FAQ

A security guard secures premises and personnel by patrolling property; monitoring surveillance equipment; inspecting buildings, equipment, and access points; permitting entry. Obtains help by sounding alarms. Prevents losses and damage by reporting irregularities; informing violators of policy and procedures; restraining trespassers. BLACKWATCH agents also protect people, property, and assets; provides detailed reports to the clients; arrests those found committing crimes on the property.

Yes. Security may make a citizen’s arrest providing that the guard, or a representative of the client, witnessed a crime taking place. A guard must be careful when effecting an arrest as a defense attorney could sue the guard or the guards employer for assault or false arrest if the subject is found innocent.

Frankly, like anyone else, a security guard can ask you for anything under the sun. The real question is, do you have to comply. The answer is no. You are only required to present ID if you are seeking an age-restricted product or service or to verify your identity to gain certain access.

For most sites, there is no escaping boredom. To remain alert, one can listen to music on low volume, walk around, stretch, do short exercises, or play scenarios in their head to prepare for potential threats and how to properly respond.

The short answer is yes. Restricted areas will often require a search. If you deny consent, you will be denied access. Security may not touch the bag's contents. It must either be scanned by x-ray, or you will be asked to move or remove items to provide a clear view of the contents. The same rules apply upon exiting except for people must be forewarned before entering that they will be subject to search upon departure.

Yes. We offer a variety of discounts. We discount for veteran owned businesses, long-term contracts (contracts lasting 90 days or more), on-time payment of invoices, and for other special circumstances or promotions.

There are many reasons for this:

• Be careful when looking at 'cheap' companies. If you are proposed services for a considerably lower cost than other companies, you may not be working with a very reputable company. To charge a significantly lower rate than the others is a good sign that corners are being cut. The lower the rate, the more corners that are being cut.
• First, there is the payroll for the personnel, as well as the payroll taxes that come with it. If your security is not getting a decent paycheck, they are not going to be happy employees, and therefore, will not provide very good customer service to you, or your customers. Of course, there are some companies out there that don't have actual employee guards. Instead, they hire them on as independent contractors so the company doesn't have to pay the taxes on payroll and the entire tax burden falls on the individual guard. The company doesn't have to pay worker's compensation either if they have no employees.
• Second, it costs a lot of money to properly train a security professional. There's the cost of the initial training to be able to get licensed as a guard. Then, there's the additional cost of training the agent up to our standards of operation.
• Third, we are not a traditional security company that merely observes and reports or looks pretty in a uniform. We actually put in work and take proactive measures to reduce and/or eliminate the crime rate at your property. We literally protect you, your staff, your customers, and your property/assets.
• Lastly, there's the back-end costs such as licensing, insurance, certifications, uniforms, equipment, and technology.

All things considered, if you are using a 'cheap' company, there's a high probability that the guards you get will not care much about their job because they don't get paid enough to care, they will have little or no training whatsoever, and/or probably are not carrying the proper licensing and insurance to make them a legitimate company.

Our vehicles are used for a variety of services. Sometimes our vehicles need to be discreet. We have easily removable signage and light bars so we can use the vehicles for low-key escorts, executive protection, bail enforcement, surveillance, investigations, and other operations that may require an unmarked vehicle. Instead of having different vehicles for different purposes, we can use fewer vehicles for a multitude of purposes. This helps keep operating costs down so we can charge our clients less.

In Colorado, there is no statewide regulations around the security industry. However, Some municipalities have enacted their own policies regarding background checks, physicals, training, and licensing. The City of Denver has the strictest standards for security companies and guards. At BLACKWATCH, we meet and exceed these standards and practice the same standards throughout the state. To be a security guard in Denver, you must meet these minimum requirements:

• Must be at least 18 years of age to be an unarmed guard
• Must be at least 21 years of age to be an armed guard.
• Must be a resident of Colorado
• Must be a United States citizen or registered resident alien
• Must have a valid Colorado ID
• Must have a valid Social Security card
• Must pass an FBI/CBI background check
• Must pass a Denver-approved security guard physical
• Must pass a Denver-approved security guard training class (16hr minimum)
• Must pass an NRA or P.O.S.T. firearms certification (armed guards only)(5hr min classroom/3hr min range)

In Colorado, there is no standard exam for becoming a security guard. Each training provider has its own methods for determining pass or fail. Generally speaking, if you pay attention to the instruction given, it shouldn't be too hard to pass. Our training program is broken down into sections. Depending on what your company requires, not all guards get all sections of our training. Each section has a quiz at the end. Students must score 80% or better to pass. The scores of each quiz are averaged to make your final score.

