In many states, security guards get scant training

WASHINGTON - At a Coralville mall, a security guard is accused of fatally shooting a woman who worked there at a children's museum. At a Kentucky distillery, a security guard accepted money from thieves to look the other way while they stole more than $100,000 in whiskey. And in a Virginia hospital, a 64-year-old man died after an altercation with a security guard.

Recent incidents like these have drawn fresh attention to the screening, training and oversight of private security officers, and have prompted some legislators around the nation to push for stricter regulation - efforts that have been largely unsuccessful this year.

'We've got to feel comfortable that people who have a badge on are, in fact, trained, and trained well,” said Michigan state Sen. Darwin Booher, a Republican who sponsored a set of bills, still pending, that would update regulations on security guards in the state.

About 90 bills were introduced in state legislatures this year dealing with the licensing and training of security officers or requirements for security companies, according to Steve Amitay, director of the National Association of Security Companies, an industry group. None of this year's bills that would have substantially toughened state requirements was enacted, Amitay said.

'In some of these states, it's a very anti-regulatory environment and they think any additional regulation on businesses or people performing services is bad,” Amitay said. 'With other folks, it's a resource issue. For the state to start regulating an industry and requiring licenses requires initial appropriations and startup costs.”

In Connecticut, a bill that would have required security guards to get more training died in the Senate. In Washington state, a measure that would have mandated FBI criminal background checks for all applicants never made it to the House floor.

In California, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have made bouncers and plainclothes guards subject to the same licensing requirements that apply to security officers.

Forty-one states, plus the District of Columbia, license security officers, but requirements vary greatly.

Iowa requires private security businesses to be licensed by the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

When a security company hires a guard, the guard gets temporary authorization to work 14 days while the state does background checks. But once a guard passes, there is no requirement for recurring checks to make sure the guard stays out of trouble.

And Iowa has no required training for employees of private security companies.

In June, police said security guard Alexander M. Kozak of North Liberty shot and killed Andrea Farrington, 20, inside the Coral Ridge Mall as hundreds shopped.

Investigators have not provided a motive, but said Kozak left the mall, retrieved a gun from his home and returned to shoot her. His murder trial is next year.

While nine states - Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming - do not license security officers at the state level, some cities within them do, NASCO said.

In 22 states including Iowa, there are no training requirements for unarmed guards; 15 have none for armed guards, either.

'It's a hodgepodge. It's an extreme variety of approaches,” said Charles Nemeth, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who directs its Center for Private Security and Safety. 'Some are better than others; some are nonexistent.”

More than 1 million security guards work in retail stores, hospitals, sports stadiums and other locations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They typically are responsible for protecting property, enforcing rules, conducting security checks and deterring criminal activity, and had a median salary of $23,970 in 2012.

Most - like Kozak of North Liberty did - work for a security company that contracts its services. Others are hired directly by a business.

While the vast majority don't carry weapons, those who do have raised special concerns. A 2014 investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN found poor oversight and little accountability of the armed guard industry.

Twenty-seven states did not check whether armed guard applicants were in a federal database banning them from carrying guns and nine did not conduct federal criminal background checks.

Sandi Davies, director of the International Foundation for Protection Officers, a non-profit that gives training certificates to security guards, said states should require at least 40 hours of basic training - but most don't.

'We want a more trained and skilled officer to protect our premises. They need to be able to identify threats,” Davies said. 'I can't for the life of me think that anyone should be in a position of authority without at least 40 hours of training.