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Checking a guard or a security company in Florida

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 Florida, and walks you to Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing’s own records to confirm it.

tessura is not a Florida 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 Florida requirements, training hours, and application steps →

Check the guard

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

What they should hold

Every guard working a postClass "D" Security Officer License40 hrs of training · renews every 2 years
If they carry a firearmClass "G" Statewide Firearm License28 hrs of training · renews every 2 years

Armed work: Armed officers (21+) need the Class "G" license: 28 hours of training with a Class "K" instructor and a 4-hour annual firearms requalification.

Ask for the number

One-letter types are the letter, a space, then 7 digits — so a security officer is 'D' plus space plus 7 digits, e.g. D 1234567. Two-letter types have no space, e.g. CC1234567.

Printed on the live lookup page itself, in the 'Individual License Format' box on licensing.fdacs.gov/access/individual.aspx: 'If license type is one character, enter license type, a space, and 7 numbers: Example: C 1234567.'

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for the name on their licence and their Class D licence number, which looks like 'D 1234567'. If they will be armed, ask for their separate Class G number as well.
  2. Open licensing.fdacs.gov/access/individual.aspx (from fdacs.gov the path is Business Services → Private Security Licenses → Search for a Licensee → Individual).
  3. Set 'Search Category' to 'D - Security Officer', leave County on 'All', and either type the name as Last Name, First Middle or paste the number into 'Search by License Number'.
  4. If the guard will carry a firearm, run a second search with 'Search Category' set to 'G - Statewide Firearms License' — a Class D licence on its own does not permit a firearm in Florida.
  5. Also check the company: switch to the agency search and look up its Class 'B' Security Agency licence, since a Class D officer must work for a licensed agency.
  6. On each record confirm the status shows the licence as current rather than expired, revoked or suspended, and confirm the expiration date is in the future. Name searches hit a database of roughly 500,000 records and can be slow, so let it finish rather than assuming a blank page means 'not licensed'.
Open the FDACS Search for a Private Investigative, Security or Recovery Licensee — Individual Name Search →

Shows licence status · shows the expiry date.

If the lookup finds nothing: FDACS Division of Licensing, PO Box 5767, Tallahassee FL 32314-5767; FDACS consumer line 1-800-HELP-FLA (1-800-435-7352). Search help page: https://www.fdacs.gov/Business-Services/Private-Security-Licenses/Search-for-a-Licensee/Search-Help

Check the company

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of 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 holdClass "B" Security Agency LicenseIssued by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing

We hold this state’s roster, so you can search it here first: 2,140 companies that Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing listed as currently licensed when we read it on September 14, 2026.

Search Florida 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

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Class "B" Security Agency License number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing lookup and search for that name.
  3. 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.
  4. Read the status and the expiry date, not just the presence of a record. An expired or suspended licence still returns a result.
  5. 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 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing before signing.
Open the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of 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.

Florida requires it by law

$300,000 combined single-limit commercial general liability for death, bodily injury, property damage and personal injury, insuring all department-licensed employees acting in the course of employment.

The department is named an additional insured for the express purpose of receiving all notices of modification or cancellation, so the carrier reports directly. The licensee must separately notify the division of any cancellation or claim — two independent notice paths.

If it lapses: The agency licence is automatically suspended on the date of cancellation unless replacement evidence reaches the department first, and any reduction below the minimum triggers a cease-and-desist order plus an administrative complaint.

So the licence check above is worth repeating. Because a lapse here suspends the licence by operation of law rather than merely breaching a contract, a company that quietly dropped its cover after signing with you should eventually stop reading as currently licensed in the roster above. That is not instant, and a bad status has other causes, so it tells you to ask — not what happened. Re-checking costs you nothing.

Fla. Stat. §493.6110; Fla. Admin. Code R. 5N-1.116(1) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2026/0493.6110

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

Florida requirements last reviewed August 28, 2026. Rules change — the regulator’s page is authoritative if it disagrees with ours.

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