(1) employment of private security officers in
the United States is growing rapidly;
(2) the private security industry provides nu-
merous opportunities for entry-level job applicants,
including individuals suffering from unemployment
due to economic conditions or dislocations;
(3) sworn law enforcement officers provide sig-
nificant services to the citizens of the United States
in its public areas, and are only supplemented by
private security officers who provide prevention and
reporting services in support of, but not in place of,
regular sworn police;
(4) given the growth of large private shopping
malls, and the consequent reduction in the number
of public shopping streets, the American public is
more likely to have contact with private security per-
sonnel in the course of a day than with sworn law
enforcement officers;
(5) regardless of the differences in their duties,
skill, and responsibilities, the public has difficulty in
discerning the difference between sworn law enforce-
ment officers and private security personnel;
(6) the American public demands the employ-
ment of qualified, well-trained private security per-
sonnel as an adjunct, but not a replacement for
sworn law enforcement officers;
(7) the States and employers should be required
to determine the qualifications of applicants for em-
ployment as private security personnel;
(8) employers should be required to ensure at
least minimum training for newly hired private secu-
rity personnel and refresher training for experienced
personnel, based upon State-imposed standards;
(9) State requirements, if any, for screening
and training private security personnel vary widely;
(10) public safety would be improved if all
States required appropriate screening and training
of private security personnel;
(11) States should enact laws imposing mini-
mum standards that are uniform nationwide for the
screening and training of private security personnel,
although States should be allowed to enact stricter
or more rigorous standards if they so choose; and
(12) State law applicable to private security
personnel should apply to all private security person-
nel.
SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—An association of employers of
private security officers, designated for the purpose of this
section by the Attorney General, may submit fingerprints
or other methods of positive identification approved by the
Attorney General, to the Attorney General on behalf of
any applicant for a State license or certificate of registra-
tion as a private security officer or employer of private
security officers. In response to such a submission, the At-
torney General may, to the extent provided by State law
conforming to the requirements of the second paragraph
under the heading ‘‘Federal Bureau of Investigation’’ and
the subheading ‘‘Salaries and Expenses’’ in title II of Pub-
lic Law 92–544 (86 Stat. 1115), exchange, for licensing
and employment purposes, identification and criminal his-
tory records with the State governmental agencies to
which such applicant has applied.
(b) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General may pre-
scribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out
this section, including measures relating to the security,
confidentiality, accuracy, use, and dissemination of infor-
mation and audits and recordkeeping.
(c) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall report to
the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary 2
years after the date of enactment of this bill on the num-
ber of inquiries made by the association of employers
under this section and their disposition.
SEC. 4. STATE LICENSING OR REGISTRATION OF SECURITY
OFFICERS.
For the purpose of assuring that private security offi-
cers are qualified to provide the public with security serv-
ices, it is the sense of the Congress that the several States
should enact statutes which would include the following:
(1) EMPLOYER LICENSES.—Requirements and
procedures for issuing licenses to, and reviewing se-
curity services, of employers. A State could require
an employer to name an individual holder of such li-
cense:
(A) FEES.—Fees on licenses of employers
of private security officers should compensate
the State for its direct costs of implementing
and enforcing the program. Revenues from such
fees should be dedicated to this regulatory pro-
gram.
(B) ASSIGNMENT
TO
DUTY.—Procedures
should require that employers may assign an
employee to duty as an unarmed private secu-
rity officer prior to the State’s approval of the
employee’s registration as a private security of-
ficer only after the employer has—
(i) submitted an application for a
criminal records background check,
(ii) initiated verification of the em-
ployee’s personal references and 5 year em-
ployment history, and
(iii) verified that the employee has
successfully completed the classroom train-
ing required by paragraph (3).
(2) REGISTRATION
PERMITS.—Requirements
for issuance of registration permits by the State reg-
ulatory authority to private security officers, includ-
ing the following provisions:
(A) Permits should be valid for 3 years.
(B) Applicants who have been convicted of
committing a felony or a misdemeanor, either of
which the State Regulatory Agency determines
relevant to the performance of security services
should be denied a registration permit. States
should utilize the criminal records forwarded by
the Department of Justice in addition to State
police records in making this determination.
(C) Employers must certify that the em-
ployees have completed classroom and on the
job training.
(3) TRAINING
REQUIREMENTS.—Each State
should have in effect training requirements for pri-
vate security officers that consist of the following, at
a minimum:
(A) For unarmed security officers, the fol-
lowing:
(i) Eight hours of basic classroom in-
struction, successful completion of a writ-
ten examination, and four hours of on the
job training.
(ii) Such classroom training should in-
clude, at a minimum, the following:
(I) The legal powers and limita-
tions of a private security officer, in-
cluding instruction in the law of ar-
rest, search and seizure, and the use
of force as related to security services.
(II) Safety and fire detection and
reporting.
(III) When and how to notify
public authorities.
(IV) The techniques of observa-
tion and reporting of incidents, and
how to prepare an incident report.
(V) The fundamentals of patrol-
ling.
(VI) Deportment and ethics.