The Thing About Security

 A lot of chatter today is about the action or lack of action by the capital police....either in shooting the unarmed young lady, or in losing control of the capital office building.

First, these are 'capital police'....which generally means they are local guys who went through a training program, and on graduation day....make around $56k a year.  In the DC area....that's basically crap-pay.

Maybe around year 3 to 7....you get up around the $65k to $73k level, and can marginally make it on that type of pay in the DC/Arlington area. 

So what you are paying for...are just simply 'door-guards'.  If you could do better....you'd pack up and leave.  For example, in the cheaper landscape of Las Vegas as a policeman....you can make $59k after four years.  Your housing cost is half the level of DC, and probably better quality.

What you end up with in terms of 'door-guards'....is someone's cousin Marty, who might be 30 pounds overweight, gasping for air after running 60 feet, and a guy who marginally shoots twenty-five round once a year for practice.  

You basically pay for what you get....if you want cheap door-guards.....you get cheap door-guards.

Nice uniforms, police management guys who can talk at the level required, someone who bathes everyday, and not some Barney Fife-idiot who you have to lecture each day on proper behavior.

I worked years ago with some guy, who had a uncle in Florida that managed bank security guards for different banks.  Some banks wanted top-of-the-line people and paid for the higher quality.  Some banks just wanted your cousin Marty character who just looked good in a uniform, worked cheaply, but couldn't really cut it as a professional bank guard.  So this uncle of his had two resume questionnaires, and two levels of quality.  

After this explanation....I came to be skeptical of virtually all door-guards or security guards.  Security just isn't what you think it is.