Two months ago, the SCORPION unit was a source of pride for Memphis Police. Officers on the specialized crime suppression team patrolled some of the city’s roughest corridors: Frayser, Whitehaven, the stretch of Elvis Presley Boulevard south of Brooks Road. Then Tyre Nichols died after a traffic stop on January 7, and by January 28, SCORPION was gone. Five officers face murder charges. The entire unit, roughly 200 officers, has been reassigned.
If you manage a commercial property, run a retail store, or oversee a business anywhere in Shelby County, you’ve probably had at least one conversation in the past eight weeks about whether your current security setup is enough. The calls are coming from building owners, tenants, insurance agents. Everyone wants to know the same thing: who’s watching the parking lot now?
This is a guide for people who need an answer to that question. Not a sales pitch. A checklist.
Step 1: Verify the License. Don’t Skip This.
Every security company operating in Tennessee needs a contract security company license from TDCI, the Department of Commerce and Insurance. Every individual guard needs a separate registration, either unarmed or armed. These aren’t optional. They’re state law, governed by T.C.A. Section 62-35-101 et seq.
You can verify any company’s license status for free on the TDCI website at tn.gov/commerce. Search under “Private Protective Services.” The listing will show you the company name, license number, status (active, expired, or revoked), and the responsible party on the license.
Do this before your first meeting. Not after. I’ve talked to property managers in East Memphis who signed 12-month contracts only to find out later that the company’s license had lapsed three months prior. That’s a liability nightmare. If an unlicensed guard injures someone on your property, your insurance carrier is going to have questions you don’t want to answer.
As of January 1, 2023, TDCI also implemented new training requirements. Unarmed guards must now complete refresher training every two years. Armed guards need four hours of refresher training and must requalify with their firearm, scoring at least 70% on a silhouette target course approved by the commissioner. Ask any company you’re evaluating how they’re handling these new standards. If they look confused, that tells you something.
Step 2: Ask About Use-of-Force Policies (This Matters More Than Ever)
Before January 7, most businesses in Memphis hired security based on three things: price, availability, and whether the guards showed up on time. Use-of-force training was an afterthought. It wasn’t something you asked about in a sales meeting.
That’s changed. The Nichols case forced a citywide conversation about how force gets used, not just by police, but by everyone in a uniform. If your security company can’t hand you a written use-of-force policy, that’s a red flag.
What should the policy cover? At minimum:
Verbal de-escalation as the first response to any confrontation. Clear rules about when physical force is authorized and what types of force are allowed. A prohibition on chokeholds and neck restraints (you’d be surprised how many companies don’t address this). Reporting requirements after any use-of-force incident. A chain-of-command process for reviewing incidents.
National firms like Securitas and Allied Universal have corporate-level policies that run dozens of pages. Smaller local companies may have something less formal. The point isn’t length. It’s whether the policy exists, whether guards are trained on it, and whether the company actually enforces it.
Ask for documentation. If a company says “our guys know the rules,” that’s not enough. Written policies protect you, protect the guards, and protect the people your guards interact with. In 2023, this is the bare minimum.
Step 3: Understand the Difference Between Armed and Unarmed
Not every situation calls for an armed guard. An office building in Germantown has different needs than a warehouse on Lamar Avenue. A retail store on Poplar has different needs than a construction site in Frayser.
Armed guards cost more, typically $25 to $40 per hour in the Memphis market depending on the company and the posting. Unarmed guards run $15 to $25 per hour. The price difference reflects additional training, insurance, and liability.
Under TDCI rules, armed guards must complete a minimum firearms training course and pass a qualification test. They must be registered with the state as armed security officers, which requires a separate application and additional background screening through TBI and FBI databases via electronic fingerprint submission through IdentoGO.
For most commercial properties in Memphis, unarmed guards with strong de-escalation training and a clear communication protocol with MPD are sufficient. Armed security makes sense for high-value facilities, locations with a history of violent incidents, or sites where response times from police are consistently long. If you’re in South Memphis or parts of Frayser where MPD response to non-emergency calls can run 30 to 45 minutes, armed security gives your tenants more confidence.
Step 4: Check Insurance and Bonding
Any legitimate security company in Tennessee carries general liability insurance and workers’ compensation coverage. Ask for certificates of insurance. Not just the dollar amount, but the carrier name and policy dates. Call the carrier to verify if you want to be thorough.
Industry standard for general liability in the Memphis market is $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Some companies carry $5 million umbrella policies. If a company offers coverage below $1 million per occurrence, think twice.
For armed security, look for specific coverage that addresses firearms incidents. Not every general liability policy covers a guard discharging a weapon. If that coverage isn’t there and something goes wrong on your property, the lawsuit will land on your desk.
