New Maryland law will require all security guards to be licensed, pass training requirements
Annapolis MD April 12 2023
Most security guards in Maryland now will have to be trained, licensed by the state and covered by insurance, under legislation passed in the final hours of the legislative session Monday night.
As things stand, only guards who work for private security companies in Maryland are required to have licenses issued by state police.
If a guard is employed directly by a non-security business, like a grocery store, they don’t have a state-issued “guard card.” The state has not required training for guards, regardless of their employer, and hasn’t tracked when they use force against people at work.
Sponsored by Sen. Jill Carter, a Democrat from Baltimore, the legislation passed Monday establishes training requirements for private security and mandates guards or their employers report to the state when they use force, bringing Maryland closer to having universal standards for people who work in the police-adjacent industry.
Senate Bill 760 now heads to the desk of Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who can sign the legislation into law, let it go into effect without his signature, or veto it.
“Long time coming,” said Carter, who introduced similar legislation in 2006, in a text message Tuesday morning.
Although security guards who carry guns have to undergo training to obtain a license to carry those weapons, that curriculum is not specific to guards’ jobs, which regularly put them in contact with people. The legislation outlines training for guards who apply to carry guns and those who don’t. It does not apply to gun-less guards working security at restaurants, bars and taverns — employees commonly called “bouncers.”
Carter’s legislation, and a parallel bill in the House of Delegates sponsored by Baltimore delegates Elizabeth Embry and Marlon Amprey, both Democrats, follows several shootings by guards in the city they all represent. Guards have fatally shot at least three people in Baltimore over the past two years. While lawmakers debated the bills’ merits, a security officer shot a man inside a pizzeria in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood March 19.
The sponsors have described the legislation as a public safety measure.
“I’m thrilled,” Embry told The Baltimore Sun. “This is a really important step in the right direction.“
The National Association of Security Companies, which represents several private security businesses in Maryland, supported the bill throughout the session.
