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Checking a guard or a security company in New York

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 York, and walks you to New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

New York 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 Registration8 hrs of training · 16 more hrs within 3 months of being issued · renews every 2 years
If they carry a firearmArmed Security Guard Registration55 hrs of training · state exam · renews every 2 years
If they move cash or valuablesArmored Car Guard Registration (Article 8-B)47 hrs of training · 8 more hrs within 12 months of being issued · renews every 2 years

Armed work: Armed guards (21+) complete a 47-hour firearms training course with a written exam and range qualification, hold an NYS pistol permit, and take an 8-hour annual firearms in-service course.

Ask for the number

An eleven-digit number. The Department's own ID search form gives the example 45000111222.

The live Licensee ID Search page at appext20.dos.ny.gov/lcns_public/id_search_frm, which instructs 'Enter ID Number (ex. 45000111222)'. Note that the eleven-digit number beginning '11' described on dos.ny.gov/security-guard1 is the employer's unique ID for the Online Security Guard Registry, not the guard's registration number — do not confuse the two.

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for their full legal name as registered and their eleven-digit security guard registration number.
  2. Open the NY DOS Licensee Name Search and choose 'SECURITY GUARD' from the License Type list, then enter all or part of the last and first name. If you have the number instead, use the Licensee ID Search.
  3. Understand what a blank result means before you read anything into it: DOS states these searches are limited to ACTIVE licences only. A guard whose registration has lapsed, or been suspended or revoked, returns nothing at all — which looks identical to a person who was never registered. Absence here is not proof of anything except that there is no active registration under the name you typed.
  4. Try a surname-only search before concluding anything, since a middle name, married name or spelling difference will also return nothing. Residence addresses are withheld by privacy law, so do not expect to confirm identity by address.
  5. If the guard will be armed, ask separately for their firearm authority — a New York security guard registration on its own does not authorise carrying a weapon.
  6. If you are a New York security guard employer rather than a client, do not rely on this page at all. DOS says plainly that the public website does not satisfy the due-diligence duty in 19 NYCRR § 174.6: you must use the Online Security Guard Registry with your employer UID and keep the transaction number as your record.
Open the NY DOS Licensee Name Search →

Shows licence status · does not show an expiry date.

If the lookup finds nothing: NY DOS Division of Licensing Services customer service: (518) 474-4429.

Check the company

New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services 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 AgencyIssued by New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services

We hold this state’s roster, so you can search it here first: 919 companies that New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services listed as currently licensed when we read it on September 14, 2026.

Search New York 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 Watch, Guard or Patrol Agency number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services 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 York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services before signing.
Open the New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services 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 York requires it by law

Conditional but real: an agency that employs security guards must carry at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate, expressly including false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel, slander and violation of the right of privacy.

Bond: $10,000 surety bond filed with the Department of State in the name of the People of the State of New York, conditioned on faithful and honest conduct, suable by anyone injured by a violation.

Notice duties on both instruments. The insurance certificate must itself provide that cover "shall not be modified or cancelled unless 30 days prior notice shall be given to the department", and the bond form states the surety is statutorily required to give the Secretary of State 60 days’ notice before cancellation — the longest advance window found anywhere.

If it lapses: Revocable for cause, but with a sharper edge: §89-h(6) makes it unlawful to knowingly employ a security guard unless the cover is in force and the certificate is on file, so every shift an uninsured company staffs is a separate statutory violation.

N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law art. 7-A §89-h(6); §74 (bond) — https://dos.ny.gov/watch-guard-or-patrol-agency

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

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