Security Officer

Highland Park Community Development Corp is seeking a highly skilled and dedicated Security Officer to join our team. As a Security Officer, you will be responsible for providing professional protective services to clients, employees, guests, and property.

• Provide proactive and reactive measures to optimize safety and minimize property loss.
• Detect, observe, deter, and report security incidents, illegal activities, and infractions of various HPCDC policies.
• Meet and maintain any applicable state/city licensing requirements for Security Officers in New York state and Fire Guard for Shelters (F02) requirements.
• Ensure that all behavior and authority are exercised in accordance with New York Penal Law, New York State Criminal Procedure Law, and policies of HPCDC.
• Abstain from behaviors that expose the Security Guard to civil liability, associated with and not limited to negligence, recklessness, failure to properly supervise, civil rights violations (age, sex, religion, etc.), invasion of privacy, and failure to address health and safety concerns.
• Adhere to the NYS Security Guard and HPCDC Code of Ethics, including but not limited to the need to exercise duties with honesty, respect for confidential information, and abstain from conflicts of interest.
• Role model appropriate preventive and reactive responses to security and safety issues by consistently applying best practices.
• Provide quality services and excellent customer service to employees, guests, and clients of HPCDC.
• Use excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with people of various social economic levels, demographics, and cultures.
• Consistently respond to client and employee grievances in a positive way, role-modeling effective problem resolution skills while helping them to resolve concerns in a non-judgmental, non-condescending manner.
• Prevent and diffuse conflict by employing non-defensive communication skills.
• Represent HPCDC in a professional manner when communicating via phone, walkie-talkie, email, and other means, through respectful etiquette, a positive attitude, and a positive "tone of voice".
• Maintain the confidentiality of clients and employees, only disclosing information learned through the course of the job to those who need to know.
• Employ effective interpersonal and communication skills (verbal, non-verbal, listening, and writing skills) that optimize safety, diffuse or mitigate conflict, and maintain the integrity of the clients, coworkers, and employees.
• Deter occurrences and circumstances that do or could affect the security and safety of the property and people on the premises.
• Maintain knowledge of security policies and behavioral conduct expectations for clients, employees, and guests of HPCDC.
• Enforce security policies and behavioral conduct expectations for clients, employees, and guests of HPCDC.
• Educate clients, staff, and guests on security protocols and procedures, and rules proactively and as needed.
• Stay visibly alert and employ effective observation skills throughout the shift in order to detect and respond to suspicious behavior and other safety/security-related incidents.
• Implement and enforce procedures that limit access by unauthorized people to the building and property.
• Follow protocols for signing clients and guests in and out of the building.
• Patrol all areas as assigned and as needed, consistently using technology (ie. Lighthouse IO) to document compliance.
• Ensure that locks and exits are secured and respond to breaches by investigating, intervening, and reporting.
• Escort guests to areas as needed and in accordance with procedures.
• Optimize visibility of security services to clients, employees, and guests by wearing prescribed uniforms.
• Be accessible to clients and employees, developing positive relationships and responding in a timely manner to their safety and security needs.
• Facilitate fire drills and provide assistance as needed during evacuation.
• As needed, employ best practices for crowd control.
• Identify potential threats, security breaches, and safety issues, and take steps to contain and neutralize them.
• Identify and remove fire hazards, including but not limited to keeping hallways and exits clear of obstruction and educating employees and clients as needed.
• Respond to, observe, and investigate incidents pertaining to safety, security, and other non-routine incidents.
• Know and implement protocols for emergency response to medical situations, outsider threats, and intruders, natural disasters, leaks, and exposure to hazardous materials, civil disturbances, and other non-routine emergency situations.
• Facilitate evacuations calmly and efficiently to avoid panic and fulfill the function of protecting people (and property) from potential harm.
• Maintain knowledge of incident reporting guidelines and report incidents as needed.
• Close off crime scenes and prevent the contamination of evidence.
• Provide truthful witness testimony as needed during legal proceedings.
• Promptly notify appropriate emergency service providers as needed.
• Be prepared with proper equipment (ie. walkie-talkies, tablets, etc.) at all times to ensure timely emergency response and contemporaneous note-taking.
• Optimize safe responses by requesting assistance from coworkers as needed.
• Optimize safe responses by providing assistance to coworkers as needed.
• Actively take steps to prevent physical altercations that can cause harm to self and others.
• Gather information through the use of effective interviewing and observation skills.
• Security Guards report incidents pertaining to security and other non-routine incidents.
• Complete thorough, timely, accurate, and grammatically correct reports pertaining to incidents by documenting who, what, when, where, why, and how.
• Document statements, remarks, and admissions immediately and contemporaneously in order to prepare for writing a report.
• Communicate verbally and in writing relevant facts to law enforcement agencies.
• Report relevant issues pertaining to safety, security, and the property to coworkers and supervisors, using various written and spoken means of communication and in a timely manner.
• Begin each shift by learning about any safety and security incidents that occurred in the prior shift.
• Begin each shift by reading emails and correspondence pertaining to incident reports, reading logs, and participating in debriefs.
• Check emails at the beginning of each shift for incident reports and other correspondence, reading the log, and participating in debriefs.
• Prepare reports and communicate significant issues that the following shift needs to know about by the end of the shift.
• Implement proactive and reactive safety procedures to prevent injuries of self and others.
• Maintain the ability to safely navigate flights of stairs in 11 stories without relying on an elevator for the purposes of patrolling and responding to security incidents.
• Wear slip-resistant and toe-covered shoes at all times.
• Provide assistance to coworkers and request assistance as needed to prevent injuries.
• Adhere to and enforce infection control procedures for communicable diseases and hazard communication.
• Participate in all investigations as needed, including into employee misconduct.

