Professional Security Consultants

Officer Training
Communications & Equipment
Procedures
Public Relations
• You will use your communication skills for:
• Telephone Procedures
• Radio transactions
• Face-to-face communications with customers
• Crisis response
• Crowd control
• Aggressive customers
• Criminal activity
• Parking and vehicle control
• The same common courtesy that you use in your everyday life should be
used in your work. The same consideration that you expect from others,
should be returned, even more so. There are some common words and
phrases that should become a part of your everyday vocabulary. These are:
Good morning/afternoon, Please, Thank-you, and you're Welcome.
Interpersonal
Communications
• Security officers must maintain a formal but a pleasant manner
when dealing with employees or visitors. Security officers
should attempt to be helpful at all times. The use of "please"
and "thank you" will assist in carrying out assigned duties by
soliciting cooperation from others.
• Security officers must avoid being overly familiar with client
employees, as to do so makes the enforcement of security
regulations more difficult. Diplomacy, rather than rigid
inflexibility is desirable. Security officers should make a
written report of non-compliance instead of confronting an
employee to comply.
Telephone Procedures
• Identify the client company.
• Identify yourself: "Security Officer .
• Ask, "May I help you?"
• Assume that all calls are important.
• Restate the message to be sure you understand.
• Do not give out any information relating to personnel, equipment, or
incident report without approval of the Director.
• Requests of this nature will be forwarded to the designated individual for
handling.
• Complete the call by explaining what action you will take.
• Say: 'Thank you for calling."
• Handle outgoing calls as prescribed in your Post Orders, unless
otherwise advised by your Supervisor.
Telephone Etiquette
• Handling of the telephone traffic may be a primary function
at your duty assignment.
• If you are working an afternoon, evening, or weekend shift,
you can be certain that you will be required to handle some
telephone traffic.
• In some cases, you may be the initial representative of your
client to be contacted by customers, potential customers, or his
higher headquarters. At other times, you may be the recipient
of employee call-offs or emergencies.
• If you have telephone responsibilities at the job site, you are
the primary link between your client and the rest of the
world. The way you handle the telephone traffic can directly
affect the image that the client maintains with the public and
the relationship he maintains with his employees.
Rules for Telephone Use
• Every officer should know how the phone system works
at your site. Are calls forwarded to security after hours
from the management office?
• As a minimum, you should learn the following:
• How to answer
• How to place a call
• How to put a call on hold
• How to transfer a call
• How to page an individual
• Extensions of key personnel
Rules for Telephone Use
• Be courteous, and speak clearly. Answer the telephone
promptly, within three rings if possible. When
answering, identify your company and yourself.
EXAMPLE: “ABC Mall, Security Officer Jones, may I
help you?” Put a smile in your voice. Always address
men as “sir” and ladies as “ma’am.” Use proper English.
Say “yes” and not “yeah,” and “no” not “uh-uh.”
• Record all calls accurately on your telephone log or
message form. Ask for proper spelling of the caller’s
name. Make sure you detail not only the subject of the
call, but whom you passed the message on to. Read the
message back to the caller to insure it is accurate. If it is
an emergency, inform the caller as to what steps you
going to take.
Personal Calls
• You are not authorized to make personal calls from your department
phone or from any other phone at your facility. However, it is
sometime necessary to make an emergency call to your home. If you
make such a call, clear this with your supervisor first. If it is a toll
call, arrange to pay for the call. In any case, limit personal
emergency calls strictly.
• Never make a long distance call, not even
an emergency call unless you have
specific permission from your security
manager. Making long distance calls and
concealing the fact is an act of theft.
Needless to say, theft of any sort cannot
be tolerated in a security officer.
Telephone Messages
• When a call comes into the dispatch center, the officer may be required to
take a message if the Time and date are important, as is the message and
proper spelling of the caller's name.
• It is important to make sure that the message is delivered as soon as possible.
If the person they are calling for is not available, the dispatch officer shall
ask if being transferred to voicemail is acceptable? “Director Smith is not
available right now. Would you like me to transfer you to his voicemail?”
• If the caller does not want to be transferred to a voicemail box, the dispatch
officer shall collect information and send an email to the appropriate party
whether it is for mall management staff or the Director as a notification of
the call. Information included in the message should be:
 Name of caller – properly spelled (First and Last)
 Phone Number
 Company the caller is from
 Topic of conversation should be included in the email.
 Time of the call
Phone Courtesy
• Calls Placed on Hold
• Beware of putting callers on hold. Callers hate to be put on hold. Don't ever answer a
line by saying: "Hold a moment, please." Always identify the caller first, and then
explain you are busy on another line and ask if you may place him/her on hold for a
minute. Don't simply say "just a minute" and snap the caller on hold. Often a call on a
second line while you are on the main line will turn out to be a higher priority call. In
that case you may need to put your main line caller on hold. So, be sure you are not
placing a high priority call or an emergency call on hold. To be sure of this you must
get a notion of the message before you place a caller on hold.
• Initiating Calls
• Always assume that calls you make to other people are interruptions for them.
Identify yourself at once, apologize for the interruption, and state your message in
brief. Give only the necessary facts related to the message, then wait for questions.
Let the person you call end the conversation.
• Receiving Calls
• Always use the same format for answering telephone calls. A standard format is:
"___________, Officer Smith speaking." Then proceed to identify your caller and get
the message.
Radio Communications
• You will be required to carry and operate a 2-way radio. Keep in
mind that your client monitors your radio communication.
• Radios provide extra safety for the
security officer as they enable him to
quickly summon assistance. Therefore,
it is important for the officer to know
how to properly use the radio so that he
can be easily understood.
• Radios are expensive items that are relatively difficult to replace.
Therefore, it is very important for the officer also to know how to
properly care for and maintain the equipment.
ABC’s of Radio Communication

