05/20/2026
After more than 30 years in law enforcement and private security, I’ve noticed one major issue in America: security is still widely underestimated and treated like a joke.
People laugh with terms like “flashlight cop” or “Paul Blart,” but the reality is this — good security professionals prevent problems long before most people ever realize there was a threat.
If maintenance has a failure, “things break.”
If HR has issues, “people are complicated.”
If medical staff face complications, “every patient is different.”
But if contraband gets inside, a fight breaks out, property gets damaged, or someone gets hurt, the first question is always:
“Where was security?”
Security is expected to operate at near perfection in environments built around unpredictable human behavior.
Good security is not just standing around or watching cameras. It’s prevention, communication, de-escalation, risk management, emergency response, and protecting people before situations spiral out of control.
The problem is the best security teams often go unnoticed because success is measured by what never happens.
America needs to stop viewing security as an afterthought and start recognizing it as a critical part of operational safety and risk management.
