Professional Conduct, Communication and Safety
Professional Conduct
Professional conduct is lawful, consistent, and accountable
Professionalism is not a personality trait; it is a standard you are measured against. In BC it rests on your licence conditions, your employer's post orders, and the regulator's expectations: act only within your authority, honestly, without discrimination, and in a way you can justify afterwards.
Key obligations: carry your licence and display identification as required; be clearly identifiable as security, never as police (impersonating a peace officer is a Criminal Code offence); treat people consistently regardless of race, religion, gender identity, disability, or apparent social status, consistent with the BC Human Rights Code; protect personal information under PIPA; avoid conflicts of interest and refuse gifts or favours that could compromise a decision; never use your position for personal benefit, retaliation, or harassment.
Accountability. Report what needs reporting: use-of-force incidents, injuries, misconduct by colleagues, and anything your employer or the regulator requires. 'It wasn't my call' is not a defence when you watched it happen. Off-duty conduct can affect your licence, and social media posts about incidents or about people are a recurring source of discipline.
Traps: equating professional with 'nice' or with 'tough'; believing a client's instruction overrides the law (a client cannot authorize an assault, an unlawful detention, or a search you have no authority to conduct); assuming a supervisor's approval makes an act lawful; acting on a 'tip' from a suspect without verification; discussing an incident with media or online.
Rule of thumb: the front-page test plus the registrar test - would you be comfortable seeing this decision on the front page, and explaining it under oath to the licensing body? If either answer is no, do not do it; and if you already did, report it.
Communication and Safety
Talk people down; position yourself to survive
Most incidents are resolved by communication before force is ever considered, and communication has structure. Identify yourself, explain why you are speaking to the person, give a clear and lawful direction, offer choices and time, and listen. LEAP (Listen, Empathize, Ask, Paraphrase) is a workable rhythm: let the person finish, name the emotion without conceding the facts ('I can see you are frustrated'), ask a question that requires thought, and restate any agreement. Lower your volume and slow your speech; a person who is shouting is not listening. Never say 'calm down' - give a behaviour to perform instead ('put the bag down and step back three metres').
Safety is positioning. Maintain situational awareness against a baseline: what is normal for this site at this hour, and what is not. Keep a reactionary gap - distance buys time to react, and the right distance depends on the person, the environment, and whether weapons are possible; there is no magic number. Use cover rather than concealment, avoid standing in doorways or at the top of stairs where you can be trapped, keep your exit behind you, and use contact/cover when backup is available. Update dispatch with location and status before you engage, not after.
Medical awareness is part of safety: recognize distress, do not diagnose, and call EMS early.
Traps: talking more as the person escalates; stepping closer to 'show confidence'; blocking the only exit; assuming compliance means safety; forgetting that fatigue and complacency cause more bad judgement than aggression does.
Rule of thumb: buy distance, cover, time, information, and backup before you buy a confrontation.