What are post orders?

Where they come from

The walk-through. A supervisor walks the property with the manager, the superintendent or the director, looks at the entrances, the lots, the amenities, the doors that are propped and the corners that are dark, hears what has been happening, and writes the orders from that. Nothing in them is generic: the pool gate is the one at Building 7 that sticks, the contractor who may be on the roof is named, the tow is authorized on the third notice because that is the community’s policy. The client reads and agrees them before the first shift.

What a set contains

The post’s location and hours. The property map with the patrol route and the checkpoints. The access rules: who is a resident, who is a visitor, which contractors are approved and by whom, what deliveries are allowed after hours. The procedures for incidents, with the names and numbers to call in order. The equipment at the post: keys, radios, the tablet, the log. The reporting requirements and the daily report’s structure. The site-specific instructions that only that property needs: the fire door that must stay unlocked, the dumpster enclosure that attracts scrappers, the resident who needs help to evacuate. For a fire watch, the interval, the alarm method and the log.

How they are kept and changed

At the post, in a binder or on the tablet, and at dispatch. Every officer who rotates through signs them. When the property changes, a new package room, a moved laydown yard, a new closing time, the client tells dispatch, the orders are updated and the officers initial the change. Old versions are kept so a report from any date can be read against the orders in force that day.

Why they matter to a client

They are the difference between an officer who happens to be on your property and one who is working it, and they are the document you point to when a question is asked later. The post orders template shows the structure, and the post orders explained article walks a manager through writing them with us.