Security patrol officers help maintain the safety of a building by conducting regular patrols around the premises. Their main duties include performing regular patrols, conducting inspections, monitoring surveillance equipment, and checking if access points are secure.
In the event of an emergency or intrusion, a security patrol officer sounds an alarm to get help from authorities, facilitates the evacuation of people in the building, and administers first aid when needed. They may also deescalate situations by talking to intruders or restraining them.
Apart from these duties, a security patrol officer maintains a daily log and reports to management about irregularities or suspicious activity.
The role of a security patrol officer requires a high school diploma and training from a reputable agency. More than that, a security patrol officer must be physically fit enough to lift heavy objects, subdue intruders, and run when needed. They must also have the ability to stay calm in high-pressure situations and display good judgment when dealing with suspicious activity around the premises.
The average salary of a security patrol officer is $29,000 a year. They typically work on shifting schedules, and officers that work night shifts may earn a night differential.
What is a Security Patrol Officer?
What Does a Security Patrol Officer Do
There are certain skills that many security patrol officers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, good judgment and observation skills.
How To Become a Security Patrol Officer
If you're interested in becoming a security patrol officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 20.7% of security patrol officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.5% of security patrol officers have master's degrees. Even though some security patrol officers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Security Patrol Officer Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of security officer you might progress to a role such as officer eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations officer.
Average Salary for a Security Patrol Officer
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Security Patrol Officer Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active security patrol officer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where security patrol officers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Security Patrol Officer Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 4,852 | $36,267 |
| 2 | Texas | 3,264 | $28,109 |
| 3 | New York | 2,430 | $35,942 |
| 4 | Florida | 2,394 | $25,242 |
| 5 | Illinois | 2,360 | $33,167 |
| 6 | Georgia | 1,995 | $25,858 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 1,830 | $30,720 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 1,774 | $36,592 |
| 9 | Virginia | 1,643 | $32,289 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 1,614 | $28,472 |
| 11 | Ohio | 1,492 | $28,776 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 1,488 | $38,129 |
| 13 | New Jersey | 1,462 | $31,922 |
| 14 | Washington | 1,384 | $43,094 |
| 15 | Arizona | 1,326 | $30,734 |
| 16 | Michigan | 1,240 | $29,496 |
| 17 | Maryland | 1,180 | $32,373 |
| 18 | Colorado | 1,064 | $34,767 |
| 19 | Indiana | 1,012 | $31,950 |
| 20 | Missouri | 1,006 | $31,995 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | 864 | $30,004 |
| 22 | Alabama | 831 | $23,957 |
| 23 | Tennessee | 791 | $27,418 |
| 24 | Oregon | 728 | $36,074 |
| 25 | South Carolina | 653 | $29,294 |
| 26 | Connecticut | 614 | $35,681 |
| 27 | Iowa | 613 | $31,402 |
| 28 | Kentucky | 583 | $26,685 |
| 29 | Louisiana | 538 | $23,608 |
| 30 | Mississippi | 469 | $22,703 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 462 | $27,348 |
| 32 | Kansas | 442 | $31,179 |
| 33 | Nevada | 438 | $31,137 |
| 34 | Idaho | 435 | $29,605 |
| 35 | Arkansas | 413 | $24,272 |
| 36 | Nebraska | 383 | $33,449 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 354 | $27,670 |
| 38 | Utah | 340 | $34,222 |
| 39 | New Hampshire | 302 | $34,304 |
| 40 | West Virginia | 245 | $25,348 |
| 41 | Rhode Island | 242 | $36,322 |
| 42 | Maine | 242 | $33,345 |
| 43 | Delaware | 222 | $30,045 |
| 44 | Montana | 190 | $29,614 |
| 45 | North Dakota | 171 | $42,231 |
| 46 | Hawaii | 167 | $31,731 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 164 | $32,892 |
| 48 | Alaska | 160 | $40,250 |
| 49 | Vermont | 144 | $34,236 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 88 | $33,814 |
Top Skills For a Security Patrol Officer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 51.5% of security patrol officers listed patrol on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and good judgment are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Security Patrol Officer Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Security Patrol Officer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Security Patrol Officer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Security Patrol Officer Demographics
Security Patrol Officer Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among security patrol officers, 19.4% of them are women, while 80.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among security patrol officers is White, which makes up 56.6% of all security patrol officers.
- The most common foreign language among security patrol officers is Spanish at 62.9%.
Online Courses For Security Patrol Officer That You May Like
Welcome to course 5 of 5 of this Specialization, Security Operations. This course focuses our attention on the day-to-day, moment-by-moment active use of the security controls and risk mitigation strategies that an organization has in place. We will explore ways to secure the data and the systems they reside on, and how to encourage secure practices among people who interact with the data and systems during their daily duties. After completing this course, the participant will be able to:...
Welcome to course 1 of 5 of this Specialization, Security Principles. After completing this course, the participant will be able to: Discuss the foundational concepts of cybersecurity principles. - Recognize foundational security concepts of information assurance. - Define risk management terminology and summarize the process. - Relate risk management to personal or professional practices. - Classify types of security controls. - Distinguish between policies, procedures, standards, regulations...
Cyber-attacks, breaches, and incidents continue to grow. The sophistication and complexity of these attacks continue to evolve. More than ever organizations need to plan, prepare, and defend against a potential cyber incident. Security Operation Centers (SOCs) act as an organization's front-line defense against cyber incidents. SOC analyst accomplishes this by monitoring and responding to network and host anomalies, performing an in-depth analysis of suspicious events, and when necessary,...
Best States For a Security Patrol Officer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a security patrol officer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, North Dakota, Alaska, and Minnesota. Security patrol officers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $43,094. Whereas in North Dakota and Alaska, they would average $42,231 and $40,250, respectively. While security patrol officers would only make an average of $38,129 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$43,094
Avg. Salary
2. Minnesota
$38,129
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$40,250
Avg. Salary
How Do Security Patrol Officer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Security Patrol Officer Employers
Most Common Employers For Security Patrol Officer
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California, Berkeley | $45,834 | $22.04 | 6 |
| 2 | Universal Protection Service | $37,330 | $17.95 | 37 |
| 3 | IPC | $30,879 | $14.85 | 10 |
| 4 | American Security | $30,700 | $14.76 | 11 |
| 5 | Sunstates Security | $30,668 | $14.74 | 49 |
| 6 | Command Security | $30,663 | $14.74 | 17 |
| 7 | Allied Universal | $30,639 | $14.73 | 290 |
| 8 | Universal Security | $30,628 | $14.72 | 7 |
| 9 | West Coast Choppers | $30,597 | $14.71 | 16 |
| 10 | First Alarm | $30,537 | $14.68 | 14 |
Security Patrol Officer Videos
