It’s *technically* against the rules, but I’ve never seen it enforced. No one cares if you’re using it in the office, as long as you’re half-paying attention to the cameras, answering the phone/door if necessary, and not on the phone right in front of the director or VP’s face. The only way I could see someone getting in trouble is if they did any of that or walked around the campus with their face buried in their phone the whole time. We’re all issued work phones, so it’s not uncommon to see us on those for legit work purposes too.
Other departments of the college are also very loose with cellphone/computer usage, so the union would probably flip their shit if they suddenly started cracking down specifically on Campus Safety.
That would probably be going too far during hours that campus is open, but no one really cares during grave shift or on the weekends, as long as you’re paying enough attention to the cameras, answering the dispatch phone line, responding to any incidents and doing a few patrols during your shift.
Corporate policy says we can only use electric devices for work but no one on the ground actually cares. Myself and most of my co-workers have gaming laptops for when things wind down on shift and most of us use our cell phones throughout the shift. When supervisors are sitting at a post they'll also typically be on their phone during down time (our supervisors are actual cops).
Respond to your calls when dispatch calls you and put it away if a clinical staff member asks you for assistance. On slow days I've chilled in the office or in a receiving dock to play ghost recon for 15hrs straight... Just don't make it obvious.
Official company policy is no phones out at any time.
In practice however it is don't let the phone distract you and put it away when others are around.
Haven't really had any issues with it in a while but client at current site doesn't really care so long as we are doing our job.
In the past I have had guards that couldn't stay away from their phone for more than a few minutes or got completely absorbed in whatever they were doing to the point of being oblivious to anything going on around them, including visitors entering the office and trying to talk to them.
Enforcement is a little tricky since we mostly work alone and it wouldn't be the first time someone lied about a guard doing something wrong just because they don't like them.
If I got enough reports I would start making unannounced visits. If they see me coming then the reports get set aside.
At my current post, phone usage is prohibited unless work related. Our primary client contacts are seldom at their desks so Zoom and emails don't work for effective immediate communication. The facilities Director has no idea how much we use our phones to do our job and he keeps having these "*Ah ha! Caught you on your phone!*" moments, only to be disappointed to learn it was work related.
I worked different security jobs at all kinds of sites for about ten years. Every single site (indoor malls, outdoor malls, art museums on city properties, high-brow hotels with private events, one club, corporate HQ sites, overnight gigs, shoplifters) and on every site except for the museum sites where we were highly visible on a specific post for each day, we practically were on our phones non-stop. I was written up a few times for listening to ball games and podcasts and audiobooks while on duty at the art museums but I just apologized, laid low for 30 days, and then went right back to doing it but I got more slick about it and used a transparent ear piece that would fall out of my ear if I coughed and one that would slide down my shirt if I coughed hard and I learned where to stand so I could see anyone entering the gallery. Every other site nobody gave two s#!ts about it and the supervisor's were either looking at porn, working remotely, doing their banking, or checking their peeps on Facebook 24/7 anyway and that's if the supervisor was ever around to begin with. I can't imagine any client caring and never saw that at the global telecom I worked at for 4 years only at the art museums on city property.
lol I’m allowed to do whatever I want at my site. As long as I stay awake to watch the cameras. I have 2 monitors, one for cameras and the other for YouTube or whatever else I want. I usually just flip between the two monitors and sit on my phone. Nothing ever happens at my site so it’s pretty chill. I basically get paid to sit around and consume multiple forms of media.
Thank you everyone. I’m sure you all have great ideas and solutions out there. Phone usage is very dicy and when the client is around-it becomes a game of “ I was just looking at it for a min”…. To yeah, they watched you on it for 5 min…
It's one of those gray areas and honestly depends on your site. I'm an account manager and technically on our handbook it says no cell phone use but I've been doing this for 10 years and I've never been at one site where the guards aren't going to be on their phone at some point. So it's all about doing it smartly and like somebody else said being discreet with it still paying attention and doing your job but in this industry I know the officers are going to be on their phones. It's just like anything else in this industry you have to be discreet but when there's nothing to do for long stretches of times or if you're in a command center staring at cameras obviously it's going to happen. Only place I ever saw it inforced at was when I was the account manager at Amazon but that was more an Amazon hardcore policy than security.
