Sadly too many people have no idea what a security person at a private institution does. Please check yourself before trying to access their facility. We provide security for everyone – you, your family, and our co-workers. We take it seriously because we have seen what many are capable of. We see the many weapons that people insist on carrying. We confiscate many, but can’t get them all – that scares me for your safety. We try to locate the bad apples and weed them out or check them with notification that we will be watching them. If I stop you to ask some questions, please understand that I am doing my job as best I can for your safety and mine, not to inconvenience you. Please stop using the term terrorism as if it doesn’t exist.Would it help if I scared you to educate you that MOST men carry folding knives into facilities everyday, and that we can’t possibly find them all – or box cutters, screwdrivers, hammers, chisels, hunting knives, folding knives, switchblades, razors, expandable batons, stun-guns, mace, pepper spray, handguns, ammunition, and almost every sort of device that has no place being on your person when you enter a hospital to visit a loved one? Well, it’s all true. Everyday someone is stopped and searched and we find these things even though the visitor has said NO when asked if he was carrying any weapons. It’s a fact.So, please check your attitude before you enter a facility that you expect to be safe in – we are doing the best we can with what we have. I’m sorry if it inconveniences you, that’s not my intent, but it is my job. I do my job well so that you can feel safe, not inconvenienced. Think before you speak, and if it really bothers you that we ask you to not only carry identity with you, but that you display it when asked to do so, consider some of the facts that I have provided.Coming into the facility inebriated or otherwise compromised is also frowned upon, and again, don’t take it personally – it’s for your safety and ours that we ask you to visit our facility some other day. Please keep your negative comments in check. This is only a small portion of what we face and/or prevent every single day, every single hour that we are on shift. We are not just sitting around, relaxing, and having fun – when you see what you interpret as an easy job that we have, know that in the next few seconds, minutes or hours we will be asked to intervene in a family dispute over a shared loved one, or have to deal with any number of criminals brought in by local law enforcement and left in our care, or asked to have someone leave the facility because they couldn’t behave properly, or assist a Nurse or visitor that was just assaulted by a patient or visitor, or any number of events that we have to walk into without any prior knowledge of who or what is happening.I am good at what I do, I take it seriously, and I am diligent in doing my job so that you can feel safe. Period. So please take a second today to check some facts, do some research, and please be more understanding when a security professional asks you to comply to his requests. We are here for you and your family, loved ones and their safety.
