Reliable Guard & Patrol Service guards Houston warehouses with Texas-licensed officers. At a fulfillment center, we plan coverage around 4 windows: the truck gate, the drop yard, the employee exits at shift change and the dock doors after the last load. Posts book by the week, and the certificate of insurance goes out on signing day.
How we scope a fulfillment center: 4 windows
Each window is a place and a time: the truck gate during pickups, the drop yard after check-in, the employee exits during shift change, and the dock doors after the building goes dark. An officer can stand in only 1 of them at a time. Coverage priced around 1 gatehouse post leaves the other 3 open.
We call this the 4-Window Coverage Map. Every fulfillment proposal we write ties each post to the window it covers. Each post’s GPS checkpoints sit inside that window, so the patrol record shows which window was covered, and when. 8 facts about your site decide which windows need a post, and the quote section lists them.
Window 1: the truck gate and the broker-booked pickup
The truck gate is where a theft arranged online gets finished. On April 30, 2026, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center warned that criminals are breaking into broker and carrier systems, posting fake loads on load boards, double-brokering real loads to drivers with manipulated bills of lading, and changing carriers’ contact information with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FBI public service announcement I-043026-PSA. The alert puts estimated 2025 cargo theft losses in the U.S. and Canada at nearly $725 million, up 60% from 2024. The average theft was worth $273,990.
Texas accounted for 20% of the U.S. cargo thefts Overhaul recorded in 2025, 2nd among states. Nationally, warehouses and distribution centers were the most affected location type, at 36% of incidents Overhaul 2025 annual cargo theft report.
Your outbound mix sets how exposed this window is. Every scheme in the FBI alert runs through a freight broker, a carrier account or a load board. A parcel carrier on a standing pickup schedule uses none of them. Truckload and LTL freight booked through a broker is where those schemes land, and the FBI warns that a familiar name or email address doesn’t prove a booking is real.
So on broker-booked loads, our gate officers hold the truck at the gate until your dispatcher confirms the pickup with the broker on a number from your own records, never one from the booking email. The officer still checks the carrier against its FMCSA record. A match there isn’t proof by itself, because the FBI says thieves change the contact details on that record. The rest of our pickup log, field by field, is on our logistics facility security guards page.
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Window 2: the drop yard, after the driver checks in
The gate checks a truck when it arrives and again before a loaded trailer leaves. Between those 2 checks, a loaded trailer can sit in your drop yard overnight with nobody watching it.
Each patrol round includes a yard count. The officer scans a GPS checkpoint at each trailer row, writes down the trailer numbers present, checks the seal numbers on loaded trailers against your yard list, and confirms king-pin or glad-hand locks are on where you use them. A trailer that left without a release, or a seal number that changed, shows up in the next round’s count.
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Why Houston businesses choose Reliable Guard & Patrol Service
Why Choose Our Armed Guards:
01. Fully Licensed to Carry in the State of Texas
02. Background-Checked and Drug Tested
03. Trained in Firearms Handling and De-Escalation
04. Experienced in High-Risk Property Protection
05. Serving Houston Businesses for Over 20 Years
06. Corporate, Construction, Retail, and Event Coverage
07. 24/7 Coverage Including Holidays
Window 3: the employee exits at shift change
At shift change, the outgoing shift walks out past orders staged for the next pickup. An officer posted at the truck gate can’t watch those exits too.
Our changeover post covers 4 routes product can take out of the building: a bag or lunch box through the employee exit, a box set beside a fire door to collect later, trash bound for the compactor or baler, and a car in the employee lot. The officer works through them in order:
- before the changeover, the officer walks every fire exit and emergency door to confirm nothing is staged beside it, then checks the compactor, baler and cardboard area
- during the changeover, the officer is posted at the employee exit and runs random bag checks under your posted policy
- once the line clears, the officer patrols the employee lot
- each check is logged against a GPS checkpoint, with the time
Your screening policy stays yours, including whether screening time is paid. Our officers apply the version you post. For how a check runs and the Texas and federal rules behind it, read how our officers run a bag check, step by step.
A bag check can be explained in English or Spanish, the 2 languages our officers speak. In Harris County, 45% of residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024.
Window 4: the dock doors after the last load
Window 4 opens when the last outbound trailer pulls away and the building goes dark. It lasts until the next shift starts. A building that runs around the clock, 7 days a week, may have no window 4 at all, and its coverage belongs in windows 1 to 3. A building that closes overnight, on weekends or on holidays has a window 4 for those hours, and the post can cover only those hours.
After hours, the post becomes a perimeter patrol, walked or driven. Incident reports reach your team in real time.
What we need to quote your fulfillment center
8 facts about your site decide which windows need a post:
- how many dock doors and truck gates you run (windows 1 and 4)
- whether loaded trailers sit in the yard overnight, and how many (window 2)
- your shift start and end times, with headcount per shift (window 3)
- which exits employees use at changeover (window 3)
- whether you have a written bag-check policy (window 3)
- your outbound mix of parcel, LTL and truckload, and how much of it is booked through brokers (window 1)
- the days and hours the building is closed (window 4)
- whether a customer contract or port access requires TWIC holders
Your written proposal ties each post to its window and lists the officer type, the hours and the hourly rate. For what an hourly rate pays for, see our 2026 guide to security guard cost in Houston. To decide on officer type, read whether warehouse security guards should be armed or unarmed. If you run a storage warehouse without pick-and-pack shifts, our warehouse security guard service in Houston page fits your site better.
Your account gets its own supervisor. The certificate of insurance lists 3 policies: commercial auto, general liability and workers’ comp.
Where Houston's industrial space sits
Cushman & Wakefield’s Q3 2026 Houston industrial report puts 48% of Greater Houston’s industrial space in 2 submarkets: the Northwest, at 152.5 million square feet, and the Southeast, at 143.4 million. The Northwest and the North hold 56% of the space under construction.
We post officers in Houston and in the suburbs around it: Katy to the west, Sugar Land to the southwest, Pearland to the south, Spring, The Woodlands and Conroe to the north, and Humble to the northeast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do your officers need a TWIC for a fulfillment center?
Not under federal rules, unless they need unescorted access to secure areas of a facility covered by the Coast Guard’s maritime security rules, such as Port Houston’s container terminals. A customer contract can still set its own TWIC requirement, so tell us on the first call if yours does. A new TWIC costs $125.25 and stays valid for 5 years.
Will the broker check hold up our outbound dock?
Only broker-booked loads wait for it, and only until your dispatcher confirms the pickup with the broker. Parcel pickups on a standing schedule clear on the booking check alone.
Can we start with 1 window and add the others later?
Yes. Posts can run week to week, so you can cover 1 window first and add the next when your inventory counts or our incident reports point to it.
Get your fulfillment center post quoted
Send your facility ZIP code and the windows that worry you. We'll go through docks, gates and shift times on a first call, then send a written proposal that ties each post to its window, with the officer type and an hourly rate.