A. Accurate – transmitting information correctly with

having to repeat or explain.
B. Brief – no unnecessary or repetitious words in
transmission
a) K I S S – Keep It Simple, Stupid
C. Clarity – get your point across minimally and clear
Care & Operation of
Equipment
• NEVER leave your radio unattended.
• If unattended and is stolen, this is a serious breach of security.
• Do not hold the radio by the antenna
• Make sure your radio is properly charged when signed out.
• Turn the channel selector to proper channel for Security.
• Make sure your volume is at a level that you can hear, but not
loud enough for others to hear. Ear pieces are recommended.
• Speak directly into the unit.
• Pause shortly prior to and end of transmission to guarantee
delivery of your transmission.
Rules for Radio Use –
Standard Patrol Practice
• Expectations for basic patrol radio use:
 Security officers are required to monitor
all radio traffic.
 Security officers must leave radio units
on at all times when on duty.
 Security officers must respond to all radio traffic
directed to them.
 Security officers must call out all changes of
location prior to making them.
 Security officers must call out prior to
interactions.
Rules for Radio Use –
Authority Over Radio
• The radio system is a means for communicating verbal directives from
in charge leaders or others with authority to issue directions. Security
officers must obey directions issued over the radio just as if they were
issued in person. Several common sources of authority are
communicated by radio.
• Supervisory Authority – Leaders will use the radio to communicate their
directors to security personnel.
• Dispatch Authority – Dispatchers have a functional authority to
communicate by radio. When a dispatcher issues a direction to an officer
the security officer must obey except in case of reasonable circumstances.
• On Scene Authority – Officers who are present on the scene of incident
have a functional authority regarding what is happening on scene and what
is needed on scene.
Radio Codes
• The “Codes” is a list of code numbers used
regularly to shorten conversations and avoid
miscommunications. They are used to
describe Officer actions, locations,
situations, etc. Following is the sample of
these “Codes.” Additional codes may be
added for specific clients.

[Check with your FTO / Supervisor for a

list of 10-Codes used in your center]
10 Codes
10 Codes
10-1 Poor Reception
10-2 Clear Reception
10-3 Taking Report
10-4 Acknowledged [OK]
10-5 Walk-by (Walk-through)
10-6 Busy on call
10-7 Out of Service (Off Shift)

10-8
In Service / Available for Assignment
10-9 Repeat Last Transmission
10-10 Maintenance Service
10-11 Talk Slower
10-12 Vehicle Accident
10-20 Location
10-40 Break / Lunch
10-100 Restroom Break
Codes
Phonetic Alphabet
A phonetic alphabet is used to avoid any misunderstandings when spelling
names or reporting vehicle license plate numbers.
Descriptions of People
• Basics plus Ready Identifier: An initial “highlighting
description”, if appropriate, can be communicated to help
officers immediately visually target possible candidates from
among a crowd of people can be used - “We are looking for a
M/W adult with a yellow stocking cap pushing a baby stroller.”
• General Before Specific: Next, describe general identifiers such
as gender, ethnic appearance, age, height, build – “This is a
Male/White, approximately 65 years of age, approximately 6 foot
tall, small build.”
• Clinch Features: – Finish by describing features that will help to
clinch focus upon the subject – “Also, the subject has a 4 inch
scar on his left cheek, a tattoo on his left hand and is pushing a
baby stroller.”
Descriptions of People
• For ethnic appearance:
• White
• Hispanic
• Black
• American Indian or Alaskan Native
• Asian or Pacific Islander
• Unknown Ethnicity
• Build
• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Age: Use approximate age (i.e. “approximately 24 y.o.a) or
child, teen, adult
• Un-offensive – DO NOT use a term that could be considered
offensive
• Official, Necessary – Do not describe by other terms that are
“official” (i.e. do not describe by religion or by sexual
orientation).
Common Communication
Mistakes
• Improper communications threatens proper officer safety
techniques and the effectiveness of incident response itself.
• Communications during incident response suffers from
several common tactical errors.
 Failure to notify
 Talking too long
 Failure to update
 Failure to obtain sufficient information from complainant
 Failure to manage dispatch
 Allowing lack of calm to affect communications
Things to Remember . . .
• Keep conversations at a minimum
• NEVER discuss confidential material on the radio
• Pronounce your words clearly.
• Radios are not toys, do not play with them or make
jokes using them.
• Keep voice emotionless
• Always use company approved 10 codes. But too many
can be confusing.
• Always identify who you are and whom you are calling
• Be careful not to “walk over” someone else’s
transmission.
• Once received, always clear your transmissions (“10-
4 /Clear”)
• Use phonetic alphabet