Unarmed guards usually don't carry anything except for maybe a flashlight. Some unarmed guards are certified to carry less-than-lethal weapons for self-defense. These may include OC spray (pepper spray), baton, or in rare cases, a taser.

If you pay attention to the instruction given, it should not be too difficult to pass the classroom portion of the firearms training. The range portion will really depend on your skill level. Our firearm certification is based off the Georgia State Police firearms certification, but just a tad more difficult. It consists of five stages firing ten rounds each at different distances and different tasks.

When an individual or entity, initiates a lawsuit against another party, they are legally required to provide the other party with notice of the impending lawsuit, as well as copies of any documents that have been filed with the court. This is known as “service of process.” Documents are often served to an opposing party through a professional server known as a “process server.”

You can provide one residence address and one employer address. We will make up to 5 attempts at each address at various days of the week and times of day. Additional addresses cost extra.

We will attempt one skip trace at no additional charge. Additional skip traces will cost extra.

Skip tracing is the act of collecting information on a hard-to-find individual in order to locate them. “Skip” derives from the commonly used phrase “to skip town” and refers to the person who needs to be found. “Tracing” refers to the act of tracking them down.

Court filing is the process of submitting your documents, either electronically or in physical form, to commence or supplement an ongoing legal action. Filing documents in a timely manner is imperative for the success of a legal case. Filing after the statute of limitations will result in having your legal action dismissed with prejudice. In ongoing legal matters, missed deadlines can be detrimental to your case. Be sure to check with the applicable code of civil procedure to make sure you are submitting your filings in a timely manner.

Service of process is an essential step in commencing a civil lawsuit. In fact, service of process is so essential in a lawsuit that, if it is not performed properly, a lawsuit cannot proceed. Service of process is critical because it establishes that the court hearing the lawsuit has jurisdiction over the defendant. Service of process is also important because it notifies the defendant that the plaintiff is bringing a lawsuit and that the courts will hear the impending lawsuit. Therefore, it is important to understand service of process and its place in a lawsuit.

Certainly, but why? No attorney worth their weight in legal briefs will ever advise you to avoid being served. After reasonable attempts to serve a party have failed, the judge presiding over the case will allow alternative means of service. This could be substitute service, 'nail and bail' (taping documents to the door or leaving them in a spot where they can't be missed), electronic service, or notice in the local newspaper. Whether you actually receive the documents or not, you are still considered served at this point. You may as well just accept the documents and sign the form the server presents to you. It actually looks better in front of the judge if it shows you were cooperative with the process server. Also, if a process server has identified his/herself as a process server and identified the documents as process, and you refuse to accept them, you have still been served regardless of possession of documents.

Personal protection has generally been something only the rich can afford. It can cost as much as $1,000.00 per day or more. However, we at Blackwatch believe that everyone deserves to feel safe and protected when needed. We have plans that those who are not rich can afford. Under certain circumstances, we may even be able to provide services for little or no cost. See our Samaritan page for details on that service.

Personal protection, executive protection, and close protection generally describe the same thing. We use the term personal protection because it is more inclusive of a term. Executive protection sounds as though it alienates those of lesser means than the wealthy. Close protection is not a term that most people are familiar with. For the difference between bodyguards and personal protection, read our blog post titled: 'Personal Protection vs. Bodyguard'.

Personal protection agents go through much more extensive and specific training that security guards don't normally do. The personal protection agent's mindset and discipline is at a far higher standard as well. With security, lives are rarely at stake. With protection services, lives are ALWAYS at stake. Also, there is not a huge market for their specific skillsets, and often the jobs are temporary. Many have to find other sources of income for when they are not providing protection services. They have to find that rare employer than can allow them the flexibility of working for them as well as doing protection.