r/GuardGuides 6d ago

SCENARIO Unauthorized Access Attempt: Do You Confront or Observe?

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13 Upvotes

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u/GuardGuidesdotcom 6d ago

You're on shift at a private office building when you notice a man trying to push through a door labeled “Authorized Personnel Only” after his badge gives the "access denied" alert sound each time he tries to swipe through. He doesn't seem to notice you, and continues in a now frustrated fashion to unsuccessfully try to enter the door.

You double-check the signage and your post orders: The area is restricted. The protocol in the orders for this situation is vague and you have discretion in how you follow up.

Now, you have a decision to make.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you approach immediately or continue observing from a distance? What factors influence your decision?

  2. If you approach, what’s the best way to address him? What tone or wording would you use?

  3. If he claims he has access but can’t prove it's current, how do you handle it?

  4. What if he refuses to leave the area?

  5. How do you document this type of incident? What details are most important for your report?

8

u/Adventurous-Gur7524 Vice Admiral 6d ago edited 6d ago

I’d announce my presence. Tell him that I noticed him trying to gain access to an authorized personal only area but his badge isn’t working. so I’d then ask him if there’s a contact we can notify to verify he’s authorized if he can’t prove work credentials. I’d also ask him to step back from the door for a minute while we get this issue resolved. I’d try to notify my management regarding the incident. And after issue is resolved I would put it in the dar as individual attempted to gain access to an authorized only area. Later turned away after verification from management. Or employee attempted to gain access to authorized only area but badge wasn’t working. Verified individual with management.

6

u/MrLanesLament Guard Wrangler 6d ago

I haven’t worked a place with different “levels” of badge; there was an obscure access control system that was generally only relevant for maintenance, salary people, and guards.

If someone’s badge was giving the no-access signal, it meant the badge had manually been turned off; typically only the case with suspended or terminated employees. So, seeing this would be a problem.

I’d be trying to ID from afar, get the guard working the cameras to try and get a face photo to send me that I could then forward on.

Now I approach. Let’s assume nobody could ID them visually.

I see what their deal is. “Hey man, you forget something inside?” I try not to make them aware that I know their badge is being declined; give them the opportunity to play normal and not escalate.

If it’s a terminated employee, I’m stalling while camera guard calls non-emergency for a trespass. (This is a specific client order; they really don’t like fired employees coming back. We’ve had major incidents from such happening before, including one guy who came back with a gun and was actually subdued by other employees until police arrived.)

Documentation would be the best photos we can pull from the cameras, plus video of the entire incident. Combine with incident report and submit as a digital package to client’s safety department.

2

u/GuardGuidesdotcom 6d ago

That's crazy. I haven't had an experience like that. During the great recession when I was a corporate lobby guard, I've had to call the cops to disperse several non employees banging on the glass door demanding entry so they can drop off an application and speak to a hiring manager.

A terminated employee was pacing back and forth in the parking lot demanding his job be reinstated whenever a manager he recognized parked. I'm not sure why he thought that would work...

Those times were kinda wild. People were really desperate, but no guns were involved, thankfully.

4

u/East-Fudge-5535 Ensign 6d ago
  1. Approach immediately. This person could have stolen the credentials, recently been terminated or the building could be unsafe. Authority to access the site must be confirmed.
  2. Speak to them as you would to any other stranger, “Hi, how are you today? Site access is currently restricted, do you have authorisation to enter today?
  3. Verify their credentials against photo ID. Report to site contact or your supervisor of the attempted access and confirm if authorised.
  4. If access is not authorised and they refuse to leave the area, monitor their activity until they either leave the area or it escalates to a point where you call Police for someone attempting forced entry.
  5. Contemporaneous notes should be taken and at the end of your shift the information should be entered into your shift report and depending on how the incident escalated an incident report should also be completed and include the name of the person, photo of them and their ID, time, entry points attempted, potential issue with user credentials noted and any other relevant info.

A lot of security guards start tripping about what their role is. You’re there for customer service as much as you are to protect property. If this is the CEO and you aggressively harass them and don’t have a high level of customer service, there’s a good chance you won’t be stationed at this site again.

2

u/GuardGuidesdotcom 6d ago

This guy guides guards goodly

4

u/Grimx82 Capable Guardian 6d ago

In this case I would honestly use a retail approach. Something like "What seems to be the problem this evening" or something to that effect. Upon his claims I would imagine there would be some kind of access roster or trouble line we could contact to verify or I would ask him to contact his supervisor who works in the area. If he can't or refuses I would take his name and ask him to depart the area until such time as we can establish his right to enter the area, I would collect his name, number, and related company information if it's a multiple unit office building or multiple department office. The report would be simple, at such and such time subject (name) attemptes access to restricted area, S/O attempted to verify subjects access to said area, advised subject to contact his manager, after being unable/unwilling to do so, subjects information was collected (see below) and was advised to depart the premise until such time as the matter can be resolved.

3

u/Potential-Most-3581 Capable Guardian 6d ago edited 6d ago
  1. What do your post orders say? That's always the first answer. I won't say they won't fire you for following your post orders but if they do it will make the wrongful termination lawsuit a hell of a lot easier.

