Happy Holidays!

The author Francis C. Farley once said about Christmas that "Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.  Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself." 

People around the world celebrate the Christmas holiday, often irregardless of religion or nationality, and it is one of the few days of the year when so many different cultures can come together and observe a similar day of respect, showing love to one another, and living as mankind was truly meant to exist.  One does not necessarily have to have a Christian belief in order to believe that this is a special day of the year, and find their own manner in which to be a little bit different towards each other.  A little bit better.  A little bit more like people always talk about in speeches, and ask for in prayer, and dream about for our future.  But if only people realized that the saying "If every day could be like Christmas" could be a reality.  If only we all acted on a day to day basis with this love for our family and friends, while helping those less fortunate or in need, and giving that simple helping hand, or mere "hello" to a complete stranger... this world might just be a little closer to matching our hopes and dreams.

We at Denver Metro Protective Services wish to extend our warmest thanks to all of our friends, employees,  clients, and supporters for the chance that we have had to get to know each one of you, and to add so many more wonderful people into our lives.  It is often said by businesses that "we wouldn't be where we are without your support."  While that is surely true, we cannot miss the opportunity to express our appreciation for something much more important than "support" to us... your friendships.

May all have an amazing Christmas holiday, and find a way in each of our hearts to extend the love and friendships that we offer towards one another on this day for 364 more days of the year as well.  What a wonderful world this would be.

May Those Who Sorrow Today in Connecticut Find Peace Tommorrow.

"The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory." (From the West Wing, 20 Hours in America episode)

May all those who sorrow so deeply for such great losses today in Connecticut find peace and solace knowing that a whole nation, if even the entire world, weeps with them for their losses.

What do we look for in our staff?

I've been asked many times what it is that we seek out when we are hiring new employees for our company. Of course, there are always the obvious things that I can only imagine that most businesses look for - people with a decent job history, an acceptable employment reputation, and seems more than capable of handling whatever task he or she is hired on to perform.  But when I speak to potential candidates, there is one specific trait that I am always watching for as I question that person about their previous experience, their basic life details, etc... I love to find persons that demonstrate passion.  Now passion can be a pretty broad term, after all, just because an individual has passion for, say, the Denver Broncos (which, by the way, is generally considered a plus in my book!), does not necessarily equate into passion for performing security work.  But passion can be translated into so many different forms.  For example - did that potential candidate have enough passion about his or her own image to take the time to dress up properly for an interview?  If anyone comes in for a job interview dressed in the same attire in which he or she would go to the beach in... well, let's just say that it would be a fairly short interview.  Did the potential candidate take enough pride in his/her own image to completely fill out the job application?  I find this to be a generally important factor in our line of work.  If somebody cannot take the extra two minutes necessary to write out the information needed in order to effectively check a person's employment and reference history, what is to say that the same individual would not completely fill out an incident report, or a vehicle maintenance report, or any other important document that is so crucial to our business' success?

But as for myself, the real passion that I so enjoy to see is when I speak with a person about a former job, school history, or even mere life details, and that person sitting across from me show me back that passion that says "hey, I took ________ extremely important.  In fact, very few other things to me were as important as completing that task", or achieving that goal, or gaining another's respect.  To take pride in one's own achievements, and striving to reach for bigger and more difficult life goals says more to me about a potential applicant than any job history, college degree, or gleaming reference ever will.

One of my absolute favorite quote in life (and one I attempt, regardless of how feebly, to live my own life by), is by the incredibly philosophically advanced Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (yes, he really did exist outside of the Gladiator movie!) when he stated "Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense."  If I am able to see even the slightest glimpse of this real attitude in somebody who is trying to convince me that they should be the next employee of Denver Metro Protective Services, than all else to me seems quite a mute point.  To demonstrate that pride in oneself and passion for life is one's truest character tells me that when that person is out in the field, they will be sharply wearing our uniform and meticulously performing the tasks for which they were hired to do, and exemplifying our company services... for that is the pride and passion built into their true nature.

Help Us Get "Thin Yellow Line" Rolling!

In an effort to get our "Thin Yellow Line" campaign rolling, we have created a site where people who believe in our cause, and wish to support us in our efforts to raise awareness for security officer who have paid the ultimate price with their lives, while serving in the line of duty.  Please visit us at:

http://igg.me/p/291702/x/1869513

Any support, whether through word of mouth, or by any other means, is greatly appreciated!

