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Hawaii Security Guard Training

Unarmed Security Officer

outline of state of Hawaii

  • New HI Security Guard Training: State requirements for new unarmed security guards.
  • Rookie HI Security Guard Training: No additional requirements for your 1st year.
  • Pro HI Security Guard Training: State renewal requirement on even-numbered years by Jone 30th after your 1st odd-numbered year working as an unarmed security guard.

Armed Security Officer

  • New HI Security Officer Training: State requirements for new armed security guards.
  • Rookie HI Security Officer Training: No additional requirements for your 1st year.
  • Pro HI Security Officer Training: State renewal requirement on even-numbered years by Jone 30th after your 1st odd-numbered year working as an unarmed security guard.

HI New Unarmed Security Guard Hawaii

Type of Security Guard License Required & Issuing Authority

If you are a Hawaiian security guards, either armed and unarmed, effective July 1, 2013 you must carry a Hawaiian Guard Card as proof you’ve registered with the Board of Private Detectives and Guards and have met all the state guidelines.  Bouncers are also required to carry a guard card. The state wants the private security industry to operate in a standard, professional manner. The required training is necessary because on duty as a security officers you protect the public safety and the public trusts you. Trained and certified security guards often get higher pay.

No matter if you or your employer pay for the required training cost and application fee, the guard card belongs to you, not your employer.

Security Guard Application & Licensing Requirements

Under Act 208, all guards, and all agents, operatives, and assistants employed by a guard agency, private business entity, or government agency who act in a guard capacity shall apply to register with the Board, and meet the following registration, instruction, and training requirements prior to acting as a guard:

  1. Be not less than 18 years of age;
  2. Possess a high school education or its equivalent
  3. Not be presently suffering from any psychiatric or psychological disorder which is directly related and detrimental to a person’s performance in the profession;
  4. Not have been convicted in any jurisdiction of a crime which reflects unfavorably on the fitness of the individual to act as a guard, unless the conviction has been annulled or expunged by court order; provided that the individual shall submit to a national criminal history record check as authorized by federal law, including but not limited to the Private Security Officer Employment Authorization Act of 2004, and specified in the rules of the Board;
  5. Successfully complete 8 hours of classroom instruction given by a Board approved instructor on a Board approved curriculum before the first day of service; and
  6. 4 hours of classroom instruction annually thereafter.

“Act in a guard capacity” or “acting in a guard capacity” means the performance of safekeeping, observation, and reporting functions by a uniformed or non-uniformed employee for the person’s employer; provided that:

  • “Safekeeping” means protecting property, assets, or persons through a physical presence to detect and deter illegal actions, inappropriate actions, violations of the property’s or premise’s rules or code of conduct, or unsafe conditions; including but not limited to theft, damage, harm, or risk of injury to such persons or property, as applicable.
    • “Physical presence” means maintaining a post (e.g., a stationary guard, bouncer, etc.) or patrolling the premises (e.g., physically responding to alarms or incidents on the property, etc.).

Exemptions to Needing a HI Guard Card

An employee who performs safekeeping, observation, and reporting functions only incidentally to the employee’s primary job functions and responsibilities are considered to be acting in a guard capacity and, hence, don’t require a guard card. The following are examples of such excluded employees:

  • A person stationed at the entrance or exit of a retail or commercial establishment whose function is to verify a customer’s membership with and the accuracy of purchases from the retail or commercial establishment;
  • A parking lot attendant whose responsibility is limited to control the ingress and egress of the parking lot, facility, or structure;
  • A person whose responsibility is limited to performing water safety and rescue services at a swimming pool, beach, or other body of water;
  • A person whose responsibility is limited to taking tickets from customers at the entrance or exit of an entertainment, recreational, commercial, or sporting event; and
  • A residential or commercial property manager who oversees the property owner’s agreement with a licensed guard agency, or oversees the property owner’s guard employees, for the provision of guard services to the subject property.
  • Volunteers as they are not employed and, hence, not subject to Act 208.

HI Guard Card Application Checklist

The following is a list of items required to apply for your security guard registration and for you to check the items that have been submitted. Have you ……

  • Answered all questions on the online application form? The form is only available to complete online.
  • Signed the application form?
  • Attached the $106/$73 application fee (payable to Commerce & Consumer Affairs)?
  • Attached evidence of a high school education or its equivalent?
  • Fingerprint at Fieldprint Inc. and paid all required fees for submission to the FBI?
  • Attached certificate of completion of eight (8) hour mandatory classroom instruction
Your Application is considered complete when ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTS are in the Board’s office. Please note that the report from the FBI must also be received. Registration must be completed within one year of the application date.
Any misrepresentation your make on your security guard card application may constitute grounds to refuse to register you as a guard and is a misdemeanor under HRS sections 710-1017, 436B-19, and 463-4.

Hawaii Security Guard Card Application Fees

Your application fee to become a security guard varies depending when you apply. This is to force all renewals to happen in even-numbered years. You get a discount if you have to renew sooner after you apply.

  • If your registration is approved between July 1, even-numbered year to June 30, odd-numbered year, pay $106
    • Application – $10
    • Registration fee – $45
    • Compliance Resolution Fund – $36
    • 1/2 Renewal fee – $15
  • If your registration is approved between July 1, odd-numbered year to June 30, even-numbered year, pay $73
    • Application – $10
    • Registration fee – $45
    • Compliance Resolution Fund – $18

Make your check payable to: COMMERCE & CONSUMER AFFAIRS. Your check must be made in U.S. dollars and be from a U.S. financial institution.

