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WI

Checking a guard or a security company in Wisconsin

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 Wisconsin, and walks you to Wisconsin Dept. of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS)’s own records to confirm it.

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

Check the guard

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

What they should hold

Every guard working a postPrivate Security Person Permitrenews every 2 years
If they carry a firearmFirearms Permit (Armed Private Security)36 hrs of training · renews every 2 years

Armed work: Armed guards need the separate DSPS firearms permit: 36 hours of initial training with an approved certifier and a 6-hour refresher each year, while holding an active PSP permit and agency employment.

Ask for the number

A sequential number, then a space-hyphen-space, then the profession code 108 — e.g. "80003 - 108". Every private security person shares the 108 suffix, so a guard will usually just say "80003".

Live "Private Security Person" results showing 80000 - 108, 80001 - 108 and 80003 - 108, confirmed on the detail page at license.wi.gov/s/licenseView as "Credential/License Number : 80003 - 108".

How to check it

  1. Ask the guard for the name on their DSPS credential, and the credential number if they have it.
  2. Open license.wi.gov/s/license-lookup, set Search By to "Individual Name" (or "Credential/License Number" if you have it), and click Search.
  3. Click the blue credential number in the results row to open the Credential/License Summary page.
  4. Confirm Profession reads "Private Security Person", Status reads "License is current (Active)", "Eligible To Practice" reads Eligible, and the Credential Expiration Date is in the future.
  5. Scroll to "Relationships" and read the Organization table. Wisconsin is the one state that names the guard’s employer in a structured field with a start date, so this is where you confirm a subcontracted guard actually works for the firm that billed you.
  6. Check the Orders count and the "Orders for" table above it. Anything other than "No Orders Found" means there is a disciplinary order on the record.
  7. For an armed post, run a second search with Search By = "License Type", Category = "Business", License Name = "Firearms Permit" — that is a separate credential from the guard licence.
Open the Wisconsin LicensE Credential Search →

Shows licence status · shows the expiry date.

If the lookup finds nothing: Wisconsin DSPS, 4822 Madison Yards Way, Madison WI 53705, (608) 266-2112 or (877) 617-1565, dsps@wisconsin.gov. DSPS states this lookup constitutes official certification of licensure.

Check the company

Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) 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 Detective/Security AgencyIssued by Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS)

How to check it

  1. Ask the company for the exact legal name on its licence and its Private Detective/Security Agency number. A company that cannot produce a number for a licence it claims to hold has told you something.
  2. Open the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) 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 Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) before signing.
Open the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) 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.

Wisconsin requires it by law

$100,000 minimum, as either a general liability policy or a surety bond. If the agency permits anyone to carry a firearm on duty it MAY NOT use a bond — insurance is mandatory and must expressly cover injury or damage from the use of firearms.

No cancellation duty, yet arguably the best ongoing verification anywhere. Three things stack: the instrument is filed before any licence issues, DSPS must be named certificate holder, and the certificate plus Form 1482 must be completed and signed BY THE INSURER and re-filed together every year before the policy expiry — with DSPS refusing to process agency renewals, new detective licences or firearm permits without current forms on file and no gaps. An annual insurer-signed attestation rather than a company-signed one.

If it lapses: The rule is unambiguous that cover must be maintained "without lapse", and DSPS enforces it through processing holds. Whether a mid-term lapse triggers automatic suspension is not stated.

Wis. Stat. §440.26(4); Wis. Admin. Code SPS 31.034 — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Business/fm1482.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

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

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