Private guards a weak link in security-(rent a cop world)

ap ^ | 5/28/07 | By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

[Flavius]

WASHINGTON - Legions of ill-trained, low-paid private security guards are protecting tempting terrorist targets across the U.S.

Richard Bergendahl is one of them. He fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles, protecting a high-rise office building for $19,000 a year. Down the block is an even taller skyscraper, identified by President Bush as a building chosen for a Sept. 11-style airplane attack.

Bergendahl, 55, says he often thinks: "Well, what am I doing here? These people are paying me minimum wage.

[Flavius]

Edwards: There Is No 'War on Terror' MyFox WGHP, NC - May 23, 2007 In a defense policy speech he planned to deliver at the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan Bush had ...

why do we need security if its all just politics

[johnny7]

Those of us who care are on the lookout 24/7... and we work for NOTHING.

[Yorlik803]

I make deliveries to office buildings all the time. Some Guards do take thier job seriuosly, but for the most part, they are goofballs who couldnt handle the strain of being a greeter at Walmart.
I was a Guard for a Firm that did Security for a High school. I was Unarmed, untrained and treated like a jerk. I was happy as hell when I was called back to my job from which I was laid off.
You get what you pay for.

[Perdogg]

Wackenhut had been providing security services to the federal govt, including GAO, for years.

[gitmo]

One guard said he was given this direction in case of an attack: "Call the police."

That about sums it up.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Everything in that article rings true to me. The vast majority of clients will not pay for competent, capable security officers. They want "shirt wearers" to provide an illusion of security and pretend to meet their liability insurance carrier's requirements. The days of the no skill guard shack dweller will be coming to an end when clients pay for the biometric access systems, surveillance camera systems, and robot patrol droids that enable one skilled security officer to secure several facilities from a remote location off site.

The source of much of this article, AlliedBarton, has a vested interest in running the low-ball mom and pops out of business, and good riddance to most of them.

[KarlInOhio]

Richard Bergendahl is one of them. He fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles, protecting a high-rise office building for $19,000 a year. Down the block is an even taller skyscraper, identified by President Bush as a building chosen for a Sept. 11-style airplane attack.

So, if you paid security guards more they could shoot down airplanes and save the occupants? Well, that's worth at least a buck an hour extra.

[iowamark]

"Bergendahl, 55, says he often thinks: "Well, what am I doing here? These people are paying me minimum wage.""

A shining example of the American attitudes that make employers demand to import foregn labor. He says that he earns $19,000 for nothing and he sees himself, not his employer, as a victim.

[real saxophonist]

Yeah, Security has one of the higher turnover rates in the country. I worked Security for a couple years after I got out of the Marines. About half the people I worked with were worth a crap, the other half weren’t.