Careers FAQ: Pay Periods, Shifts, Equipment and Licensing

The questions applicants ask first

Most applicants want to know four things before they send a resume: how pay works, what the shifts are, what they have to bring and what license they need. The short answers are in the questions below. The longer answers are on the requirements page, the training and licensing page and the day on post page.

Pay and schedules are confirmed in writing

The company sets pay rates, the pay period and the pay method out in writing at hiring, before the first shift, and they depend on the post and the officer’s license level. That is why no figures appear on this site. Schedules work the same way: a post’s hours are confirmed when an officer is assigned to it, and changes are agreed in advance. What can be said generally is that posts run around the clock, so there is work on nights and weekends, and that fire watch assignments can start on short notice.

The posts

Apartment communities are the largest group: courtesy patrols, gate posts and pool closings on garden communities and mid-rises across the region. Construction gates and overnight patrols in the growth corridors. Lobbies and parking garages at office buildings and healthcare facilities. Retail lots on the 24-hour corridors. Churches on service days. Venues on event nights. Fire watch in any building whose sprinkler or alarm system is down and on any site doing hot work. Officers are assigned to posts on their side of the region and generally keep them.

What the company provides and what you bring

The company provides the uniform, the post orders, the reporting system, training in its protocols, dispatch 24 hours a day and a supervisor on every shift. Officers bring their own duty belt and, if commissioned, their own reliable weapon, along with a working smartphone and reliable transportation. The equipment article explains what goes on the belt and why.

Licensing

Texas requires a Department of Public Safety registration or commission for every officer, tied to the company’s license. Level II is for unarmed work, Level III for armed. The company tells applicants without a license which course to take and how the process works, and no officer works a post until the state has issued the credential.

After you apply

Applications go through the application page. Applicants who meet the requirements are contacted for an interview, and the interview article explains what it covers. New officers are trained, read and sign the post orders for their first property and start with a supervisor’s number in their phone.