Connecticut licenses security officers through the Special Licensing and Firearms Unit (SLFU) of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), under Chapter 534 of the General Statutes. DESPP calls the card a Security Officer Training Certification Identification Card; most people call it the guard card. It lasts 5 years.
Who needs it
- Security officers employed by a security company.
- In-house officers too, when they wear a uniform for security work on premises that are open to the public or have paid admission (C.G.S. 29-152u).
- No one may work as a security officer before being licensed, except under the pending-application rule below. Violations are a $75 fine per offense, and each day of a continuing violation counts separately.
Requirements
- At least 18 years old (21 for armed work) and of good moral character.
- No felony, sexual offense or crime involving moral turpitude, reviewed under the state's law on weighing criminal records (C.G.S. 46a-80). A license refused under the security statutes for any reason other than experience, or one revoked or suspended, also bars you.
- No police decertification, in Connecticut or anywhere else.
Training
- At least 8 hours from a DESPP-approved instructor, at your own expense, covering basic first aid, search and seizure laws, use of force, and basic criminal justice and public safety (C.G.S. 29-161q(b)). DESPP publishes the list of approved instructors.
- The instructor signs the back of your application form, DPS-135-C.
- Apply within 2 years of finishing the course, or the training no longer counts.
Military and police waivers
- Military. The training is waived for members of the armed forces or National Guard, and for veterans within 2 years of discharge, who show military training equivalent to the course, with their discharge document if they have separated. Anyone who gets the waiver also skips the $100 license fee (C.G.S. 29-161q(b) and (c), from Public Act 14-131).
- DESPP describes it as a course waiver for active military or an honorable separation within the last 2 years, and a fee waiver with a DD 214 from the last 2 years or a military ID showing your MOS. Contact SLFU for the military version of the application.
- Former police officers can have the course waived with a letter of separation.
How to apply
- Pay the fingerprint fee online first, then get fingerprinted for the state and national criminal history checks.
- Mail the packet: the signed DPS-135-C with your email address on it, one 2x2 color passport-style photo on a solid background, a copy of your Connecticut driver's license, naturalization papers if they apply, the signed FBI privacy statement, a copy of your fingerprint applicant tracking number or receipt, and the $100 fee by check or money order payable to "Treasurer, State of Connecticut."
- Send it to DESPP's Special Licensing and Firearms Unit at 1111 Country Club Road, Middletown, CT 06457, attention Security Officer (Guard Card). Incomplete packets are sent back.
- Your employer registers you once you are licensed (a $40 fee the employer pays), and you get an ID card to carry on duty and show any police officer who asks.
Working while your application is pending
- You can work before the license arrives if all of this is true: your employer has run a state and national criminal history check on you, itself or through a consumer reporting agency, and found you qualify; you finished the training or got the waiver; and you have never been decertified as a police officer (C.G.S. 29-161q(h)).
- Not at schools or child care. Pending applicants may not work at a preschool, an elementary or secondary school, or a licensed child care center.
- The permission ends when DESPP grants or denies your application.
Armed security officers
- Two permits. Carrying on duty, or directly to and from work, takes a Connecticut State Pistol Permit plus a security officer special permit, known as the blue card (C.G.S. 29-161z). Armed officers must be 21 or older.
- An 8-hour firearms training and qualification course from a DESPP-approved firearms instructor, who signs form DPS-1030. The form is available only from the instructor.
- A refresher course every year, through the same process.
- $62, and the blue card expires with your pistol permit, renewing for 5-year periods.
- DESPP can issue a temporary permit while the blue card is processed, if you applied and finished the course right after you were hired.
- Carrying without the blue card is a $75 fine for you and for your employer.
Cost
- $100 for the license, and $100 again at each renewal.
- Fingerprint fees are paid online and separately. Training is at your expense.
- $25 late fee if you renew after the expiration date.
- $62 for the armed blue card, on top of the pistol permit.
Renewal
- Every 5 years. DESPP sends a renewal notice at least 90 days before expiration, by mail or email, whichever you choose.
- Renewals need no new fingerprints and no records-check fee, though the check still runs.
- A 90-day grace period. The license stays valid for 90 days after it expires, and renewing in that window adds the $25 late fee. After 90 days it cannot be renewed, so you would have to apply again from the start.
- When you leave a job, your employer tells DESPP within 5 days.
How tessura helps
Connecticut's 5-year license is easy to lose track of, and its 90-day grace period ends in a hard stop. Armed officers also have a yearly refresher and a blue card tied to the pistol permit's date. tessura is free for guards: keep your guard card, blue card, pistol permit and refresher records in the credential wallet and get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each expiration.
tessura is not affiliated with the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection or any state agency. Rules change, so confirm anything you rely on with DESPP's Special Licensing and Firearms Unit.