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Checking a guard or a security company in New Jersey

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 Jersey, and walks you to New Jersey State Police, SORA Unit’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

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

What they should hold

Every guard working a postSORA Certification (Security Officer)24 hrs of training · renews every 2 years
If they carry a firearmArmed SORA Certification24 hrs of training · renews yearly

Armed work: Armed officers (21+) must hold both SORA certification and a separate New Jersey Permit to Carry a Handgun, renew annually, and complete 8 hours of yearly refresher instruction.

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for their exact first and last name as registered, plus either their SBI number or their date of birth — the search will not run on a name alone.
  2. Since November 2023 the hard plastic SORA card has been replaced by an Electronic SORA ID, so ask them to pull the credential up on their phone rather than expecting a physical card.
  3. Open NJSP eVerify SORA and set the "Search for" dropdown to "Officer".
  4. Type the first and last name, set the next dropdown to "SBI#" or "DOB", enter that value (dates as MM/DD/CCYY), and click Search.
  5. Read the result carefully: "Officer with this name is not found or not active" means either the spelling is wrong or the registration is not current — try the name with any suffix such as Jr. or III before concluding the guard is unregistered.
  6. Treat only a positive match as confirmation, and check the certification type matches whether the guard will work armed or unarmed.
Open the NJSP eVerify SORA — Officer Search →

Shows licence status · does not show an expiry date.

If the lookup finds nothing: NJSP Private Detective Unit, (609) 341-3426 or (609) 633-9352, PDU@njsp.gov, Mon–Fri 8:00am–4:00pm.

Check the company

New Jersey State Police, Private Detective 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 Officer Company License (SORA)Issued by New Jersey State Police, Private Detective Unit

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Security Officer Company License (SORA) number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the New Jersey State Police, Private Detective 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 New Jersey State Police, Private Detective Unit before signing.
Open the New Jersey State Police, Private Detective 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.

New Jersey does not require it

New Jersey requires no insurance of any kind. SORA contains no insurance provision, and the regulation conditions the licence solely on a bond and the per-location fee. A New Jersey guard company can cancel its policy the day after winning your contract and break no licensing rule at all.

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 delivered to the Superintendent of State Police, running to the State of New Jersey for the benefit of anyone injured by a wilful, malicious or wrongful act, and conditioned on faithful and honest conduct.

The bond is held by the State Police. There is no insurance filing because none is required, no surety notification duty, and no notice period anywhere in the regulation.

If it lapses: Discretionary suspension or revocation for good cause. Nothing is triggered by a coverage lapse, because no coverage is required.

N.J.A.C. 13:55A-2.3 (no insurance provision) — https://njsp.njoag.gov/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/13-55A_Regulation_of_Security_Officers.pdf

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 Jersey 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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