Reliable Guard & Patrol Service posts licensed armed and unarmed officers at Houston commercial sites so you don't have to hire, license, insure, or replace guards yourself. We have held Texas DPS license #B07315701 since 2018, run about 150 officers, and GPS-track every patrol. There's no long-term contract, and we issue a certificate of insurance the same day you sign. If you run a construction site, warehouse, vacant building, retail center, or office in the Houston metro, outsourcing your guard coverage moves the payroll, licensing, and liability work onto us and keeps the officer on your post.
What outsourcing actually moves off your books
Hiring a guard in-house means you own the whole employment stack: recruiting, the Texas DPS license check, fingerprint background screening, drug testing, workers’ compensation, payroll taxes, uniforms, supervision, and a replacement every time someone quits. Outsourcing hands that stack to a licensed company. You buy coverage on a post; we carry the officer.
Two 2026 developments made that trade sharper for Houston buyers. Texas tightened the paperwork required to license a guard, and industry turnover stayed high enough that keeping a post filled is now the hard part, not filling it once. Both sit below in plain numbers. The short version: the burdens that got heavier this year are exactly the ones a vendor absorbs.
What stays yours is the decision. You still set the post orders, the hours, and the escalation plan. We staff to them and prove the work with GPS logs and written incident reports. One dedicated account supervisor knows your site, not a call center that rotates a new voice through every week.
The 2026 Texas licensing change every Houston buyer should ask about
In 2026 the Texas Department of Public Safety moved to require every private security license applicant, new hires and renewals alike, to prove eligibility under the 1996 federal public-benefits law before DPS will issue or renew the license. The proof is checked through the federal SAVE system, and the accepted documents are specific: a REAL ID-compliant Texas driver license or ID, a U.S. passport, a certified birth certificate, a permanent resident card, or an employment authorization document. The rule was published in the Texas Register on April 24, 2026, covering 37 TAC sections 35.21, 35.22, and 35.30.
Here’s why a buyer should care. This step adds friction to putting a new licensed officer on a post and it narrows the pool of workers a company can lawfully deploy. A vendor that already runs its own DPS licensing pipeline absorbs that delay. A business trying to stand up an in-house guard, or a bargain vendor running thin, feels it as a slower start and a smaller bench. When you interview a company, ask how they are handling the new eligibility documentation, because the honest answer tells you whether they actually license their own people or subcontract the risk.
The Houston guard vendor screen: 5 questions to ask any company
Whether you hire us or someone else, these five questions separate a real licensed operator from a broker or a bargain crew. Ask them before you sign anything.
- What is your Texas DPS license number, and can I verify it? A licensed company gives you the number without hesitating. Ours is B07315701. You can check any Texas security company on the state’s public license search, described below.
- What do you pay your officers, and what is your turnover? The wage and the retention predict who actually shows up. A company that dodges this is telling you the answer is bad.
- How do you prove a patrol happened? Ask for the mechanism, not a promise. We use GPS guard-tour tracking, documented rounds, real-time incident reports, and supervisor check-ins, and the client receives the record.
- What insurance do you carry, and how fast can I get a certificate? General liability, workers’ compensation, and commercial auto should be in force before an officer arrives. We issue the certificate the same day.
- Is my type of site your actual business? A company that does everything does nothing especially well. We staff commercial posts only and turn down work that isn’t ours.
Verify our license yourself on the state portal
You do not have to take our word for any of this. Texas publishes a public license search, and checking a security company on it takes about a minute.
- Open the Texas Online Private Security public license search, run by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
- Search by company name, “Reliable Guard and Patrol Service,” or by our license number, B07315701.
- Confirm the license status is active and free of open issues. A lapsed or missing license becomes your insurance and liability problem as the client, not the vendor’s alone.
- For armed posts, ask us for officer-level proof too. You can confirm an officer holds an active Level III commission. We provide names on request.
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We Cover Houston, TX, Sugar Land, TX, Pearland, TX, Conroe, TX
What a Texas guard can legally do, and why that protects you
A licensed Texas security officer has a private citizen’s authority, no more. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, any person may make a warrantless arrest only when a felony or a breach of the peace happens in their presence (Article 14.01), and for theft, Texas lets any person recover stolen property and hold a suspect on reasonable grounds (Article 18.16). A detained person is turned over to police without delay. Force is limited to what is reasonable, the same rules that apply to any citizen.
What you pay an outsourced company for is an officer trained to use that limited authority correctly and to document it. An officer who oversteps creates liability that lands on the property owner, not the guard company alone. Post orders, training, and a written record are the controls that keep a stopped incident defensible later, with an insurer or in a dispute. A Level III commissioned officer may carry a firearm on a high-risk post, but that does not widen arrest authority; the difference is deterrence and response, not extra legal power. This is a large part of why outsourcing to a licensed, insured company reduces your exposure rather than adding to it.