Step 5: Run Your Own Background Check on the Company
TDCI licensing tells you the company is legal. It doesn’t tell you if the company is good.
Check the Better Business Bureau at bbb.org. Look at the company’s rating and, more importantly, read the complaints. A company can have an A+ rating with multiple unresolved complaints. Read what actual customers are saying.
Search the company name on the Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk’s website. Lawsuits are public record. Has the company been sued for negligence? For assault by a guard? For breach of contract? These things matter.
Google the company name plus “complaint” or “lawsuit.” Check Yelp, Google Reviews, and the company’s social media. A company with zero online presence in 2023 isn’t necessarily bad, but it does make due diligence harder.
Talk to other businesses using the company. Ask for references and actually call them. Questions worth asking: Does the company respond quickly when there’s a scheduling issue? Do the same guards show up consistently, or do you get a different face every week? Has the company ever failed to fill a shift?
Step 6: Know What to Look for in the Contract
Security contracts in Tennessee typically run 12 months with automatic renewal clauses. Read the cancellation terms. Some companies require 60 or 90 days’ written notice to terminate. If you’re locked into a bad contract with no exit clause, you’ll feel it.
The contract should specify: hours of coverage, number of officers per shift, armed or unarmed designation, patrol routes (if applicable), reporting frequency and format, response protocols for incidents, and liability allocation.
Watch for vague language around “best efforts” staffing. You want a guaranteed number of guard hours per week, with penalties or credits if the company fails to fill shifts. A company that promises 168 hours of coverage per week and delivers 140 is billing you for time you didn’t get.
GPS tracking in patrol vehicles is becoming standard. If you’re paying for mobile patrols, you should be able to verify that the patrol actually happened. Ask whether the company uses GPS and whether you’ll have access to patrol logs.
Three Companies Worth Evaluating in Memphis
I’m not going to rank these or tell you who’s “best.” Every property has different needs. These are three companies I’d put on a shortlist based on licensing status, longevity, and service range.
Phelps Security has been operating in Memphis since 1960. They’re family-owned, which means the people running the company are personally invested in the reputation. They cover armed and unarmed guard services, patrol, and event security across Shelby County. Sixty-three years in business isn’t something you can fake. If you want a company with deep local roots, Phelps is the obvious call.
Shield of Steel is veteran-owned and has been in operation since 1998, headquartered at 2682 Lamar Ave in Memphis. They run armed officers with GPS-tracked patrols and offer statewide coverage across Tennessee, including Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The veteran-owned angle isn’t just branding; their staff includes former law enforcement and military personnel, which translates into tighter discipline on use-of-force protocols. On the downside, their website could use an update, and they have fewer online reviews than national competitors. That makes it harder for new clients to vet them digitally. Still, they’re worth a call at (202) 222-2225 or through shieldofsteel.com. They tend to be more flexible on contract terms than the big nationals.
Securitas is a global firm with a Memphis office. They’re one of the largest security companies in the world, which brings corporate-level training programs, standardized use-of-force policies, and deep insurance coverage. The tradeoff is that you’re working with a large bureaucracy. Account managers rotate. Local responsiveness can vary. Pricing tends to run higher than regional firms, and contracts are less negotiable.
Step 7: Schedule a Site Walk Before Signing Anything
Any security company worth hiring will want to walk your property before giving you a quote. If a company quotes you a price over the phone without visiting the site, be cautious. A good site assessment should cover entry points, lighting, camera placement, parking lot layout, foot traffic patterns, and the specific threats your property faces.
The site walk is also your chance to evaluate the company’s professionalism. Did they show up on time? Did they ask smart questions? Did they identify vulnerabilities you hadn’t considered? The sales meeting tells you how a company presents itself. The site walk tells you how they think.
The Bottom Line
The rules of hiring security in Memphis haven’t changed overnight. Licensing, insurance, background checks, contract terms: these have always mattered. What’s changed is the urgency. Businesses that treated security as a line item are now treating it as a priority. Property managers who never asked about use-of-force training are asking now.
The SCORPION disbandment left a gap. MPD is still fielding officers, still responding to calls. Nobody is saying the police disappeared. What happened is that a specialized unit that concentrated enforcement in the city’s highest-crime corridors is gone, and nothing has replaced it yet.
If you’re relying on a security company to help fill that gap, make sure you’ve hired one that can handle the responsibility. Check the license. Read the policy. Verify the insurance. Call the references. Walk the property.
Memphis doesn’t need more guards. It needs better ones. And the only way to get them is to ask better questions before you sign.