South Dakota has no state license for security guards, and no state agency trains, tests or registers them. The rules that exist are local, and the big one is Rapid City, where every guard needs a city license. Your employer sets the rest, so keep a copy of every certificate it gives you.
Rapid City: a city license for every guard
Rapid City's code (chapter 5.52) makes it unlawful to do any kind of security work in the city without a city license. Each guard needs an individual license, even when the company already holds its own.
- Who counts: patrol and contract guards, in-house guards who protect one employer's property, and anyone who collects cover charges or checks IDs at the door of a bar or other place licensed to serve alcohol (§ 5.52.010).
- Off-duty police: Rapid City officers who take private security work need the license too, with the chief's approval. The chapter doesn't apply to officers and Pennington County deputies working for a government agency, or to city employees on city property (§ 5.52.170).
- Who qualifies: 18 or older. The application includes an affidavit with your full name, age, address, current job and jobs for the past 5 years, facts showing good character, and any criminal record (§ 5.52.030).
- Training: the Chief of Police may require basic security instruction, and every licensee follows the chief's administrative rules (§ 5.52.040).
- Cost and term: $75 for a new individual license and $50 to renew. If the city sends your fingerprints to the state Division of Criminal Investigation, you also pay DCI's fee and a fingerprinting fee (§ 2.20.030). Nothing is refunded if you withdraw or are denied, and the license expires 24 months after it's issued (§§ 5.52.060, 5.52.070).
- On the job: carry your identification card. Uniforms and badges need the chief's approval, must look different from Rapid City police uniforms, and can't predominantly display the word POLICE (§ 5.52.110).
How to apply in Rapid City
1. Get the Security License application from the city Finance Office's forms page, or call the Finance Office at 605-394-4143. 2. Complete the affidavit with your 5-year work history and any criminal record. 3. Submit it with the fee. Every application goes to the Chief of Police, who recommends approval or denial, and the Finance Office issues the license (§§ 5.52.050, 5.52.060). 4. If you're denied, the Finance Office tells you in writing, and you have 10 days to ask for a hearing before the Common Council.
Keeping your Rapid City license
- Renew before 24 months are up. The renewal fee is $50.
- Suspension: the chief can suspend a license immediately if the holder is a risk to public welfare. You have 10 days to ask for a Council hearing, and repeated violations of the chapter can cost you the license (§ 5.52.100).
- Lapsed means off the job: it's unlawful to carry a security badge or ID once your license isn't valid (§ 5.52.140), and unlawful for any guard to act like a police officer (§ 5.52.150).
Sioux Falls, Sturgis and the rest of the state
- Sioux Falls has no general guard license. The only security license on its police department's fee schedule is for airport authority security officers, $50 a year (City Code § 110.032).
- Sturgis says most businesses need no license. Its list covers taxis, construction, the building trades and rally vendors, and security isn't on it.
- Everywhere else, ask the city clerk or police department where you'll work before your first shift.
Carrying a gun
Rapid City bars guards from carrying or using a firearm without any permit the state requires (§ 5.52.120). South Dakota requires none: residents and nonresidents who may lawfully possess a pistol can carry it concealed without a permit (SDCL 23-7-7).
- Optional permits: county sheriffs take applications for regular, gold card and enhanced permits, each good for 5 years. The enhanced permit adds a handgun course and a fingerprint check.
- Where permits don't reach: county courthouses, the State Capitol and elementary and secondary schools (SDCL 22-14-22, 13-32-7).
- Your employer decides whether you carry on duty and sets any qualification. Keep your range scores with your license.
Starting a security company
In Rapid City, a company that patrols with vehicles or uses more than 3 guards needs a merchant security license: $250 new and $200 to renew, on top of each guard's individual license. The application lists every vehicle by year, make, model and serial number, patrol vehicles must show SECURITY on both sides and the rear, and a change of ownership needs a new license (§§ 5.52.010, 5.52.030, 5.52.070, 5.52.090, 5.52.130). Anyone who takes guarding work in the city without a license breaks the code (§ 5.52.160).
How tessura helps
A Rapid City license runs 24 months, and once it lapses you can't legally work security in the city. tessura is free for guards: keep your city license, training certificates and pistol permit in the credential wallet and get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each one expires.
tessura is not affiliated with the City of Rapid City, the City of Sioux Falls, the South Dakota Secretary of State or any state agency. Rules change, so confirm anything you rely on with the city or agency that issues it.