A law enforcement security officer is an individual who is tasked with ensuring that the law’s regulations are upheld for the safety of those who reside in the community that they serve.
Different variations of law enforcement officers are specifically categorized by the nature of the service that they provide in the interest of public safety. While some officers might be tasked primarily with resolving crimes or disturbances in progress through direct intervention, others primarily serve the purpose of deterring disorderly conduct through presence and reporting any crimes that they observe.
Security Guards
Law enforcement security officers who are employed specifically to reduce the chance of crime either occurring on public/private properties or harming specific individuals are referred to as security guards. Depending on the context of their arrangement, security guards may be asked to remain stationary and visible in front of the door to a building or room to deter onlookers from unauthorized entry. In other circumstances, a security guard might be asked to closely follow an individual when they’re out in public to prevent them from being physically harmed by aggressive individuals.
Police Officers
Law enforcement security officers whose primary priority is to actively preserve the peace of the towns and cities they serve by taking direct action and responding to calls for help are referred to as police officers.
Police officers’ main duty is to actively respond to any crimes in progress that they either observe directly or are informed of by dispatchers who pick up calls from civilians at the scene. In addition to responding to calls for help from victims, bystanders and business owners, police officers also carry out patrols to scan for crimes in progress that may not be called in due to either a lack of witnesses or the lack of necessity for a victim to constitute criminal activity, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Shared Responsibilities Between Law Enforcement Officer Variations
While the roles played by security guards and police officers may distinctly different requirements, the responsibilities entailed by both of these law enforcement jobs overlap in their shared requirement for strong powers of observation. Both police officers and security guards alike need to exercise constant vigilance in order to maximize their chance of picking up on subtle signs of something being amiss.
While a significant part of a law enforcement officer’s job is to either directly respond to calls for help relayed by dispatchers or to call for other officers to address crimes brought to their attention by civilians, many of the things that security guards and police officers independently pick up on tend to fall under the radar of most civilians.
Related Resource: What is a Criminal Investigator?
Because civilians are oftentimes preoccupied by their casual conversations and mobile devices, their level of awareness about the subtle signs of danger around them is oftentimes lowered substantially until they’re forced to recognize it. When they aren’t calling in or responding to crimes that they’ve been notified about, law enforcement security officers serve as the “eyes” for law-abiding citizens who don’t vigilantly observe their surroundings.