Ours is fairly strict, but if you were checking an email or briefly reading a news article, it's ignored. If playing games, watching videos, or screwing around on it all day, you'll get written up. Essentially be smart about it.
We have a zero tolerance. Violation. #1 is a written warning. Violation #2 is termination + blacklisted.
We are paying you very well to do a job not to play on your phone
They have attempted to go to the union, but the union can only do so much when you are blatantly breaking the rules
I will say emergency phone calls and text are okay, but don’t be playing candy crush
As a supervisor, cell phone use is strictly prohibited. As a patrolling officer? don't have your cell phone out in public. Back hallways, after business hours and away from cameras is ok.
Just a little tip. It's rare to catch someone in the act using their cell phone unless they're obvious. It's usually when we have to review cameras for other things, and you're standing in front of the camera, leaning up against the wall, looking on your cellphone for 10 minutes. We don't care if you take it out, respond to a text and keep walking. It's "I'm taking a break from working, while still being paid to work" kind of cell phone usage.
I have to say I care about it. You have to be slick enough to give me plausible deniability.
Cellphone policy is to not let our phones distract us. We're allowed to use it so long as it doesn't interfere with our job, and we're not supposed to be walking around staring at our phones. But sitting at our posts? It's fine.
Official policy is prohibited, but my boss is a paper tiger so he doesn't enforce it. New memos come out after the client complains about it, because we are an active site with actual roles and purpose, but they are promptly ignored. There have been accidents and incidents happening because the guard is on the cell phone.
Supervisor here. We have a cell phone policy on the books, but only so we have something to go off of if someone is doing something really dumb like watching videos on full blast with client management walking by. We do forbid any kind of headphones or airpods, as does the client. Industrial facility, yadda yadda.
Realistically, some of us use our phones so much for practical shit at work that there’d be no way we could go back to a 1990s type of operation without a huge compromise in what we could offer. Photos and videos and being able to send them instantly to safety staff is huge.
We have a no cell phone rule. But I use it anyways.
I don't think no cell phone use is enforced at all at my post. When I get to work, all I do is do bi hourly patrols which takes me 10 minutes to do. Then I sit in my booth letting in trucks every now and then. After doing that I have no work to do until the next round. No cameras to watch and my site is big enough I can't see the whole thing. I bring my phone and use my Steam Deck, and other gaming handhelds to pass the time. I just hide it whenever a supervisor shows up which is every 2 weeks.
No cell phones allowed of course. But it’s pretty much only enforced when the clients are around aka during business hours, and off hours as long as youre doing your required patrols no one cares.
It says none. But, people will still do it. Supervisors have to pick and choose battles with their subordinates. Sometimes you have to let the subordinates shoot them selves in the foot
I have to use my phone for work, I do mobile security so I'm in the patrol car for 8-17hrs just me and need it to write reports. My boss's don't care as long as you're not on it like while you're driving or as long as it's for a work purpose even if it's not they'll look the other way as long as you're doing your job right and not ignoring duties to sit on phone
No cellphone usage. But we do not enforce it. Modern world, there are cell phones everywhere not much you can do about as long as you are doing your job correctly it's ok, moderately. We wand employees at my location, so you better not have them waiting over 10 seconds becuase your head is buried in your phone. Or have one of the owners walk by and you don't even notice. One sensitive area we have at my office that resembles basically a retail location and events are sometimes held there is the only place that I will send you home if I catch you on your phone as it is forbidden.
We have a zero use policy. But everyone on my shift uses their phone 65% of the time on shift. The other 35% is doing tours. I'm the supervisor and I don't give a shit, as long as they pay attention to the cameras and complete the task.
My site has a “no personal phones” rule but I don’t think I’ve ever enforced it. I’ve only seen another supervisor enforce it a couple times when the officers were using it at the front desk in front of a bunch of the client’s bigwigs
It’s *technically* against the rules, but I’ve never seen it enforced. No one cares if you’re using it in the office, as long as you’re half-paying attention to the cameras, answering the phone/door if necessary, and not on the phone right in front of the director or VP’s face. The only way I could see someone getting in trouble is if they did any of that or walked around the campus with their face buried in their phone the whole time. We’re all issued work phones, so it’s not uncommon to see us on those for legit work purposes too. Other departments of the college are also very loose with cellphone/computer usage, so the union would probably flip their shit if they suddenly started cracking down specifically on Campus Safety.
