Private Security Training Day at North East Division

Over the years, I have participated in several police-private security summits. For the most part these events were geared towards bettering the relationships between senior police officials and their private security counterparts. No complaints there. However, I have always preferred those events which provided practical tools for the officer in uniform.
The information presented at the March 7th seminar, was absolutely spot-on. This meeting was not about lofty speeches. It was strictly nuts and bolts for the working security officer. The meeting got underway just after 9:00AM in the Northeast Roll Call room with about two dozen security officers and managers from different organizations which operate with within the North East Division’s geographical area. Select Patrol was represented by five officers including two of the three Echo Park patrol officers, Ed Aguero and Raul Lopez.
Opening remarks were made by Lt. Steve Flores, of the North East Detective Division . According to Lt. Flores, the inspiration for Northeast’s outreach to the local private security industry owed much to the court-ordered release of 34,000 state prison inmates which began in late 2011. The goal of the training summit was to multiply the numbers of eyes and ears of the police on the street level in anticipation of the thousands of repeat offenders returning to their old neighborhoods.
The training itself was divided into three segments. The first was communications and included an overview of the LAPD communications system and a step by step tutorial in how to make an effective report by phone to the police.
The second segment was titled “Being a Good Witness” and focused on definitions of the types of crimes a security officer may encounter on the job as well as a review of the laws relevant to private person’s arrest. The presenter, Detective Armando Romero, established good rapport among the meeting’s attendees and fielded many questions from the audience.


After a terrific lunch provided by our hosts, we attended our third and final evolution in which participants were selected to view and then give their feedback on different, potential use of force scenarios. The live-action video clips were projected onto a screen which gave the effect of separate, life-sized encounters with an agitated emergency room patient, a bar fight, and a drunken bar patron. The instructor, Officer Craig Orange emphasized the point of the exercise was provide private officers with options to successfully navigate through potentially volatile encounters, and avoid the pitfalls of a no-win situation.
I thought Officer Orange clearly understood the extremely grey world in which private officers operate. For example, a private officer may be summoned to intervene in a situation not necessarily covered under a contractual agreement but simply because the private officer was the first uniform in sight. Unfortunately, it has been precisely this kind of circumstance and the resulting actions of the security officer, which has contributed to what has been a muddled perception in regards to private security’s role not only with the public but also in the eyes of the police. I thought this element of training and the low key approach that was encouraged demonstrated a better understanding of what is expected of private officers.
No doubt our instructors had as much opportunity to access our collective skill level as much as we had the opportunity to learn. It is my hope that our March 7 training date will be something to build upon for the future. My thanks our host Senior Lead Officer Nina Preciado and the other officers who participated in the event.



DW