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Checking a guard or a security company in New Hampshire

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 New Hampshire, and walks you to New Hampshire State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

New Hampshire 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 Guard Licenserenews every 2 years
If they carry a firearmArmed Security Guard License4 hrs of training · renews every 2 years

Armed work: Armed guards (21+) must pass a firearms qualification course with at least 75%, including 4 hours of instruction on safety and use-of-force law, at initial licensure and annually thereafter.

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard to show the state identification card they are required by law to carry, and write down the name and licence number exactly as printed.
  2. Ask whether the licence is armed or unarmed and which agency employs them — New Hampshire licences are tied to an employer, and a holder who changes agencies must notify the commissioner within 10 business days and be reissued a photo licence.
  3. Call the NH State Police Permits and Licensing Unit on (603) 223-3873, or email PermitsandLicensing@dos.nh.gov, with the name and licence number and ask them to confirm the licence is currently valid. There is no public database, so this call is the only route.
  4. Confirm the licence is active and unexpired — New Hampshire licences run a two-year term — and that it covers armed work if the guard will be armed.
Why there is no link to click

New Hampshire does license individual guards — every employee of a security guard agency must obtain a licence from the commissioner before working, and armed guards are additionally FBI-fingerprinted. But the Department of Safety publishes no searchable database or list, so verification is only by contacting the Permits and Licensing Unit directly.

NH State Police Permits and Licensing Unit, 33 Hazen Drive, Concord NH 03305, (603) 223-3873, PermitsandLicensing@dos.nh.gov (counter open Mon–Fri 8:15am–4:00pm).

Check the company

New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing 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 holdSecurity Guard Agency LicenseIssued by New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence. New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit does not publish licence numbers here, so the name is what you can actually match.
  2. New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit publishes no public per-company lookup, so this cannot be done online.
  3. Contact New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit directly and ask them to confirm the licence status for that exact legal name. Ask for the answer in writing if the contract is significant.
  4. Meanwhile, ask the company for a copy of the licence itself and check that the name on it matches the entity that will sign your contract.

New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police, Permits and Licensing Unit names the firms it licenses but publishes no licence number, so a number a company gives you cannot be matched against the state list. Match on the legal name instead.

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.

New Hampshire does not require it

New Hampshire requires no liability insurance. Licensure is conditioned entirely on a surety bond.

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: $50,000 minimum, increased by a further $50,000 for each additional licence type held. Filed with and kept by the Secretary of State, suable by the Attorney General or by any person injured, and covering the licensee’s employees.

No licence issues until certified evidence the bond is in force is on file, and the bond must itself state that the SURETY will give the division 30 days’ written notice by certified mail before cancelling or letting it expire — a dated, trackable receipt.

If it lapses: A lapsed bond removes the statutory basis for the licence, but no express automatic-suspension clause exists. The certified-mail notice at least guarantees the regulator has documentary warning.

RSA 106-F:9; Saf-C 2208.01 — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-F/106-F-9.htm

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

New Hampshire 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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