Checking a guard or a security company in District of Columbia

This page is for whoever is doing the checking — a client, a property manager, a company vetting a subcontractor. It tells you what a guard and a guard company are supposed to hold in District of Columbia, and walks you to MPD Security Officers Management Branch / Dept. of Licensing & Consumer Protection’s own records to confirm it.

tessura is not a District of Columbia agency and issues nothing. Every link below goes to the regulator, and the regulator’s answer is the one that counts.

Getting licensed yourself instead? The District of Columbia requirements, training hours, and application steps →

Check the guard

District of Columbia issues a credential to the guard, so you can check the person in front of you.

What they should hold

Every guard working a postSecurity Officer License24 hrs of training · state exam · 16 more hrs within 4 months of being issued · renews every 2 years

If they carry a firearmSpecial Police Officer (SPO) Commission40 hrs of training · state exam · renews yearly

Armed work: Armed work in DC generally requires a Special Police Officer commission with medical clearance, drug testing, firearms training, and twice-yearly requalification, a substantially heavier lift than the base security officer license.

How to check it

Ask the guard for the name on their DC licence and their licence number, and ask whether they are licensed as a Security Officer or as a Special Police Officer — in DC these are different credentials with different powers.
Open govservices.dcra.dc.gov/oplaportal (reachable from dlcp.dc.gov → Security Program → License Search) and in the 'Discipline' dropdown choose 'Security'.
Leave 'License Type' on 'All' or pick 'Security Officer', type the person's name in 'Licensee Name' or their number in 'License Number', and leave 'License Status' on '-- Select License Status --' so that expired, suspended and revoked records are not hidden from you.
On the result, read the 'Designation' line: it states whether that officer is Armed or Unarmed. Do not let an officer whose designation is Unarmed carry a weapon on your site.
Confirm 'License Status' reads 'Active' — not Inactive, Expired, Expired - Renew Eligible, Expired - Reinstatement Eligible, Suspended or Revoked — and confirm the 'Expiration Date' shown on the record is in the future.
If nothing comes back, search 'Discipline: Security' with just the surname to catch a different spelling, then contact OPL on (202) 671-4500 or dlcp@dc.gov.

Open the OPLA Occupational & Professional License Search →

Shows licence status · shows the expiry date.

If the lookup finds nothing: DLCP Occupational and Professional Licensing: (202) 671-4500 or dlcp@dc.gov. MPD Security Officers Management Branch: (202) 671-0500, 441 4th Street NW, Room 550 South, Washington DC 20001.

Check the company

District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing licenses the firm itself here. This is the check most people skip, and it is usually the more important of the two.

What the firm must holdSecurity Agency Business (SAB)Issued by District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing

We hold this state’s roster, so you can search it here first: 436 companies that District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing listed as currently licensed when we read it on September 14, 2026.

Search District of Columbia licensed companies →

Our copy is a snapshot. For anything you are about to sign, confirm it at the regulator using the steps below.

How to check it

Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Security Agency Business (SAB) number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
Open the District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing lookup and search for that name.
Search the legal name, not the name on the uniform or the invoice. Brand names, DBAs, and the name on the truck are often not the licensed entity.
Read the status and the expiry date, not just the presence of a record. An expired or suspended licence still returns a result.
If nothing comes up, ask which entity holds the licence and in which state, then check that name. If the answer does not resolve, treat the licence as unconfirmed and call District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing before signing.

Open the District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Occupational and Professional Licensing lookup →

Ask for insurance properly

A licence says the state let them operate. Insurance is what stands between you and a claim, and it is the easier of the two to fake — a certificate is only true on the day it was printed.

District of Columbia requires it by law

A security agency employing five or more security officers must carry general liability of at least $250,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate. An agency with four or fewer officers has no insurance requirement at all.

Proof is filed at issuance and at each biennial renewal, and no licence may issue or renew without it. Nothing surviving requires the insurer to report a cancellation, so a lapse between renewals would not surface.

If it lapses: An incomplete renewal is set to expired, after which the agency must apply afresh. There is no automatic suspension on cancellation.

17 DCMR §2127.6 — https://dcrules.elaws.us/dcmr/17-2127

We found conflicting sources on this state and have not resolved them — treat the above as a starting point and confirm with the regulator.

A certificate of insurance (COI) that names your business as an additional insured, not just the certificate holderCertificate holder means you were mailed a copy. Additional insured means their policy actually answers for you if you are pulled into a claim.

General liability, and workers’ compensation at your state’s statutory limitsIf a guard is hurt on your property and the company carries no workers’ comp, the claim tends to land on you. Ask for commercial auto too if they run patrol vehicles.

The policy number and the effective and expiry dates, on a certificate dated within the last monthAn undated or months-old certificate is the single most common tell. The dates let you ask the insurer about the right policy.

The name, agency, and direct phone number of the broker who issued it — then call themThe broker can confirm the policy is in force today. The certificate PDF cannot, and a forged or stale one looks identical to a real one.

A contract term requiring written notice to you before the policy is cancelled or non-renewedStandard certificates promise notice to the insured, not to you. Putting the duty on the company in the contract is what makes a mid-term cancellation a breach.

A fresh certificate part-way through the term, not only at signingRe-asking at 60 or 90 days costs you an email and defeats the whole get-the-COI-then-drop-it pattern.

tessura does not verify anyone’s insurance and has no access to insurers’ records. This is guidance for doing it yourself, not a statement about any company on this site. It is also not legal advice — for a contract of any size, have your own counsel or broker set the limits.

Where this comes from

District of Columbia requirements last reviewed August 28, 2026. Some details on this state are still pending a second check against the primary source. Rules change — the regulator’s page is authoritative if it disagrees with ours.

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