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Checking a guard or a security company in Nevada

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 Nevada, and walks you to Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board (PILB)’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

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

What they should hold

Every guard working a postPILB Registration Work Cardstate exam · renews every 5 years
If they carry a firearmArmed Security Guard Work Card13 hrs of training · state exam · renews every 5 years
If they work with a dogDog Handler Licensestate exam · renews yearly

Armed work: Armed guards (21+) must already hold the unarmed work card, be sponsored by a licensed armed employer, and pass a 13-hour classroom and live-fire certification with a Certified Firearm Instructor.

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for the name and registration number on their PILB work card, and the name of the licensed agency that employs them.
  2. Open pilb.nv.gov/Public_Access/Public_Access/ and click "Verify a License, Work Card or CFI" to reach the PILB Public Document Search.
  3. Read the on-page "Searching Instructions" before typing, because this search will not work the way you expect: it requires wildcards. Enter at least three letters followed by an asterisk — John Smith is entered as First Name "Joh*" and Last Name "Smi*", and licence number 2501 as "250*". A full exact name often returns nothing.
  4. Search the guard’s name, then search the employing company separately to confirm the firm holds a Private Patrol Officer licence. The company licence and the individual work card are two different checks and one does not imply the other.
  5. Confirm the work card is current with a future expiry, and for an armed post confirm a separate current firearms certification card. A civilian CCW permit is not a substitute for it.
Open the Nevada PILB Public Access — Verify a License, Work Card or CFI →

Shows licence status · does not show an expiry date · expects you to pass a “verify you are human” check.

If the lookup finds nothing: Nevada PILB, pilbinfo@pilb.nv.gov for work card enquiries; contact and complaint details at pilb.nv.gov/Public_Access/Public_Access/.

Check the company

Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board 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 holdPrivate Patrol Officer LicenseIssued by Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Private Patrol Officer License number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board 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 Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board before signing.
Open the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board 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.

Nevada requires it by law

$200,000 minimum third-party liability from a Nevada-authorised insurer — or proof of sufficient means to self-insure, which the board may accept instead.

Proof is filed before issuance and at every annual renewal. But no duty sits on the insurer and no notice period exists — the statute assumes the board learns of a lapse from somewhere else, which is the weak link in an otherwise sharp regime.

If it lapses: Automatic, on a short clock: the licence "is automatically suspended 10 days after receipt by the licensee of notice from the board that the required insurance is not in effect" unless proof arrives inside that window.

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 at the regulator. 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.

NRS 648.135 — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-648.html

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

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

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