Destruction Of Property

Because of boredom, unethical security officers will often decide to use a computer, take a “spin” on a forklift, take a drive in a company vehicle, or simply perform some “knucklehead” action which damages or destroys property.

Damage to property can often be repaired or replaced no matter how costly. Damage to the reputation of the security officer, security department, or contract providing company will often be damaged beyond repair.

Dishonesty-Telephone Abuse And Misuse

As with every other Code of Conduct violation, telephone misuse or abuse is discussed with security officers before their first day of work. Everyone knows that on occasion, a security officer will need to use the telephone for legitimate reasons and few would question this moderate use. However, since telephone calls are logged by most organizations which describe the phone use, date and time of the call, whether the call was incoming or outgoing, telephone number called, length of the conversation, and cost of the call, it is very easy to determine if a security officer is abusing telephone privileges.

If the security officer decides to make a long-distance call or call a 900 number, not only is communication to the protected facility often impossible, an expense is being incurred for the phone call. Additionally, the security officer is being paid to perform a job, not talk on the phone! And eventually, the facts will become clear as to who was working on a particular date and time and who in all likelihood is responsible for the phone abuse!

Dishonesty-Falsification Of Records

Security officers who attempt to take shortcuts by stating that patrols or inspections were made when, in fact, they were not, have committed a very serious offense. Acts of omission are those where something should occur and does not. Acts of commission are those where something occurs which should not.

Falsifying records or logs is more serious because a security officer had to have thought out in advance how they were going to misrepresent or falsify a record.

Falsification of records is the equivalent of lying and a very dishonest act. Whether the security officer is falsifying a travel expense or indicating that a patrol was made which did not occur, serious discipline will result when discovered, and these actions should result in the termination of the security officer.

Even security officers who fill in their daily logs in advance are violating accepted codes of conduct. Since many shifts result in similar reports and activities, dishonest security officers will often complete their logs in advance. Naturally, when an incident occurs which changes the pre-completed log, a problem exists. Usually, logs are completed in advance because of boredom or laziness on the part of the security officer. No matter what the reason, completing logs in advance is dishonest and is a falsification of records!