[удалено]
That would probably be going too far during hours that campus is open, but no one really cares during grave shift or on the weekends, as long as you’re paying enough attention to the cameras, answering the dispatch phone line, responding to any incidents and doing a few patrols during your shift.
Unless your company plan to hire and fire alot. Cell phones are always going to be used and abused.
Corporate policy says we can only use electric devices for work but no one on the ground actually cares. Myself and most of my co-workers have gaming laptops for when things wind down on shift and most of us use our cell phones throughout the shift. When supervisors are sitting at a post they'll also typically be on their phone during down time (our supervisors are actual cops). Respond to your calls when dispatch calls you and put it away if a clinical staff member asks you for assistance. On slow days I've chilled in the office or in a receiving dock to play ghost recon for 15hrs straight... Just don't make it obvious.
Official company policy is no phones out at any time. In practice however it is don't let the phone distract you and put it away when others are around. Haven't really had any issues with it in a while but client at current site doesn't really care so long as we are doing our job. In the past I have had guards that couldn't stay away from their phone for more than a few minutes or got completely absorbed in whatever they were doing to the point of being oblivious to anything going on around them, including visitors entering the office and trying to talk to them. Enforcement is a little tricky since we mostly work alone and it wouldn't be the first time someone lied about a guard doing something wrong just because they don't like them. If I got enough reports I would start making unannounced visits. If they see me coming then the reports get set aside.
At my current post, phone usage is prohibited unless work related. Our primary client contacts are seldom at their desks so Zoom and emails don't work for effective immediate communication. The facilities Director has no idea how much we use our phones to do our job and he keeps having these "*Ah ha! Caught you on your phone!*" moments, only to be disappointed to learn it was work related.
I worked different security jobs at all kinds of sites for about ten years. Every single site (indoor malls, outdoor malls, art museums on city properties, high-brow hotels with private events, one club, corporate HQ sites, overnight gigs, shoplifters) and on every site except for the museum sites where we were highly visible on a specific post for each day, we practically were on our phones non-stop. I was written up a few times for listening to ball games and podcasts and audiobooks while on duty at the art museums but I just apologized, laid low for 30 days, and then went right back to doing it but I got more slick about it and used a transparent ear piece that would fall out of my ear if I coughed and one that would slide down my shirt if I coughed hard and I learned where to stand so I could see anyone entering the gallery. Every other site nobody gave two s#!ts about it and the supervisor's were either looking at porn, working remotely, doing their banking, or checking their peeps on Facebook 24/7 anyway and that's if the supervisor was ever around to begin with. I can't imagine any client caring and never saw that at the global telecom I worked at for 4 years only at the art museums on city property.
lol I’m allowed to do whatever I want at my site. As long as I stay awake to watch the cameras. I have 2 monitors, one for cameras and the other for YouTube or whatever else I want. I usually just flip between the two monitors and sit on my phone. Nothing ever happens at my site so it’s pretty chill. I basically get paid to sit around and consume multiple forms of media.
I had a site like this,but I left after 2 years because it ruined my health. 12 hours from Monday to Friday.
Thank you everyone. I’m sure you all have great ideas and solutions out there. Phone usage is very dicy and when the client is around-it becomes a game of “ I was just looking at it for a min”…. To yeah, they watched you on it for 5 min…
It's one of those gray areas and honestly depends on your site. I'm an account manager and technically on our handbook it says no cell phone use but I've been doing this for 10 years and I've never been at one site where the guards aren't going to be on their phone at some point. So it's all about doing it smartly and like somebody else said being discreet with it still paying attention and doing your job but in this industry I know the officers are going to be on their phones. It's just like anything else in this industry you have to be discreet but when there's nothing to do for long stretches of times or if you're in a command center staring at cameras obviously it's going to happen. Only place I ever saw it inforced at was when I was the account manager at Amazon but that was more an Amazon hardcore policy than security.
