PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator PPO #122730 BSIS / DCA licensed PPO #122730 CA Private Patrol Operator
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Licensing & liability

What should I ask before hiring a security company?

Updated 2026-08-01 · 6 min read · Sacramento, CA dispatch

PPO #122730

Short answer

Ask for the PPO license number, a certificate of insurance naming your property as additional insured, the guard-card status of the officers who will actually be posted, the supervision structure, the reporting format and delivery time, and the officer turnover rate on comparable posts. Any provider that hesitates on the first three should be eliminated.

Licensing and insurance — the eliminators

  • What is your California PPO license number, and may I verify it myself?
  • Are all officers currently registered with BSIS, and will they carry cards on site?
  • Can you provide a certificate of insurance naming my property as additional insured?
  • What are your general liability limits, and do you carry workers' compensation for every officer?
  • Has your license ever been subject to disciplinary action?

Operations — how the work actually gets done

  • Who writes the post orders, and will I approve them before shift one?
  • How are officers supervised overnight, and how do you verify they are on site?
  • What happens when the assigned officer calls out — who covers, and how fast?
  • What is your officer turnover rate on posts like mine?
  • Will I have the same officers, or a rotating pool?
  • Who do I call at 2 a.m., and is that a local person or a call center?

Reporting and money

  • What exactly do I receive after each shift or pass, and when?
  • Are reports emailed, or do I have to log into a portal to chase them?
  • Is GPS checkpoint verification included, or is coverage self-reported?
  • What is the all-in hourly rate, and what surcharges exist — fuel, holiday, dispatch, minimums?
  • What is the contract term, and what is the cancellation clause?
  • Can I see a sample report from a comparable property?

How we answer these

We publish our license (PPO #122730), our rate band, and a first-party dataset from our own patrol logs, and we provide a certificate of insurance with every proposal. Dispatch is in Sacramento and a person answers 24/7. Reports are emailed each morning with GPS-verified checkpoints and timestamped photos. If a provider cannot match that list of specifics, the reason is usually that the specifics would not look good in writing.

The services this applies to

Where we cover this

Questions we get every week

What should I ask before hiring a security company? — the follow-ups

How do I verify a security company's California license?
Use the California Department of Consumer Affairs license lookup at search.dca.ca.gov, select Private Patrol Operator, and search by license number. A valid record shows a status of Clear with a future expiration date. Verify individual officers under Security Guard the same way.
What insurance should a security company carry?
At minimum, commercial general liability and workers' compensation covering every officer, with the ability to name your property as additional insured. Ask for the certificate before signing, not after an incident.
Is the cheapest security bid ever the right one?
Occasionally, when the scope is genuinely smaller. Far more often the gap comes from uninsured labor, unregistered officers, or no real supervision. Compare bids at equal scope — same hours, same reporting, same insurance — before comparing price.
What is a reasonable contract term for security services?
Month-to-month is reasonable to start, with an annual option priced lower. Be cautious of multi-year terms with heavy cancellation penalties signed before you have seen 90 days of actual reports.

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