Vermont regulates security guards through the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), part of the Secretary of State's office, under 26 V.S.A. chapter 59. OPR's instructions are blunt: it is a criminal offense in Vermont to start work before your registration is issued.
Two ways to work
1. Registered security employee. Works for a licensed agency, supervised by a licensed security guard at the same agency (OPR rule 4-2). This is how most guards start. 2. Licensed security guard. Can work as a sole proprietor or for an agency, and can supervise registered employees (rule 4-1).
Some guards need neither. The law exempts guards employed directly by one company that isn't a security agency, on its regular payroll, and unarmed property managers doing incidental inspections (26 V.S.A. § 3151a).
Registered security employee
- You must be 18 or older and meet a high standard of character, integrity and reputation. OPR runs a Vermont Crime Information Center record check and may weigh your employment history and references.
- 8 hours of approved training before you apply: the role of the agency guard (2 hours), ethics and conduct (3 hours) and legal powers and limitations (3 hours) (rule 9-3). The instructor must be a licensed guard with five years in security or law enforcement.
- Apply in OPR's online services system with the $70 fee, your course certificate and the Supervisor Authorization Form signed by you and your supervisor. OPR says to allow 3 to 5 business days.
- Changing agencies: you keep your registration and upload a new Supervisor Authorization Form instead of starting over.
- Between jobs: when no agency employs and supervises you, the registration is "active but inoperative" and you can't work (rule 4-2).
Licensed security guard
- You need to be 18 or older, complete 40 hours of approved training, pass the Vermont State Jurisprudence Examination and show at least two years of security experience. Experience can include a guard license in another state, work for a licensed agency, or service as a sworn law enforcement officer (26 V.S.A. § 3174; rule 4-1).
- You also submit two character references and pass state and FBI record checks.
- The 40 hours cover the guard's role, ethics, legal powers and limitations, communication, patrol and investigation, emergency response, observation and notes, statements, evidence, access control and report writing (rule 9-2).
- The exam covers Vermont's statutes and OPR rules, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Vermont public records law.
- Licensed in another state? The fast track endorsement route takes the jurisprudence exam and verification from your licensing states.
Fees
Vermont sets these fees in statute (3 V.S.A. § 125):
- Registered employee: $70 to apply and $95 to renew, or $140 and $150 if armed.
- Licensed guard: $175 to apply and $140 to renew, or $230 and $205 if armed.
- Agency: $390 to apply ($460 for a combined investigative and security agency) and $345 to renew. A sole proprietor license is $250.
Renewal and CPR
- Every private investigative and security license renews on a fixed two-year cycle ending May 31 of odd years. The next deadline is May 31, 2027. A license issued within 90 days of that date runs through the following cycle.
- CPR and AED: within three months of being hired by an agency, you must be certified in CPR and AED use by the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association or an approved equivalent (rule 6-3). To renew, you need a CPR certification from within the two years before you apply.
- Late renewals carry reinstatement fees, and working on a lapsed license is unauthorized practice.
On the job
- Carry your credential. Keep your license or registration, or a true copy, on you whenever you work. Show it when a police officer, an OPR investigator or a member of the public asks, unless that would put you at unwarranted risk (rule 7-4).
- No police look. Uniforms, badges and insignia can't suggest police authority. Keeping or wearing agency gear off duty without permission is unprofessional conduct.
- Report within 30 business days. Tell OPR in writing about any arrest, charge or conviction (rule 7-1).
- Confidentiality. Telling anyone other than your employer what you learned on an assignment, except before a court or other tribunal, is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500 (26 V.S.A. § 3179).
- Your agency must tell OPR within 72 hours when it ends your employment (rule 7-5).
Store detentions
A merchant with reasonable cause to believe someone committed or attempted retail theft may detain them on or near the store premises. The detention must be reasonable in manner, which can include reasonable force, and in length. The purposes are to request and verify identification, ask about and recover unpaid merchandise, and turn the person over to police, or in the case of a minor, to police or a parent. The person should be offered a place out of public view if one is available.
Anyone held for police has the right to one local phone call of reasonable duration if a phone is available, and the merchant must tell them so (13 V.S.A. § 2576).
Armed guards
- Vermont doesn't require a permit to carry a firearm, but a licensee can't have a firearm while working without a firearms certification (26 V.S.A. § 3175c).
- The firearms specialty takes at least 12 hours of approved classroom instruction on safe handling, proper use and legal responsibility, at least 4 hours on the specific weapon you will carry, and range qualification, all from a Vermont-licensed firearms instructor (rule 5-3). The instructor signs the Verification of Firearms Status form.
- Armed registrants also need an FBI record check, and every renewal needs a valid firearms recertification certificate.
- Brandishing or displaying a firearm in a careless, angry or threatening way is unprofessional conduct (26 V.S.A. § 3181). Handling guard dogs takes a separate specialty (rule 5-4).
Pay
Vermont's minimum wage is $14.42 an hour in 2026. It rises each January 1 with inflation, capped at 5% (21 V.S.A. § 384). The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 930 security guards in Vermont in May 2025, at a median of $21.90 an hour, the third-highest of any state after Alaska and Washington and $3.62 above the national guard median of $18.28. A quarter of Vermont guards earned $18.54 or less, which is still above the national median, and the top tenth earned $34.92 or more. Security supervisors had a median of $37.56.
Starting a security agency
- License: an application, the fee and proof of current Vermont business registration (26 V.S.A. § 3172).
- Staff: register every guard before they work and make sure each one carries identification showing your agency (§ 3176).
- Records: keep training records for at least five years at your Vermont place of business.
- Changes: tell OPR about changes in ownership, partners, officers or your qualifying agent, and report terminations within 72 hours.
How tessura helps
Vermont's next renewal is May 31, 2027, and it takes a current CPR card, plus a firearms recertification for armed guards. tessura is free for guards: keep your registration, training certificate, CPR and AED card and firearms recertification in the credential wallet and get reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before each one expires.
tessura is not affiliated with the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation, the Vermont Secretary of State or any state agency. Rules change, so confirm anything you rely on with OPR at 802-828-1505.