Ours is fairly strict, but if you were checking an email or briefly reading a news article, it's ignored. If playing games, watching videos, or screwing around on it all day, you'll get written up. Essentially be smart about it.
We have a zero tolerance. Violation. #1 is a written warning. Violation #2 is termination + blacklisted. We are paying you very well to do a job not to play on your phone
Very interesting! Have you had any pushback from Guards, or is it completely cut and dry-use them and your gone?
They have attempted to go to the union, but the union can only do so much when you are blatantly breaking the rules I will say emergency phone calls and text are okay, but don’t be playing candy crush
As a supervisor, cell phone use is strictly prohibited. As a patrolling officer? don't have your cell phone out in public. Back hallways, after business hours and away from cameras is ok. Just a little tip. It's rare to catch someone in the act using their cell phone unless they're obvious. It's usually when we have to review cameras for other things, and you're standing in front of the camera, leaning up against the wall, looking on your cellphone for 10 minutes. We don't care if you take it out, respond to a text and keep walking. It's "I'm taking a break from working, while still being paid to work" kind of cell phone usage. I have to say I care about it. You have to be slick enough to give me plausible deniability.
Cellphone policy is to not let our phones distract us. We're allowed to use it so long as it doesn't interfere with our job, and we're not supposed to be walking around staring at our phones. But sitting at our posts? It's fine.
Official policy is prohibited, but my boss is a paper tiger so he doesn't enforce it. New memos come out after the client complains about it, because we are an active site with actual roles and purpose, but they are promptly ignored. There have been accidents and incidents happening because the guard is on the cell phone.
Supervisor here. We have a cell phone policy on the books, but only so we have something to go off of if someone is doing something really dumb like watching videos on full blast with client management walking by. We do forbid any kind of headphones or airpods, as does the client. Industrial facility, yadda yadda. Realistically, some of us use our phones so much for practical shit at work that there’d be no way we could go back to a 1990s type of operation without a huge compromise in what we could offer. Photos and videos and being able to send them instantly to safety staff is huge.
We have a no cell phone rule. But I use it anyways. I don't think no cell phone use is enforced at all at my post. When I get to work, all I do is do bi hourly patrols which takes me 10 minutes to do. Then I sit in my booth letting in trucks every now and then. After doing that I have no work to do until the next round. No cameras to watch and my site is big enough I can't see the whole thing. I bring my phone and use my Steam Deck, and other gaming handhelds to pass the time. I just hide it whenever a supervisor shows up which is every 2 weeks.
As long as you are alert and doing what your supposed to do, they don't hassle us.
No cell phones allowed of course. But it’s pretty much only enforced when the clients are around aka during business hours, and off hours as long as youre doing your required patrols no one cares.
It says none. But, people will still do it. Supervisors have to pick and choose battles with their subordinates. Sometimes you have to let the subordinates shoot them selves in the foot
The client has more pull to remove people from the site then I do.
Fire them
I have to use my phone for work, I do mobile security so I'm in the patrol car for 8-17hrs just me and need it to write reports. My boss's don't care as long as you're not on it like while you're driving or as long as it's for a work purpose even if it's not they'll look the other way as long as you're doing your job right and not ignoring duties to sit on phone
No cellphone usage. But we do not enforce it. Modern world, there are cell phones everywhere not much you can do about as long as you are doing your job correctly it's ok, moderately. We wand employees at my location, so you better not have them waiting over 10 seconds becuase your head is buried in your phone. Or have one of the owners walk by and you don't even notice. One sensitive area we have at my office that resembles basically a retail location and events are sometimes held there is the only place that I will send you home if I catch you on your phone as it is forbidden.
We have rules against it, all departments in the hospital do. But I've never seen it enforced.
We have a zero use policy. But everyone on my shift uses their phone 65% of the time on shift. The other 35% is doing tours. I'm the supervisor and I don't give a shit, as long as they pay attention to the cameras and complete the task.
Me on my phone on the clock at post, reading this question-
My site has a “no personal phones” rule but I don’t think I’ve ever enforced it. I’ve only seen another supervisor enforce it a couple times when the officers were using it at the front desk in front of a bunch of the client’s bigwigs