If you try and bring some contraband into one of the two Guilford County courthouses, or if you make some other type of trouble on county property, the person who arrests you might be on their first week on the job.  

Guilford County government has some full-time security staff, however, many of the people guarding county buildings and breaking up fights between county employees are contract workers – and Guilford County has just hired a new firm, Weiser Security Services Inc., to provide security services.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners recently voted to approve about $926,000 to contract with the security firm for one year.  The county also has options for two one-year renewals for the service, which will provide both armed and unarmed security guards meant to protect and serve Guilford County government.

Guilford County had been using Security Innovations Protective Services for its contract security needs.  It’s not clear why that relationship ended late last year, however, the county has been in a 90-day contract with NorthState Security Group.  Maintaining that temporary contract was considered prohibitively expensive by county staff, so, in February, the Board of Commissioners approved a year-long contract with the second-lowest qualified, responsible, responsive bidder – Weiser Security Services – from the original bid event in 2019.

Compared to the prior long-term contract with Security Innovations, the hourly rate for unarmed services will decrease from $16.03 to $15.94 per hour, while the armed services hourly rate will increase from $16.03 to $19.81 per hour. The total contract cost over one year results in a total increase of $25,175 for the same scope of service provided by Security Innovations last year.