FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Have questions about California guard cards?

A California guard card is a permit from the Department of Consumer Affairs that allows a person 18 years of age or older to work as a licensed unarmed security guard in the state of California. The guard card requires an initial 8 hours of training, submission of your fingerprints for a background check and the completion of an online application.

A California guard card requires a minimum of eight hours of training which consists of weapons of mass destruction and powers to arrest along with a background check which requires live scan fingerprinting and submission of Application for Security Guard Registration.

The initial training to get the California guard card is eight hours. Within 30 days of licensing as a security guard you need an additional 16 hours continuing education and within six months of licensing you need additional 16 hours of continuing education for a total of 40 hours of training within the first year from the date the guard card was issued.

The renewal fee for a California guard card that has not expired is $40.00. If you also have a firearms permit the BSIS will sometimes try to sync the two dates of expiration so that your guard card and firearm card have the same expiration date resulting in the extending or shortening the period and a slight increase or decrease of the renewal fee.

California BSIS does not accept a security license from any other state. To be a security guard in the state of California you need to complete the training, fingerprinting and background check for California before you can work as a security guard.

The BSIS requires that the California guard card course be taught in English only. BSIS does not allow the training to be offered in any other language.

Yes, you can complete our online training anywhere in the United States. When you finish, we will provide you with a state form that lets you use ink prints on a hard card instead of live scan fingerprinting. Lastly, we walk you through the process of the online application to the BSIS.

A California Guard Card is usually valid for 2 years from the date of issue. If you owe child support, back taxes, tickets or any other debt to the government, they may require you to pay the money or enter into an agreement to start paying it back once you get your guard card and start working. Because of this, BSIS may issue your card for less than the 2 year period. If you keep making your payments they will extend your cards expiration date.

BSIS requires law enforcement officers to provide documentation of their training. These requirements vary depending on the agency of the officer. If you contact BSIS at 916-322-4000, the Bureau will explain the exact requirements for you.

If you are working in an unarmed security guard position and you are only working for one company then you could use either a California guard card or a proprietary security officer card. That being said, we recommend that you get the California guard card since it allows you to work anywhere in the State of California as an unarmed security guard. A California security officer with a guard card can work either for a private patrol operation or proprietary security employer.

We would not be able to refund the guard card fee since we already provided you with the training, fingerprinting and online application.

If denied for a permit, you will have the opportunity to appeal the decision in writing within 30 days of the denial notice. If you are still denied, you will be able to appeal the decision in person after you request an appeal hearing.

Unpaid traffic tickets can have an effect on whether or not your guard card is issued. We recommend that you enter into an agreement for repayment for your tickets before applying for the guard card.

Unpaid child-support can have an effect on you being issued a guard card. If you are denied for this reason, you must setup an arrangement with the courts and have them release the hold keeping you from obtaining the permit.

You may need to enter into an agreement for repayment of the owed money before the state will issue you a guard card.

The BSIS requires a total of 40 hours of training. The first 8 hours are completed in order to apply for the guard card. Then once you receive the guard card, you are given 6 months to complete the additional 32 hours of training also known as continuing education.

Once approved you are allowed to print out a temporary guard card to begin looking for work. It is available on the states website and will list your Name, guard number, and date of expiration.

The pepper spray training course takes approximately 2 hours to complete and you will be issued the pepper spray permit to use for work immediately the end of your training.

Securelion Security provides pepper spray training to first-time students for a cost of $40 and to returning or continuing students for a cost of $25. Combine the pepper spray training with your guard card training to receive the discounted price.

The pepper spray training course that we offer is designed for security officers. Civilians do not need to take a course of training to be able to carry pepper spray for their own personal protection. While a permit is not needed, ideally its the good idea to have training and an understanding of the defensive tool that you’ll be using. As such, the pepper spray course would be open to anyone at least 18 years of age during our normal business hours.

The pepper spray permit is not issued by the Bureau security and investigative services. We provide the certificate to show proof of training, the date of training, and the institution providing the training. Your certificate will be provided at the end of the class.

The BSIS requires a total of 40 hours of training. The first 8 hours are completed in order to apply for the guard card. Then once you receive the guard card, you are given 6 months to complete the additional 32 hours of training also known as continuing education.