Things to know before you begin:

• You must be at least 18 years of age
• No felony or misdemeanor convictions*

*Misdemeanor and felony convictions will not necessarily disqualify you from applying.

STEP 1 – Take the eight hour “Powers to Arrest”  and “Weapons of Mass Destruction” courses:

You must complete the eight hour ‘Power to Arrest’ and ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ courses and pass the examinations in order to apply for your license.     The  “Power to Arrest” and  “Weapons of Mass Destruction” training can be obtained from any BSIS approved  training facility.  Upon completion of the eight hour course, you will receive a certificate of completion by the course instructor in person or by means of email or through regular mail.  Upon receiving your certificate of completion, you will need to submit a copy of your certificate to the State of California when applying for your license as outlined in step three.

STEP 2 – Submit your fingerprints

You will need to locate a live scan facility to submit your fingerprints electronically utilizing the Live Scan service. You must only use the security guard Live Scan forms downloaded from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) web site or directly obtained from BSIS. The Live Scan forms from BSIS contain the correct coding to ensure that BSIS receives the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and California Department of Justice (DOJ) clearances.  A breakdown of fees required at the time of fingerprinting that need to be paid at the Live Scan site are as follows:

• Department of Justice Fingerprint Fee $32.00
• Federal Bureau of Investigations Fingerprint Fee $19.00

Total: $51.00

Download Live Scan Forms

Locate a Live Scan fingerprinting center near you

STEP 3 – Apply to the State of California

You will need to register on the BSIS State website before you can submit your application by utilizing the following link:

Register and submit an application to the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services

Registration fees will need to be paid by a major credit card or debit card at the time of submission.  Once the registration fees have been paid, your online application will be sent electronically to BSIS.  A breakdown of fees required at the time of submission are as follows:

• Application Fee $50.00
• Online Convenience Fee $1.00

TOTAL $51.00

STEP 4 – Wait For Approval

Once the Bureau has received your online application and your criminal background check has been cleared, your name and California Guard Card security license number will appear on the Bureau’s website as cleared. You can verify the Bureau’s approval by checking the Bureau’s ‘Verify a License’ feature by utilizing the following link:

Verify a License

Once the California Guard Card online registration has been cleared and appears on the Bureau’s web site, a screen printout from the web site may be used as an interim license so that you can be placed on assignment.  Once you are placed on assignment, you must have the following documents in your possession at all times.

• A valid California Guard Card or a screen printout of the Bureau’s approval obtained from the Bureau’s web site.
• A valid Government issued photo I.D. such as a California drivers license, identification card or a U.S. Government issued passport

Your license will be mailed to you within a few weeks of clearing the background check.

The initial upfront cost in order to obtain the license will cost you approximately $160. You will be required to obtain another eight hours of training within the first 30 days of receiving your California Guard Card, and the remaining 24 hours (40 hours total) within six months.

The very first step is to take the  California Bureau of Investigative Services (BSIS) eight hour “Powers to Arrest” and “Weapons of Mass Destruction” courses.  Both courses can be completed online or at a BSIS certified facility and costs approximately $59-$69. The “Powers to Arrest” and “Weapons of Mass Destruction” courses are the first eight hours out of a total forty hours required; however, you will only need to take both courses to initially obtain the California Guard Card so that you can become employed as a Security Officer. You will have one month from the time your Guard Card is issued to complete sixteen of the remaining thirty two hours of the required training and six months for the final sixteen hours of required training.

The second step is to get fingerprinted via Live Scan at a near by Live Scan facility.  This process includes a Federal Bureau of Investigative services and Department of Justice criminal background check.  Keep in mind that not all felony or misdemeanor convictions will prevent you from obtaining a CA Guard Card so don’t feel discouraged if you have a conviction.  The cost for fingerprinting is approximately $51.

The third step to obtaining your CA Guard Card is to apply on the State of California website by filling out the BSIS forms and submitting your “Powers to Arrest” certificate that you will receive after taking the course as described in step one.  Applying to the State of California will cost you an additional $51 which will bring the total California Guard Card cost to $171.

The fourth and easiest step is to simply wait for your approval!  Since you have already completed the “Powers to Arrest” course, submitted your fingerprints via livescan and applied to the State, you can expect your approval in approximately seven to ten days. You can check the the BSIS website daily to see if your license has been approved.

Please visit our main page where you can find the complete four-step process that includes web links to the appropriate state websites for you to start the process of obtaining your California Guard Card.

• Applicant must be at least 18 years of age.

• Undergo a criminal history background check through the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

• Applicant must complete 40 hours of State mandated security training by a certified training facility.  The training can be administered online.

*Misdemeanor and felony convictions will not necessarily disqualify you from applying.

It is interesting to know that the United States has almost the same number of police officers as private security guards. Private citizens and businesses see the need to hire private security service despite the presence of law enforcement officers in their area. This is the reason the security service industry is a lucrative business in the US made more lucrative when the September 11 world trade center incident happened. The minimum requirement for joining the security service industry is you have to be at least eighteen years old, you do not have a criminal record, and you have a California guard card.

It is necessary to have a California guard card before starting a career in the security service industry because it is the first requirement you need to provide for people to hire you. If you are in California, A California guard card can be acquired by enrolling in a security guard training school. You can either walk in at a school or register online and do an online course. Make sure that the training school you attend has a state license otherwise your security guard card will not be a valid card.

Every security guard training school will offer a minimum eight-hour training course to teach you about the most basic security guard skills. The course will include training and information on ‘power to arrest’ procedures, terrorism awareness, and the most basic security guard training. Whether you take the course online or at a training school you will need to pass the exam in order to get your California security guard card.

The exam should be simple and if you pay attention to the training getting a passing score should not be a problem. In the event that you do not pass the training exam most training schools will give you the opportunity to take the exam again. Choose the training school that offers this privilege to ensure you do not have to go through another training course just to take the exam. Although the cost for a training course is not that much at $60 to $120 depending on whether you are getting the course online or at a training school, it is still better to be able to save the money instead of paying for another training course.

The government agency responsible for assigning valid California security guard cards in the state is the Bureau of Safety and Investigative Services. After passing your security guard training exam you will need to visit the BSIS office or any authorized office that has access to their website and their Livescan facility. The Livescan facility is where California guard card applicants get their fingerprints scanned in order for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to be able to do a background check on them. They will need to see if you have any criminal records or not. It takes them several days to a week to do the background check. Prepare sixty to sixty five dollars for the Livescan procedure and two valid identification cards. A passport, your driver’s license or social security card will do.

After getting the result of the Livescan and passing the background check bring the results to the Bureau of Safety and Investigative Services so that they can begin processing your official California guard card. It will take them another week before they can issue the card to you and you can start looking for work as a security officer.

In less than a month, anyone who is interested in starting a career in the private security industry in California will be able to do so as long as they are qualified, they pass the security training course exam, and pass the FBI background check.