Mass. keeps a closer eye on hairdressers than on security guards
Hairdressers, fortune tellers, even kickboxing timekeepers have to be individually licensed by the state before they can ply their trades in Massachusetts. But not private security guards.
Massachusetts’ lack of licensing and training requirements for guards stands in sharp contrast to most of the rest of the country.
The vast majority of states require individual licensing and training of private armed and unarmed security guards, said Charles Nemeth, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who chairs its Security, Fire and Emergency Management Department and has studied private security for 40 years.
But in Massachusetts, while companies must be licensed by the state, individual guards are not, although armed guards are required to have a local firearms license. Massachusetts also does not require training, according to the State Police, and, unlike most other states, has no central regulatory authority to monitor complaints about guard behavior.
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