• Adhere to all policies and procedures, including those prescribed in the Highland Park CDC Employee Handbook.
• Accurately record time-worked in the timekeeping system and submit payroll records in a timely manner.
• Submit requested correspondence and policy acknowledgments to your supervisor, human resources, accounting, and others as needed.
• Participate in ongoing staff training, skill development, and mandatory meetings.
• Assist in the training and mentoring of other officers as needed.
• Distribute client mail and packages according to procedures.
• Perform other job duties and special projects assigned by management.

• Customer Service Orientation & Conflict Resolution:
  • Manages difficult or emotional situations with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Responds promptly to client needs; responds to requests for service and assistance.
  • Maintains and communicates in a positive, non-condescending manner to others.
  • Leverages interpersonal skills such as empathy to minimize and mitigate conflict.
  • Helps others resolve complex or sensitive disagreements and conflicts.
  • Manages oneself and emotions to diffuse conflict.
• Dependability:
  • Can be depended upon to consistently provide a safe environment by reporting to work as scheduled and avoiding excessive absenteeism/tardiness.
  • Adheres to policies in the HPCDC Handbook for deviating from schedules and absences.
  • Responds to management directions, takes responsibility for own actions, and keeps commitments.
• Enforcing Laws, Rules, & Regulations:
  • Minimizes conflicts between clients and other security officers by consistently enforcing rules and behavior expectations.
  • Enforces laws, rules, and regulations, and initiates enforcement actions in a way that the public perceives as fair, objective, and reasonable.
• Safety Focus:
  • Adheres to all workplace and trade safety laws, regulations, standards, and practices.
  • Proactively takes steps to maximize safety.
• Communication:
  • Communicates effectively with co-workers, clients, and employees, law enforcement, and guests during emergency situations.
  • Effectively expresses oneself orally, non-verbally, and in writing, tailoring the content of speech to the audience and using proper English sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar.
  • Ability to listen, receive, understand, and carry written and verbal orders.
  • Ability to communicate effectively when preparing reports, logs, and the use of radio communications, including appropriate channels and basic radio communication codes.
• Interviewing Others:
  • Asks questions in ways that enhance the clarity, quality, and reliability of information.
  • Plans the interview process in advance, identifying the key information to collect.
  • Puts the interviewee at ease and ensures he or she understands the process and its purpose.
  • Develops trust to obtain honest responses.
  • Asks direct, focused, and logically ordered questions that comply with all legal or policy requirements.
  • Tactfully broaches sensitive subjects.
• Problem Solving:
  • Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner.
  • Gathers and analyzes information skillfully.
  • Uses reason when dealing with emotional topics.
• Adaptability & Flexibility:
  • Adapting to and working with a variety of situations, individuals, and groups.
  • Openness to different and new ways of doing things.
  • Willingness to modify one's preferred way of doing things.
• Interpersonal Skills and Teamwork:
  • Understands the needs and wants of the organization, customers, co-workers, and supervisors in order to provide accurate, complete, and timely service and to further the mission, values, and goals of the organization.
  • Gets along and interacts positively with co-workers and others.
  • Understands and relates to others.
• Ethics:
  • Treats people with respect.
  • Inspires the trust of others.
  • Works with integrity and ethically.
  • Role models and upholds organizational values.