034: What Equipment Should I Include in a Security Patrol Vehicle?

A few weeks ago, we did an episode on how to make money on your mobile patrol. That spawned the question from some of our listeners: What security guard equipment should I include in my mobile patrol vehicle? We’ve worked hard to come up with a comprehensive checklist of must-have gear for your next patrol route, and we try to cover all the necessities on this episode.

Documents

There are two key documents that need to be in every security patrol car. First, make sure the car contains the post book and client documentation, with important information about properties, contacts, and patrol routes. Alternatively, you can have all this information available digitally in a robust security guard patrol system.

Next, there should be an equipment inspection checklist detailing everything that needs to stay in the car, so officers can’t have any excuses for “accidentally” taking something with them.

Emergency Gear

With enough patrol cars spending enough hours in the field, eventually someone’s going to run into an emergency situation. Maybe it’ll be an injury, or a car crash, or inclement weather; whatever the case, you need to be prepared. Some useful emergency tools to have on hand are:

• Medical kit (“just something you can buy at Target.”)
• Inclement weather gear
• Emergency blanket
• Road flares & traffic cones
• Reflector vests
• Fire extinguisher
• Water
• Ice chest (if in a desert area) 

Maintenance

“Make sure that you have a really good maintenance program put together, a good mechanic somewhere, and then a good inspection checklist, because you’ve got to make sure these guys are putting oil in the car, you’ve got to make sure that they’re checking the tires,” I tell Johnny.

Regular inspections are key to preventing serious maintenance issues with patrol vehicles (check out our webinar for more information on that topic). Even with a good inspection checklist, though, sometimes breakdowns will happen, and you need to be prepared, so make sure you have:

• Tire maintenance equipment
• Jumper cables
• Can of fix a flat
• Oil and transmission fluid
• Simple detailing equipment
• Small utility tool box
• Air fresheners

Communication Equipment

You always want your officers in the field to be accessible, whether to get instructions from you, take calls from customers/residents, or coordinate with other patrols. To make sure they’re always reachable, ensure that they have:

• Bluetooth headset to take calls while driving
• Phone charger
• Mounted GPS
• Company phone (or their own mobile device)

Operations/Miscellaneous

All that other stuff is there to take care of your officers and your patrol car. That’s all critical, as you can’t have a mobile patrol without an officer and a car. Still, you also want to make sure they’ve got all the security gear needed to do the job properly when they arrive at the location.

These include obvious items, such as:

• Light bar(s) or floodlights
• Flashlight
• Batteries
• Zip ties or handcuffs
• Mace
• Hardhats (for construction sites)

But there's also some less obvious things. For instance, we’ve found it very useful to have:

• Work gloves
• Dog treats
• Trash bags
• Hand sanitizer
• Candy or snacks

Those last two items especially come in handy when you have to deal with vagrants and repeat loiterers.

With all these items in hand, your officers should be prepared for anything they might encounter on a mobile patrol. You’ve still got to have the proper training and processes in place, but starting with the right equipment sets you up for success.