Attitude

Perhaps the single most important aspect of good public relations for the security officer is ATTITUDE. The only thing that a security officer has total control over in a given situation is the way he responds to that situation.

While the officer can do little to predict or control a situation, his/her reaction to the situation is controllable. If the response to a situation is with anger, excitement, over-aggressiveness or any number of other emotions, that response will likely not improve the situation. On the other hand, if the response is well thought out, concise and professional, the security officer has a much greater chance for success.

Attitude is best explained in this quote by Charles Swindoll:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitudes we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…We are in charge of our attitudes.”

The bottom line is this: if you as the security officer respond to a situation with anything other than a positive attitude, you are giving up control of the situation. Worse, you are perhaps showing others that you are out of control.

If you respond to every situation with a positive attitude, you are giving yourself the best opportunity for success, no matter what the situation. If others expect you, the security officer, to respond to every situation with a positive attitude, then you have elevated your profession because you have elevated the expectation. This makes the security officer more valuable.

Appearance

The security officer’s appearance is very important. If the uniform is not clean and neatly pressed or the officer well groomed, then the officer is either a distraction or not noticed. Neither is acceptable.

Appearance is the combination of a neat uniform, a well-groomed officer, and a professional presence. Anything that detracts or distracts from that diminishes the APPEARANCE of the officer. Even a well-groomed officer can make the mistake of detracting from an otherwise good appearance by absently doing things like wearing too much cologne, perfume, distracting jewelry or hairstyle, chewing gum, slouching or engaging in some other activity that diminishes appearance.