The Thin Yellow Line

I was reading today about a security officer that had been killed in the line of duty while working at an apartment complex in Tampa, FL the day after Thanksgiving.  This story led me to another story about a security officer killed while working at an apartment community in Dallas, TX  about a month before that one, which led me to another, which led me to an alarming number of other stories, and I began to research (to the best that I was able, given the lack of clear statistics) to find out just how many security personnel are killed or wounded while working to protect and serve in our industry each year.  What I found was not only shocking and disturbing (there were 114 security officers killed in 2011 alone - comparable to the number of police officers killed while on the job in 2011 of 173), but I was also dismayed at the lack of organizations out there to help bring to light the bravery and sacrifice that so many in the security industry offer.  There are numerous groups around the country that belong to the "Thin Blue Line," which is an organization that honors fallen police officers around the country, and is represented by a black square with a blue line that goes down the middle of it.  This organization is important, and helps remember those police officers who have paid the ultimate price for their service.  But, in very few areas could I find any speak about those in the security industry who have paid that same price.  In similar fashion to the "Thin Blue Line," there is a symbol which represents those fallen security officers - a black square with a yellow line down the middle of it, or the "Thin Yellow Line."  But sadly, I found no actual group that represented this cause - only a few "splinter" groups out there.  To help spread awareness of this, we have created a new group called the "Thin Yellow Line" which can be found (at least for now) right here.  Additionally, we are working on an actual website where stories will be posted, events can be held, and (hopefully) a true national awareness can be created for such an important, yet all too often overlooked, cause.  If you would like to help us and participate, please visit our Facebook page and "like" it, or leave us a comment about your thoughts on this issue.

Welcome!

Thank you for coming and visiting our blog!  Or, if perhaps you were just randomly checking around the internet, and were trying to find the newest version of Angry Birds, and somehow ended up here, well... we're sorry to disappoint you.  But, however it was that you stumbled across our little page, we thank your for staying with us thus far, and hope that over the course of our posts, you will become a follower and a contributor to our pages!

First, let me explain to you a little about ourselves.  We are Denver Metro Protective Services, a provider of proactive and dedicated security professionals who serve around the Rocky Mountain area, and strive to change how so many feel about the security industry as a whole, serve our clientele in the most innovative and capable way as possible, and provide information to those who may seek out a progressive and technologically-advanced security services provider for themselves.

Yes, it is true that there are a LOT of security providers out there, especially in our market in the Denver, Colorado area.  We see them pop up more and more, and it seems that all too often, it is the result of somebody thinking that "hey, I can do security... I should be able to run my own company!"  Sadly, all too often, it is because of such companies that this industry seems to gain a poor reputation.  Untrained personnel, low wages, sub-standard employee expectations... the list seems to go on and on.  I often laugh when I see postings for jobs in places such as craigslist.org or other areas where companies advertise job openings and some of the information listed there states things like "Apply today, start today!" or "you must have your own uniform."  How can a company possibly hire somebody and start that person on the same day!?!?!  Is there no preparation for the job, or training on procedures?  Of course, certainly there are many instances when a client calls and needs something as simple as a building that has a faulty alarm system, or a broken lock to be watched overnight, and the general "duties" are pretty simple... make sure that nobody breaks into the building while it is closed, and don't fall asleep!  Well, at least that is what it seems to the general person, right?  In reality, however, there are so many possible things could happen during that "simple" shift that could turn out disastrously if an untrained "warm body in a uniform" is posted at that location!  And yet we hear about it happening time and time again in our industry.  And, as far as those job posts which demand that a potential employee must "have your own uniform," I just do not understand how a company can profess itself to be "professional" when there is no basic uniformity within it's own ranks.  Could you imagine if a police department told it's own officers that they would need to "bring their own uniforms?"  There would be infinite different styles, colors and looks of officers out there!  Even companies such as McDonalds provides it's staff with uniforms.

Alas, there are so many issues that we have seen over the years in our industry, and it is our goal... no, actually it is our DUTY to help to correct some of these issues, and to help to create an industry that is more than a place that people can go to get a "job" while looking for something better, but to help people to have "careers" where the employees have pride.  Pride not only for working for a company that respects them and helps to look after them, though, but also for belonging to a service sector within our economy that means something and helps to make a difference.  It is often heard to "thank a policeman, a firefighter, a member of the military, a doctor, a teacher" or so many other noble professions out there, for those people who serve in those capacities do so because they want to make a difference.  They do it because they believe in what they are doing.  This industry as well should be able to have that pride.  Those men and women who serve as security professionals do jobs that are vital to the operations of businesses, governments, and the general public as a whole, and many thousands have paid the ultimate price for their service as well.  We owe it to each of them to improve this industry and help put pride and professionalism at the front of the line of each company out there.

We again wish to thank you for taking the time to read over our posts.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply.  We look forward to having meaningful and hopefully insightful discussions, and will continue to strive to improve the manners in which our own company can best serve our clients, employees and the general public.