Security Guard Service FAQs

Yes. Every officer we assign holds a valid registration issued by the North Carolina Private Protective Services Board, which state law requires for anyone working as a security officer in NC. First Class Security, Inc. holds NC PPSB Business Permit Number BPN 549390M. That is the company licence the Private Protective Services Board issues to security guard and patrol firms, and you are welcome to verify it with the Board. Every officer is background checked and trained to written post orders for the specific site they work.

Yes. Armed work in North Carolina requires a firearms registration permit issued by the PPSB on top of the standard guard registration, and it carries its own training and requalification requirements. Our armed security officers hold that authorization and are trained in de-escalation first, force last.

Yes. We carry commercial general liability coverage plus workers’ compensation for every officer. We will provide a certificate of insurance naming your property before the first shift, and we are happy to add your entity as an additional insured if your lease or management agreement requires it.

Ask for the company’s Business Permit Number, the BPN the North Carolina Private Protective Services Board issues to licensed firms, and verify it directly with the Board. Ours is BPN 549390M. Then ask for a certificate of insurance and confirm the officers assigned to your property are individually registered, not just the company. Two warning signs worth taking seriously: no license number published anywhere on the company’s website, and a P.O. box instead of a real street address.

Unarmed officers handle access control, patrols, visitor logs, rule enforcement, de-escalation and incident reporting. Armed officers do all of that and carry a firearm, which changes the deterrent, the licensing, the insurance and the cost. Most commercial properties in North Carolina are well served by unarmed coverage. Armed makes sense where there is cash on site, a history of violence, or a specific credible threat.

We recommend a level after looking at your property, not before.

A mobile patrol is a marked vehicle that arrives at random intervals, walks the property, checks doors, lighting and problem areas, logs what it finds and leaves. A dedicated officer stays put for the whole shift. Patrol costs a fraction of continuous coverage and works well for properties that need visible presence and after-hours checks rather than someone at a post all night.

Many of our clients run both: a patrol on weeknights, a posted officer on weekends.

Apartment complexes, retail stores and shopping centers, office buildings, HOAs and gated communities, industrial and warehouse facilities, and construction sites. Most of our work comes from property managers and HOA boards who need coverage that is consistent, documented and easy to explain to residents or ownership.

Yes. We staff around the clock and run a 24/7 dispatch line, so there is always someone reachable who can escalate, redeploy or send backup. Coverage is built to your schedule rather than a fixed package, whether that is overnight patrols only, weekend posts, or continuous seven-day staffing.

We cover the Piedmont Triad and the Charlotte metro, with dedicated service pages for Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, Asheboro, Lexington and Mooresville. Our office is in Winston-Salem at 615 St. George Square Court, Suite 300.

If your property sits outside those cities, call us anyway. We routinely cover the surrounding counties.

We respond to new inquiries within one business day and can typically have officers on site within 48 to 72 hours of an approved plan. That window covers the free assessment, written post orders for your property, and assigning officers who fit the site. Emergencies move faster. If you have had an incident and need coverage tonight, say so when you call.

Most North Carolina properties pay roughly $15 to $35 per hour for unarmed officers and $30 to $75 per hour for armed officers. Mobile patrol typically runs $25 to $50 per visit or per hour depending on route length, and executive protection runs $60 to $100 per hour. Where you land inside those ranges depends on risk, hours and location.

We publish a full breakdown by property type in our guide to security guard costs in North Carolina.

Five things, roughly in order of impact:

• Armed versus unarmed, which is the single biggest driver
• Risk level of the property, including any history of theft, trespassing or threats
• Number of officers and total hours per week
• Shift timing, since overnight and holiday coverage costs more
• Location within the state and how far officers travel

A quiet office park does not price like a construction site with equipment sitting out overnight, and you should be skeptical of any company that quotes you a rate before seeing the property.

We walk your property, look at access points, lighting, blind spots, traffic flow and any incident history, then give you a written recommendation with a coverage plan and a quote. There is no charge and no obligation. If we think you need less coverage than you asked for, we will tell you that.

Yes. You receive digital patrol reports covering what was checked, when, and anything found. Incidents are communicated proactively rather than showing up in a monthly summary, and you have direct access to dispatch. Documentation matters here: if you ever need to show ownership, a board or an insurer that the property was actively patrolled, the record needs to already exist.

The officer follows the written post orders for your site, which we build with you in advance and which define exactly when to observe and report, when to intervene, and when to call police. You are notified immediately, not at the end of the shift, and you receive a written incident report. Post orders are reviewed after any significant incident and adjusted if something in the plan did not work.

We are veteran-owned, locally operated, and we have been doing this in North Carolina since 2010 across more than 300 properties. The practical difference is that the person who assesses your property is reachable afterward, dispatch is local, and officers are assigned to sites rather than rotated through whoever is available. National firms are good at scale. We are better at knowing your property.