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Checking a guard or a security company in Massachusetts

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 Massachusetts, and walks you to Massachusetts State Police, Certification Unit (Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency)’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

Massachusetts licenses security companies but not individual guards, so there is no officer record to check.

How to check it

  1. Do not ask for a Massachusetts guard licence — none exists. Ask which licensed Watch, Guard or Patrol agency employs the guard and for that agency's State Police licence.
  2. Check the agency licence document itself: M.G.L. c. 147 § 25 says it runs for ONE YEAR, states the business name and principal office address, and must be posted conspicuously in that office. A licence more than a year old is expired, and the trading name on it must match the company invoicing you.
  3. Ask the agency to confirm the named guard completed the electronic employee affidavit that the State Police Certification Unit requires of all employees of licensed private investigator and watch guard agencies, and to produce its own background check and training file on that person.
  4. Do not treat a Special State Police Officer (SSPO) appointment as a contract guard credential — it is a separate individual appointment for specific institutional roles, and most contract guards will not and need not have one.
  5. Email the Certification Unit to confirm the agency licence is current and unrevoked before the guard starts; the Colonel may revoke a licence at any time for cause, so an old copy proves nothing about today.
Why there is no link to click

Massachusetts licenses the watch, guard or patrol AGENCY, not the guard. M.G.L. c. 147 § 23 expressly exempts 'an agent, employee or assistant of a licensee' from the licence requirement, so an individual guard holds nothing. There is also no public search for the agency licence — the Certification Licensing System is a logged-in applicant portal, and any circulating 'list of Massachusetts guard licences' is a company roster. WRONG-DATABASE TRAP: Massachusetts' Division of Professional Licensure covers dozens of occupations and has a slick public search, but security guards are not among them; they sit with the State Police, and searching DPL will always come back empty.

Massachusetts State Police Certification Unit, Private Investigators and Watch Guard Agencies: PI-WG-Admin@massmail.state.ma.us. For Special State Police Officer questions: SSPO-Admin@massmail.state.ma.us.

Check the company

Massachusetts Department of State Police, Certification Unit 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 holdWatch, Guard or Patrol Agency LicenseIssued by Massachusetts Department of State Police, Certification Unit

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency License number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the Massachusetts Department of State Police, Certification Unit 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 Massachusetts Department of State Police, Certification Unit before signing.
Open the Massachusetts Department of State Police, Certification Unit 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.

Massachusetts does not require it

Massachusetts sets no liability insurance minimum for a watch, guard or patrol agency. A $5,000 bond is the whole financial-responsibility regime. Any insurance a Massachusetts guard company carries is there because a client asked for it.

What that means for you: the licence tells you nothing about whether this company is insured, so the certificate is a purely commercial document with no regulator standing behind it. Everything below matters more here than almost anywhere else.

Bond: $5,000 surety bond under M.G.L. c.147 §26, filed as an original notarised instrument with the State Police and required to stay active the whole time the licence is held. Premium is roughly $100 a year.

The bond is held by the State Police Certification Unit, but no insurer or surety owes notice of cancellation and no notice period exists. Detection depends entirely on the annual renewal.

If it lapses: The licence is revocable by the colonel of the State Police, but nothing automatic attaches to a bond lapse.

M.G.L. c.147 §§22–30 (no insurance provision) — https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-or-renew-a-private-investigator-or-watch-guard-license

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

Massachusetts 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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