Reliable Guard & Patrol posts licensed armed and unarmed officers at Houston commercial sites: construction, warehouses, vacant buildings, retail, and office buildings. Texas DPS license B07315701. Every patrol is GPS-tracked and written up. No long-term contract, and we issue a certificate of insurance the same day.
What we protect in Houston and what we turn down
Reliable Guard & Patrol Service works commercial posts only. Two officer types, five site types, and a short list of jobs we send elsewhere.
We staff armed (Level III, commissioned) and unarmed (Level II) officers across construction sites, warehouses and distribution centers, vacant buildings, retail and shopping centers, and office buildings. Foot or vehicle patrols, set to what the site needs.
What we turn down matters just as much. We don’t take residential, HOA, or event work. We don’t run K-9, fire watch, alarm response, or parking enforcement. Commercial posts are the whole business, which is why our officers know them cold. If your job is a wedding, a gated neighborhood, or a one-night festival, we’re the wrong call, and we’ll tell you that on the first call instead of sending an officer who has never worked that post.
How to verify a Houston security company's license (2026 update)
You can confirm any Houston security company’s license in about two minutes on the state’s public portal, and as of 2026 there is a new eligibility rule worth knowing about.
Open the Texas TOPS portal, the Texas Online Private Security search run by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Search by company name or license number. Ours is B07315701. Confirm the status reads active with no open issues. A lapsed or suspended license is not a technicality: if an incident happens on your property and the guard’s company was unlicensed, that becomes your insurance and liability problem, not only theirs. For armed posts, you can also confirm an officer holds an active Level III commission. We give names on request.
What changed in 2026: Texas DPS adopted amendments to its private security rules (37 TAC Chapter 35) that require every new and renewal license application to include proof of work eligibility, verified through the federal SAVE system, with documents such as a REAL ID-compliant Texas license, a U.S. passport, or a certified birth certificate. Most pages ranking for “local private security companies Houston TX” still describe the old process. When you vet a company today, confirm the license is current under the rule in effect now, not the one from last year.
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We Cover Houston, TX, Sugar Land, TX, Pearland, TX, Conroe, TX
The 6-point officer standard
No officer works a Reliable post until they clear all six checks. The same six apply to every officer, on every site, before deployment.
- DPS license verification. Active Texas registration confirmed for the level the post requires.
- Fingerprint background check. Full criminal screening, fingerprint-based, consistent with state requirements.
- Drug testing. Pre-assignment, no exceptions, armed or unarmed.
- Interview to standard. An in-person interview against company conduct and presentation standards, on top of the license check.
- Verified references. References contacted and confirmed. We check history, we don’t assume it.
- Recurring training. Unarmed officers hold Level II. Armed officers requalify with firearm proficiency every two years at license renewal.
Reliability is the check we run hardest, so we document all six before an officer ever reaches your post.
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Free Armed & Unarmed Security Proposal
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
What a Texas security officer can legally do
A licensed security officer in Texas has the authority of a private citizen. No more. What you pay for is an officer trained to use that limited authority correctly and to write it down, so a stopped incident holds up afterward.
On when an officer can detain, the rule is narrow. Under Texas law, any person, including a security officer, may make a warrantless arrest only when a felony or an offense against the public peace happens in their presence (Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 14.01). For theft, Texas also lets any person recover stolen property and hold the suspect when there are reasonable grounds to believe it was stolen (Art. 18.16).
What happens after a stop is just as limited. A detained person is turned over to police without delay. A security officer does not file charges, transport anyone, or run a jail. Force is capped at what is reasonable, the same self-defense and defense-of-property rules that apply to any citizen under the Texas Penal Code.
A Level III officer may carry a firearm on duty. That does not widen arrest power. What it adds is deterrence and a response option on a high-risk post. Both officer types work inside the same citizen-authority limits.
This is what protects you as the property owner. An officer who oversteps that authority creates liability for you, not only for the company. Training, clear post orders, and a written record are the controls that keep a stop defensible. That is the work behind the six-point standard above.