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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
Which officer your site needs
Most commercial posts are unarmed, and that is not a cost dodge. Given the 2026 crime split above, deterrence and documentation handle the large majority of Houston commercial loss: theft, trespass, and vandalism at construction sites, warehouses, vacant buildings, and offices, plus access control and loss prevention at retail.
Choose armed when the site has cash on hand, high-value or easily resold assets, a history of violent incidents, or a specific credible threat. Armed presence costs more per hour. Many sites run unarmed patrol with a clear escalation plan instead and get the same protection for less. We will tell you which one your site needs, including when the answer is the cheaper one. Compare armed security guards and unarmed officers for the full breakdown.
How every officer is vetted: the 6-point standard
Guard reliability is the thing clients worry about most, so the same six checks apply to every officer, on every site, before deployment. None of this is information gain, every serious company should do it, but it is the floor, and plenty of bargain crews skip parts of it.
- DPS license verification. Active Texas DPS registration confirmed for the level the post requires, before the officer works.
- Fingerprint background check. Full criminal screening with fingerprint-based checks consistent with state requirements.
- Drug testing. Pre-assignment testing, armed or unarmed, no exceptions.
- Interview to standard. An in-person interview against company conduct and presentation standards, rather than a license check on file.
- Verified references. References contacted and confirmed. We check history rather than assume it.
- Recurring training. Unarmed officers complete Level II training. Armed officers re-qualify on firearm proficiency and complete continuing education at each two-year license renewal.
What stopping a loss actually looks like
Most of the losses we stop happen overnight, before a break-in is finished. The entries below are taken from our patrol logs, with client names and exact addresses removed. They are why a documented officer on site beats a camera nobody is watching.
Construction site. A pickup circled the site, then stopped near a gated entrance while the occupants studied the access points. The officer switched on the patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and moved toward the gate. The truck left. The officer 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 the materials and ran. An 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. The officer 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 police, kept watch from cover, and ran the patrol vehicle’s lights. Both left before getting in. A later check found minor damage to the window covering and no entry.
Distribution warehouse. After hours, an unauthorized vehicle sat near the loading docks while a person tried a secured storage area. The officer called dispatch and the site supervisor, identified himself, and directed the person off the restricted area. A dock-and-gate check found no forced entry and no 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 later.
Who we are not for
We staff commercial posts, and that focus is the reason our officers know them. We do not take residential, HOA, or event work. We do not run K-9, fire watch, alarm response, or parking enforcement, and we do not staff Level IV personal protection. If that is what you need, we are the wrong call, and we will say so on the first call instead of after you have signed.
Outsourcing is also not automatic. A very large single site with steady around-the-clock hours and its own HR function can sometimes run an in-house force more cheaply. If that is you, the honest answer may be a hybrid: your own daytime staff, our officers for overnight and backfill. We would rather scope that correctly than sell you hours you do not need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you require a long-term contract?
No. Terms run weekly, month-to-month, short-term, or long-term, set to the job. Outsourcing does not mean locking into a year.
How fast can you start?
In most cases the same day. We staff from a roster of about 150 officers, so a new post does not wait on a new hire.
Are you licensed, and how do I verify it?
Yes. Texas DPS license #B07315701, active since 2018. Search “Reliable Guard and Patrol Service” or the license number on the Texas DPS public license search to confirm it is active.
Is outsourcing cheaper than hiring my own guards?
For most commercial sites, yes, once you count licensing, background checks, workers’ comp, supervision, and the cost of refilling a post in a market with 77% turnover. A very large single site with its own HR team is the main exception.
What is the difference between armed and unarmed officers?
Both carry the same citizen’s authority. Armed adds a firearm and a higher response option on high-risk posts; it does not add legal power. Most commercial posts are unarmed.
Do you offer event security, fire watch, K-9, or residential service?
No. We staff commercial posts only, armed and unarmed. We do not do events, residential, HOA, K-9, fire watch, alarm response, or parking enforcement.
How do you prove the patrols actually happen?
GPS guard-tour tracking, documented rounds, real-time incident reports, and supervisor check-ins. You see the activity as a record, not a promise.
Do you have Spanish-speaking officers?
Yes. We staff bilingual English and Spanish officers across the metro, which clients call out most for overnight coverage.
Outsource your Houston guard coverage
Tell us the site and the hours. You get a free written proposal, a certificate of insurance the same day, and GPS-logged proof of every patrol, with no long-term contract.