Tools & forms to run a security company — A to Z
These are the working documents we use to run a licensed private patrol operation in Sacramento: daily activity reports, timesheets, incident and use-of-force forms, post orders, contracts, proposals, rate sheets, HR forms, and compliance trackers. Every one is on the page in full — print it, copy it, adapt it to your own company. No email gate.
Working templates, not legal advice. Nothing here implies endorsement by BSIS, the Department of Consumer Affairs, OSHA, or any other agency. Laws change — verify current requirements and have your own counsel review any agreement before you issue it.
PPO #12273025 templates · free · printable
Field Operations & Payroll
Run the shift: daily activity reports, incident forms, post orders, timesheets, schedules, and vehicle logs.
- Security Guard Daily Activity Report (DAR) TemplateThe DAR is the single document that proves your officers were on post and doing the work. This version is built to survive a client audit: hard times, specific locations, factual observations, and a supervisor signature line.Open template
- Security Officer Incident Report Form TemplateWritten from the officer's side of the desk. This form forces the details that matter later: physical descriptions, exact times, what was said, what was done, and who else saw it.Open template
- Use of Force / Detention Report TemplateAny time hands go on a person, the documentation standard rises sharply. This template walks the officer through the sequence of events, the specific behavior that preceded each action, and the medical and notification steps afterward.Open template
- Security Post Orders TemplatePost orders are the contract between what the client thinks they bought and what the officer actually does at 3 a.m. This template covers the site, the shift-by-shift duties, the escalation chain, and the hard limits on officer authority.Open template
- Patrol Vehicle Inspection & Mileage LogMarked patrol vehicles are your most visible asset and your biggest liability exposure. A signed pre-trip check every shift catches damage early and puts a name next to every mile driven.Open template
- Uniform, Key & Equipment Issue FormEvery uniform, badge, key, and radio you hand out is company property with a real replacement cost — and an access risk if it walks. One signed form per officer, updated at every issue and return.Open template
- Security Shift Schedule & Coverage PlannerCoverage gaps are how contracts get lost. This planner lays out every post by day and shift, marks who is relief, and flags where the week is drifting into overtime before payroll finds it.Open template
- Security Guard Timesheet TemplateA timesheet that captures meal periods and post codes does two jobs at once: it pays people correctly and it tells you which contracts are actually profitable.Open template
- Payroll-to-Billing Reconciliation WorksheetThe gap between hours paid and hours billed is where small security companies quietly lose money. Run this every pay period and the leak shows up in one column.Open template
Hiring & HR
Applications, onboarding, training records, corrective action, and offboarding for a guard workforce.
- Security Officer Employment Application TemplateBuilt for the questions that matter when you hire an officer: guard card status and expiration, driving record if the post requires a vehicle, real availability, and a verifiable work history.Open template
- Security Officer Onboarding ChecklistEverything that has to happen between 'you're hired' and the officer standing alone on a post at 2200 hours, in order, with a signature line at the end.Open template
- Officer Training Record & Renewal LogOne page per officer showing every training completed and every credential expiration coming up. This is the record a client asks for during a contract review — and the one that keeps a lapsed card from walking onto a post.Open template
- Employee Corrective Action / Write-Up FormDocumented, consistent, and boring is what you want here. Facts and dates, the policy involved, what has to change, and a signature — no adjectives.Open template
- Employee Separation & Offboarding ChecklistThe two things that go wrong at separation are final pay timing and uncollected keys. This checklist closes both, plus the access credentials everyone forgets.Open template
- Security Company Employee Handbook OutlineAn outline, not a fill-in-the-blank handbook — because a copied handbook is worse than none. This maps the sections a guard-force handbook needs so your counsel can draft the language once.Open template
Contracts, Proposals & Billing
Win and bill the work: site surveys, proposals, service agreements, rate sheets, and invoices.
- Security Services Contract Template (Outline)A clause-by-clause outline of what a guard services agreement needs to cover, with the terms small operators most often leave out — overtime rates, holiday billing, minimum call-out hours, and how coverage changes get authorized.Open template
- Security Services Proposal TemplateProposals are won on site understanding, not on boilerplate about your commitment to excellence. This structure leads with what you observed at their property and prices it plainly.Open template
- Security Services Rate Sheet TemplateOne page that answers every pricing question a prospect will ask, so quotes stop being improvised. Rates by post type, the multipliers, the minimums, and what triggers a surcharge.Open template
- Security Services Invoice TemplateAn invoice that shows hours by post, by date, with overtime broken out gets paid faster and disputed less. This layout matches what your timesheets already capture.Open template
- Security Subcontractor Agreement OutlineWhen you cover a client with another operator's officers, the client's exposure is still yours. This outline covers licensing verification, insurance flow-down, performance standards, and who the client belongs to.Open template
- Client Site Survey & Risk Assessment FormThe survey is where the contract gets priced correctly and the post orders get written. Walk the property, fill this out, and the proposal writes itself.Open template
Licensing & Compliance
Startup checklists, self-audits, renewal trackers, and safety program structure for a licensed operator.
- Private Security Company Startup Checklist (California)The ordered list of everything that has to exist before your first officer stands a post: entity, licensing, insurance, payroll infrastructure, documentation, and the sales assets to land contract one.Open template
- Private Patrol Operator Compliance Self-Audit ChecklistRun this once a quarter and you will never be surprised by an expired registration, a missing record, or an uninsured vehicle. It is a self-audit tool, not an official form.Open template
- Insurance, License & Renewal TrackerEvery expiring thing your company owns, on one page, with the reminder date next to it. This is the single cheapest way to avoid an uninsured day or a lapsed license.Open template
- Workplace Safety & Injury Reporting Program OutlineGuard work has real hazards: night driving, hostile contacts, slips on unlit properties, and lone-worker exposure. This outlines the safety program structure and the injury reporting flow every operator should have written down.Open template
How the paperwork stack actually fits together
Field operations: the paperwork that proves the shift happened
Every dispute with a client, an insurer, or a claimant comes back to documentation. The daily activity report proves coverage. The incident report preserves the facts while they are still accurate. Post orders are what keep a relief officer from improvising at 0300. If those three documents are consistent across every post you run, most operational arguments end before they start.
Payroll and billing: where small operators quietly lose money
Guard labor is the product, so the gap between hours paid and hours billed is the whole margin. Timesheets that capture meal periods and a post code do double duty — they pay people correctly and they tell you which contracts are actually profitable. Reconcile paid hours against billed hours every pay period, and price from loaded cost per hour rather than from whatever the last competitor quoted.
Hiring and HR: consistency is the protection
One standard application, verified licensing at hire and before every expiration, a signed onboarding checklist, a training log per officer, and a documented corrective-action process. None of it is complicated. All of it matters the first time a hire goes badly, and the operators who get hurt are almost always the ones who handled two similar situations two different ways.
Contracts and proposals: sell the site walk, not the boilerplate
Proposals are won on specific observations from a real walk of the property — the unlit rear lot, the gate that never latches, the encampment forming on the adjacent parcel. Then the agreement has to cover overtime, holidays, minimum call-out hours, change orders, and an annual rate adjustment. The missing rate-adjustment clause is what turns a good three-year contract into an unprofitable one.
Licensing and compliance: run the audit before someone else does
Licenses, officer registrations, insurance, vehicle registrations, and certifications all expire on their own schedules. Put every expiration on one tracker with a named owner and a 60-day reminder, then self-audit quarterly. Credential status should be a hard gate in scheduling — no current registration, no post.
Also useful
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