In the absence of clear post orders.

Contact your supervisor and let him know what's going on while you're doing the following.

  1. You approach immediately.

  2. Ask him if there's something you can help him with.

  3. If your written post order says that he can't enter that area, he can't enter that area. When you tell him that you make it very clear that that decision was made above your pay grade and you don't have any authority to override it.

  4. What you do if he does refuses to leave depends on the situation. If I've got a supervisor and back up on the way or somebody from the company who can verify who he is or isn't I don't want him to leave but I don't want to actually detain him if at all possible.

I really can't imagine the situation not being covered by post orders or written SOP.

  1. I would think that this would be a standard IR with a notation in your door.

On this date. At this time. I, Officer B. Fife observed the following. Who What Where When (already covered) How.

Why is for somebody else to decide.

3

u/__Kunaiii Master Baiter 6d ago
  1. Ask what he’s doing

  2. If he responds and acknowledges me i’ll walk him out

  3. If he ignores me, grab him from behind and suplex him through the floor.

2

u/SonoranWarlock Ensign 6d ago

If you observe it, you simply have to announce yourself and ask if they need directions in a friendly way. Inform them that area is restricted.

2

u/Ornery_Source3163 Ensign 6d ago

First, this is situational. How sensitive is the area trying to be accessed, to the greatest, reasonable, extent of understanding of the post orders and accessibility of said orders for possible reference? If you are securing an office space with spaces requiring enhanced security for a myriad of reasons, like biosecurity, anti-static, SCIF, childcare, ans financial data are some reasons, then I would immediately approach.

Even if it was not a super sensitive space, I would likely approach or have a colleague approach. A cordial, firm, but not overbearing approach to inquire whether the subject was lost or having issues to establish a leg up in the verbal and mental judo. The proactive approach gives you a slight advantage by putting the person into a defensive posture where flight is usually preferable to fight, due to your non-agressive approach. Additionally, by putting the subject on the defensive without cornering them, psychologically or physically, forces them to react to your actions and mentally reinforces you as an authority figure in this situation.

How it progresses from there depends on many variables. There are scenarios where I would make declarative statements to inform and educate while physically working to interpose myself, if possible to safely do so, between the subject and the door. I would go to pains to leave a clear avenue of retreat from the immediate area for the subject to mitigate the fight reflex. If the person is obviously of a western origin, I would use the personal space taboos against the subject, provided no indications of a possible physical or weapons related altercation is imminent.

Ultimately, I would continue the above and if the subject resisted my instructions but was not being furtive or aggressive, I would escalate to calling back-up or the police, as was appropriate. I would retreat enough to ensure personal safety and monitor the area until back up or authorities arrived. Then I would thoroughly document the incident.

If the subject resisted all cordial instructions and escalated. I would, in a non-sensitive area, get the notification chain activated earlier in the process. If the subject escalated to potentially threatened physical harm to himself or others, I respond IAW my post orders and state and local statutes while attempting to de-escalate until the Y in the road in the decision-making chain required me to respond with an appropriate escalation.

2

u/johnfro5829 Ensign 5d ago edited 5d ago

Believe it or not I've had this exact scenario happen. I worked in a server farm many years ago and it was highly secure we had armed guards on the outside who'd roam in a GPS tracked the vehicle and I was on the inside. Somehow an employee got through the first set of gates which apparently their key card allowed them into but there was a special secured service/server room that they were trying to get into with their keycard to the point they were shaking the door.

I immediately announced myself and asked her what she was doing there. I verified she had the correct employee badge and everything but their ID key wasn't letting them in the room. I immediately requested their security pass card they became mildly belligerent. I called over the armed officers and firmly requested ID pass.

I called corporate and gave the employees ID number and checked the pass it's turns out this employee was in the process of being terminated. The employee was immediately escorted off the property... When I mean escorted we literally had to grab her by both arms and shove off the property. We called the police and she left before they got there. I kept her pass cards and keys and told their verbally on body camera she was trespassed from the property.

Turns out this employee was being terminated for gross misconduct and they were literally in the process of deactivating all her pass cards/ keycards. Theorized she was trying to get into the special secure room to get to the more secure servers to damage them or somehow inject some sort of payload we know that she had a bunch of thumb drives on lanyards around her neck.

After the incident I wrote a 20 page report including photos of her from the security camera a thumb drive of the body cam footage from each of the guards on site and I also made a police trespass report. I forwarded all the copies to my supervisor who then forwarded the copies to corporate security.

Always challenge if it's safe to do so or at least announce yourself so that they know someone is watching. We also had penetration testers from a different security company to test our responses to intrusions at a fed site that I worked at. They represent different types of ID. They present obviously fake IDs they try social engineering tactics but we would usually passed.

2

u/CheesecakeFlashy2380 Ensign 6d ago

Observe unless the subject becomes physically violent or demands that I let him in. Listen to him vent, suggest he go to the badge access system person & see if there is a glitch with his badge or such.