A Day on Post With Price Protection

Before the first round

Every shift starts the same way whatever the post: arrive early, check in with dispatch on the phone, read the pass-down from the last officer, and re-read the post orders if anything on the property has changed. The post orders are the written instructions for that property, agreed with the client: the route, the checkpoints and their interval, the access rules, the closings, the escalation contacts and the site-specific instructions. On a new post, the officer reads and signs them before the first shift.

An evening at an apartment community

The courtesy officer’s shift at a garden community starts around dusk. The first round is the long one: the pool and its gate, the fitness room, the mail kiosk, the package room, the laundry rooms, every breezeway and stair, every lot and the perimeter fence. The officer tests the gates that should be locked, logs the lights that are out for maintenance and notes anything unusual. Residents say hello; a few have questions; the officer knows the regulars by the second week.

The pool closes at the posted hour and the officer is there to close it. Later rounds vary in order and timing so nobody can set a watch by them. A loud gathering is handled with a knock and a courteous word; a car parked in the fire lane is logged and reported to the office; a stranger in a breezeway at two in the morning is approached and, where the post orders say so, asked to leave. Everything goes into the phone as it happens.

A night on a fire watch

A fire watch officer walks a building whose sprinkler or alarm system is out of service. The interval, the areas and the alarm method come from the fire marshal’s conditions and the post orders. Every round covers every floor and area on the list: exits clear, extinguishers in place, no smoke, no heat, no hazards. Each round is logged with the time, the areas and the conditions found. The officer’s only job is the watch; there is no other duty during those hours, and the log is what the fire marshal reads.

A morning on a construction gate

The gate officer opens the site before the first crews arrive. Every worker, delivery and visitor is checked in against the contractor’s list and logged; badges are checked; deliveries are directed. Between arrivals the officer watches the fence line and the laydown area. At the end of the day the officer confirms the site is clear, the gate is locked and the equipment is secured, and logs it.

The handover and the report

Every shift ends with a pass-down to the next officer or to dispatch, and with the daily activity report closed. The next morning the client reads that report, and a supervisor reads it against the post orders and follows up with the officer on anything that needs it. The apartment shift article and the fire watch shift article go through two posts hour by hour. Apply through the application page.