Security Guard Training Requirements & Fees

You must attach evidence with your Hawaii guard card application of completion of an 8 hour Board of Private Detectives and Guards approved course given by an instructor also approved by the Board. The completion certificate must indicate the name of the approved curricula and guard instructor, the name of the organization providing the course, the date of the class, and the signature of the approved guard instructor.

Guard Card Training Costs

The costs the security officer training class could be up to $150.  The regulations doesn’t specify who has to pay for the training. You or your employer can pay for the training.

Hawaii Security Guard Training Curriculum

The state has outlined the following curriculum topics that must be included in the 8 hours of initial training. Other topics and discussions make up the other 4 hours of initial training. Site specific topics may be added beyond the 8 hour mandatory program,  but site specific training cannot be included in the mandatory 8 hours.

(4 Hours minimum)

  1. Introduction
  2. Program Introduction: Act 208HRS (15 minutes)
  3. Professional Image and Aloha Training  (30 minutes)
  4. Active Shooter  (30 minutes)
    1. Profile of an Active Shooter
    2. Response: Active Shooter in Vicinity
    3. Response: When Law Enforcement Arrives
    4. Response: Managing Consequences of Active Shooter
  5. Workplace Violence (45 minutes)
    1. Recognizing Potential Workplace Violence
    2. Indicators of Dangerous Behavior
    3. Proactive Response and Notification of Management
  6. Fire Safety (30 minutes)
    1. Fire: causes, prevention, response
    2. Different Types of Fire & Type of Fire Extinguishers
    3. Basic Evacuation Procedures
  7. Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Awareness (30 minutes)
    1. Required OSHA Training for First Responders
    2. Various Diseases, Fluids, Routes of Transmission
    3. Exposure Prevention Methods
    4. Proper Personal Protective Equipment
    5. Disease/Vaccination Info: HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C
  8. 6. Professional Ethics: State Ethics Code, Chapter 84, HRS (30 minutes)
    1. Definitions, Checklist, Resources:
    2. Two Page Security Guard Ethics Definitions and Checklist.
    3. Resource and Reference: www.state.hi.us/ethics, Phone: (808) 587-0460, Email: ethics@hawaiiethics.org
  9. Liability (Section for DEP AG RT Review/Input) (30 minutes)
    1. Lawsuits, Claims
    2. Intentional Common Law Tort
    3. Common Law Negligence Claims
    4. Civil Rights Violations Claims
    5. Liability Insurance
  10. EXAM
  11. Wrap up
The four hours of on-the-job training (OJT) are not required to register as a guard under HRS section 463-10.5. However, the OJT hours are provided by an applicant’s employer and are required prior to acting as a guard.

Online Security Guard Training

The Hawaii regulation states that the mandated training must be in a classroom. However, an online course is acceptable if it is a web-based distance learning format with instructor-student interaction facilitated in real-time by a Board approved instructor.

HI Unarmed Guard Card Renewal & Continuing Education

The state of Hawaii requires frequent training throughout your security guard career. This maintains your level of professionalism and helps improve your performance level in your security guard job duties.

Biennial Renewal Requirements

You security guard card, regardless of issuance date, is subject to renewal on or before June 30 of each even-numbered year. This is considered biennial renewal. If you get your card in an odd-numbered year, you have to renew in the next even-numbered years, which is a 1 year renewal.

Payment of renewal fees, information relative to your conviction of a crime that reflects unfavorably on your fitness to engage in the profession, and information on any psychiatric or psychological disorder you are presently suffering from must be provided.

Continuing Education (CE) Requirements

You must take 4 hours of continued classroom instruction every two year even though you only renew your security guard license every 2 years. Beginning June 30, 2014 you must provide proof of completing a Board approved four hour course per year to renew you security guard registration.  You need to take an 8 hour Board approved course (4 hours per year) given by an instructor approved by the Board prior to your June 30, 2016, 2018, 2020, etc. renewals (even-numbered year renewals).

The proposed topics for the 4 hours Continuing Education Units (CEU) for June 30, 2014 renewal are:
  • General Liability
  • Active Shooter
  • Workplace Violence
  • Ethics
  • Fire Safety
The Board is still working on the 5 security guard training topics for the the June 30, 2015 renewal deadline.

Late Hawaiian Guard Card Renewal

If you don’t renew your guard card by June 30, you forfeit your security officer license. You are considered unlicensed and may not engage in the trade or profession. Forfeited registrations may be restored upon written application within one year and upon submittal of all required documents, fees, delinquent fees, and a penalty fee. If you don’t restore you security registration within one year of your renewal date, you are required to file as new security guard applicant.

Hawaii Armed Guard Card Training & Application Requirements

The new guard card and training requirements in Hawaii for both armed and unarmed are the same. However, you will need additional training and permits to carry a weapon.

HI Guard Card Renewal & Continuing Education for Armed Guards

The guard card renewal and continuing education requirements are the same for armed security guards as they are for unarmed security guards in Hawaii. However, you still need to get and maintain the applicable permits and training to carry a gun while on duty.