Armed or unarmed: which your site needs
Most commercial posts are unarmed. Choose armed when the site holds cash, high-value or easily resold assets, has a history of violent incidents, or faces a specific credible threat. Otherwise, unarmed deterrence and documentation handle the large majority of commercial loss.
Unarmed fits when the risk is theft, trespass, and vandalism: after-hours patrol of construction sites, warehouses, vacant buildings, and offices; access control and visitor checks; loss prevention at retail. Armed fits when the risk includes armed confrontation: cash handling, high-value asset protection, a site with prior violent incidents, or a named threat. Plenty of sites run unarmed patrol with a written escalation plan instead of paying for armed hours they rarely use.
What stopping a loss actually looks like
Most losses we stop happen overnight, before a break-in is finished. The accounts below are pulled from our own patrol logs, with client names and exact addresses removed. They are the reason a documented officer on site beats a camera nobody is watching.
Construction site. A pickup circled the site, then parked near a gated entrance while the people inside studied the access points. The officer switched on the patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and moved toward the gate. The truck left. He logged the vehicle description and notified site management. No property lost.
Construction site. Two people carried materials toward the perimeter fence in an unlit corner of the lot. The officer lit the area with a spotlight and gave a verbal challenge. Both dropped what they were carrying and ran. He recovered everything and called police and site management. The inventory check came back complete.
Construction site. On a scheduled round, the officer found a storage container forced open and a person pulling out rolls of copper wire. He called police, held visual contact from a safe distance, and fed updates to dispatch. Responding officers made an arrest. The copper went back to site management.
Vacant building. Two people were prying at a boarded rear window. The officer called dispatch and police, kept watch from cover, and ran the patrol vehicle’s lights. Both left before they got in. A later check found minor damage to the window covering and no entry. He secured the site and notified the owner.
Distribution warehouse. After hours, an unauthorized vehicle sat near the loading docks while a person tried a secured storage area by the dock doors. The officer called dispatch and the site supervisor, identified himself, and directed the person off the restricted area. The person left. A dock-and-gate check found no forced entry, damage, or missing inventory.
Every one of these was GPS-logged and written up as an incident report the client received. That record is the point. It is what holds up with an insurer, or in a dispute, months later.
How we prove the work, and why clients stay
The difference is accountability, not adjectives. Here is what comes with every post.
- Same-day response. In most cases we deploy the same day. We don’t run random drive-by patrols and call it security.
- Proof every patrol happened. GPS guard-tour tracking, documented rounds, real-time incident reports, and supervisor check-ins. You see each round and timestamped check in the log.
- No long-term contract. Weekly, month-to-month, short-term, or long-term. Set the term to the job. The “you must sign for a year” line is a myth.
- Same-day insurance. We carry general liability, workers’ compensation, and commercial auto, and we issue a certificate of insurance the same day.
- English and Spanish officers. Bilingual coverage across the metro, days and overnights.
- One dedicated account supervisor. A single point of contact who knows your site and post orders, reachable directly rather than through a call center.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you require a long-term contract?
No. Weekly, month-to-month, short-term, or long-term is your call.
How fast can you start?
Same day, in most cases.
Are you licensed, and how do I verify it?
Yes, Texas DPS B07315701. Search it yourself on the TOPS portal before you sign anything.
What’s the difference between armed and unarmed officers?
Same citizen authority. Armed adds deterrence and a response option for high-risk posts. Most commercial sites run unarmed.
Do you offer event security, fire watch, K-9, or residential service?
No. We run commercial posts only.
Are your officers background-checked?
Yes. Fingerprint background check, drug test, license verification, interview, and references before any deployment.
Do you have Spanish-speaking officers?
Yes, bilingual officers across the metro.
How do you prove the patrols actually happen?
GPS guard-tour logs, documented rounds, and incident reports the client receives.
Get a free proposal for your Houston site
Tell us the site type, the hours you need covered, and whether you want armed or unarmed officers. We'll scope it and, in most cases, deploy the same day. Certificate of insurance issued the same day. No long-term contract.