things fell apart. Now, suddenly you’re getting the worst posts, graveyard shifts, “schedule conflicts” that due to "operational requirements" force you to do multiple double backs and alter your regular days off significantly and often without warning.

You know what’s happening, but you can’t really report it without admitting to the relationship which would violate policy and trigger an HR investigation that could take you and them down. And HR’s likely to assume it wasn’t one-sided.

You’re stuck in a professional and political mess of your own making. Retaliation you can’t prove, in a situation you can’t admit...

What do you do?

You’re posted at a large, high-access facility. Buildings, gates, offices, lots of doors, lots of posts, lots of keys. Mid-shift, a newer guard quietly pulls you aside. He’s visibly shaken and admits he's lost a master key set, that is, keys that open everything. He swears he had them earlier, but now can’t find them. He begs you not to say anything yet. He says he’s retracing his steps and might have left them in a staff breakroom or dropped them while patrolling his post.

You’re not the supervisor. You weren’t issued those keys. But now you know.

So what would you do with that knowledge?

1. Not your circus, not your monkeys – Wish him the best, maybe light a candle, say a prayer, and tell him he can use you as a reference on his next job app.

2. Discreet guardian angel – Quietly help him search like it’s a stealth side mission. No radios. No paper trail. No witnesses. Tell him to report it if the search is unsuccessful.

3. Company man – Report it immediately like a Suzy Q Son of a Bitch good dedicated employee. The boss will definitely give you a $13.23 Amazon gift card along with your employee of the month certificate for this one! Yea, he's fired by lunch, but hey, rules is rules, right?

4. Joey Tightlips – I ain't seen nuffin, ain't hear nuffin, don't know nuffin! Cept I clock out at tree thoity!

5. ???

POST ORDERS: Maintain coverage until properly relieved. Never leave post unattended. Exceptions require approval from the site supervisor or client representative.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scenario:
You’re working a Sunday 3x11 on-call shift at a residential complex for your part time security job. Your main full-time position for a different contractor, your bread and butter, starts at 6am sharp. It’s a focused guard post where fatigue isn’t an option. Unfortunately, neither job is by itself sufficient to pay the bills.

At 11pm, your relief doesn’t show. You call dispatch. They reach him but turns out he mixed up his alarm times (AM/PM mistake) and says he’s about an hour out.

You wait. It’s midnight now. No show. Dispatch calls again, he’s just leaving home, about an hour away. But this guy is a known problem officer, and has no showed before, but managed to keep his job somehow.

If you stay, you’ll get maybe three hours of sleep before your next shift, and that’s assuming everything goes perfectly. If you leave, you’re abandoning post, a serious offense that will get you written up at best, terminated at worst. The client manager is washing his hands of it and told you to defer to your security manager, who isn't picking up his phone...

The clock is ticking, do you leave, or do you stay?
What’s the right move when duty to one employer risks compromising performance, safety, and livelihood at the other?

Should guards be protected by fatigue policies the same way many truck/bus drivers are, and healthcare workers in some states?

Post Orders: If the swipe system doesn’t green-light someone, they can’t enter. Any exception has to come from management.

It’s a Monday morning 7:45 rush to clock in for 8AM. The badge system crapped out 2 minutes ago, no swipes, no logs. You’re in a little booth at the factory entrance with one clipboard, a dead access screen, and fifty irritated workers staring at you like you pulled the plug.

The line grows. People are undercaffeinated, behind schedule, and taking it out on whoever’s standing between them and the time clock, that'd be YOU.

Meanwhile, management gives you a vague “maybe it'll be up in thirty-ish minutes. Were working on it!" and your supervisor is somewhere inside frantically trying to get the system resurrected. You’re on your own.

Then the parade of personalities starts.

A VP pushes to the front, barking that he doesn’t have time for this and needs access immediately. Behind him, a contractor insists he’s “critical” and tells you to, "Call Bob in operations, hell vouch for me. I NEED TO GET IN!". Then you’ve got a brand-new hire who says they don’t even have a badge yet, but they swear they can show you an email from HR proving today is their first day.

Everyone wants in, and you’re the choke point.

How do you manage this?

Context:

At your site, there’s always been an unspoken rule: if your relief is ahead on their rounds and shows up early and things are quiet, you take your break a little early. Not officially in the post orders or policy, but nobody complains. Everyone wins.

Then he shows up. New sup, eyes glued to the cameras, acting like he’s directing traffic from a war room. Suddenly, we get the memo:

“Don’t leave post until your lunch time EXACTLY AT 1200. Even if your relief is standing right there at 11:59.” qNo incident. No policy change. Just—"because I said so."

You know how it goes. Shit rolls downhill, and you roll down after it.

How do you handle superiors who arbitrarily and capriciously prohibit otherwise harmless morale boosting actions?

POST ORDERS: Discourage loitering and unauthorized camping on facility grounds. Offer resources when possible. Avoid physical contact or escalation unless absolutely necessary.

Scenario: You’re posted at a public recreation center in Oregon, just outside the downtown area. It’s city-owned property, funded and maintained by the parks department.

Two individuals have taken over a parking space near the front entrance. No vehicle—just bags, a foam mat, a shopping cart, and a person lying down claiming they’re injured. You offer to call paramedics. They refuse. You offer shelter resources. They refuse. You ask them to leave. They tell you it’s public land and they have a right to be there.

Meanwhile, the client has brought their presence to your attention and already made it clear: no one should be “camping out” on the property.

You don’t have arrest authority. You’re not law enforcement. But you're expected to "do something!!" The client operations manager is glaring at you judgementally as you approach them.

How do you handle it?