Why is assault and battery the coverage that decides a security company's policy?

Assault and battery is the defining exposure for a security company because your officers are paid to make physical contact when a situation requires it, and general liability is built around accidents rather than intentional acts. Most standard general liability forms either exclude assault and battery outright or add it back with a sublimit far below your policy limit.

A sublimit is a cap inside a cap. Your policy may show $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate on the front page while a separate endorsement limits assault and battery to $100,000 or $250,000. If a use of force claim settles above that number, the balance is yours.

Specialty carriers underwrite this directly. A firm with a written use of force policy, incident reporting, and annual retraining typically earns full limits, while a firm without them gets a sublimit or a decline.

• Ask to see the assault and battery endorsement itself, not just the declarations page
• Confirm whether the sublimit applies per occurrence, per claim, or per policy year
• Check whether defense costs erode that sublimit, which is common on this coverage

How does carrying firearms change what I pay and what underwriters ask?

Armed service typically increases general liability premium by 40 to 100 percent over the same revenue written unarmed, and it narrows you to a smaller group of carriers. The difference reflects severity rather than frequency, because armed incidents are rare and catastrophic instead of common and small.

Underwriters will ask about weapon type, who owns the firearm, how officers qualify, and how often. Documented range qualification at least annually is the common expectation, with many carriers preferring twice a year. If officers carry personally owned weapons, expect harder questions or a decline, since you cannot verify the condition of a gun you do not own.

Carriers also want a graduated use of force continuum in writing, one that puts verbal commands ahead of physical control and physical control ahead of any weapon. Disclose less lethal tools too, since batons, chemical agents, and conducted energy devices are rated separately.

• Keep qualification records, training rosters, and licensing files for at least five years
• Disclose every armed post at renewal, since an undisclosed armed contract can cost you coverage
• Expect higher minimum premiums, often $7,500 to $15,000, on armed accounts

What does security professional liability cover that general liability does not?

Security services professional liability, often called security E&O, covers your failure to perform the services you were hired to perform, which general liability does not touch. General liability responds to bodily injury and property damage caused by an accident. It says nothing when the complaint is that you were not there, not watching, or not doing what the contract required.

Consider the claims that actually produce lawsuits. An officer skipped four of six required patrol rounds and a warehouse was burglarized. Access control admitted someone into a restricted area. The loss belongs to the client, and the allegation is negligent performance of a service.

Most specialty programs bundle professional liability with general liability, frequently sharing one limit. Read whether it is shared or separate, because a $1,000,000 shared limit half consumed by an assault claim leaves you thin for the rest of the year.

What are false arrest and the other personal injury offenses, and why do they matter here?

False arrest, detention, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, libel, slander, and invasion of privacy are grouped in a general liability policy as personal and advertising injury offenses, and they are the second most common source of security claims after use of force. They matter because your officers detain people, remove people, and write reports that name people.

Holding a suspected shoplifter for forty minutes in a back room, escorting a tenant out of a building, or telling a client that a named employee is stealing all land here. These claims often arrive with no physical injury at all, which is why owners are surprised their other policies have nothing to say about them.

Watch two things. Some forms sublimit personal injury the same way they sublimit assault and battery, and the offense must arise out of your business, so off duty conduct in uniform invites a coverage fight.

• Require a written incident report for every detention, with time in, time out, and witnesses
• Train officers that shoplifter detention rules vary by state and by client policy
• Confirm wrongful eviction is covered if you serve residential or property management accounts

How are patrol vehicles and canine units rated differently?

Vehicle patrol and canine units are rated as separate exposures, and they are the two items owners most often forget to disclose. Marked patrol vehicles create a commercial auto exposure rated above ordinary business use, because they run at night, cover many stops, and sometimes respond quickly to alarm calls.

If officers drive their own cars between posts, you need hired and non owned auto liability, which protects your company when an employee's personal policy is exhausted or denies. It commonly adds $500 to $2,500 a year and is far cheaper than the claim it answers.

Canine units raise an animal liability question. Some forms exclude injury caused by animals, and carriers want the breed, the training certification, and your deployment policy before they cover a bite.

• Disclose every vehicle used on a post, including personally owned cars used for patrol
• Carry hired and non owned auto if officers drive anything your company does not own
• File canine certification and recertification records with each handler

What do client contracts usually require, and where do those clauses go wrong?

Most commercial security contracts require $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate general liability, $1,000,000 auto, statutory workers compensation with $1,000,000 employers liability, and a $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 umbrella, plus additional insured status and a waiver of subrogation. Hospitals, schools, and government sites often push the umbrella to $5,000,000 or $10,000,000.

The clause that causes real trouble pairs primary and non contributory wording with a broad indemnity agreement in which you accept liability for the client's own negligence. Your policy covers liability assumed under an insured contract, but many indemnity clauses reach past that definition, and the overage is uninsured.

If you monitor alarms, your own agreements should cap your liability at a fixed amount or a multiple of the monthly fee. Those clauses hold up better when conspicuous and paired with an option to buy a higher cap.

• Read the indemnity paragraph first, since indemnity drives the real exposure
• Limit additional insured status to your ongoing operations for that specific client
• Push back on demands to name a client as additional insured on workers compensation
• Send contracts to your broker before signing, not after the certificate request arrives

How should guards be classified for workers compensation?

Security guards fall under a dedicated guard and patrol workers compensation classification whose rate is far above clerical work, so misclassification is both a pricing problem and an audit problem. Armed officers, alarm installers, and office staff are usually separate classifications, and payroll must be split with records that support the split.

The audit is where this gets expensive. Without records separating payroll by class, an auditor may apply the highest applicable rate to your entire payroll.

Uninsured subcontractors are the other trap. Collect certificates from any 1099 officer or subcontracted firm before their first shift, because without them the auditor will generally treat their pay as your payroll and charge you accordingly.

• Code payroll by post and class weekly instead of reconstructing it at audit
• Collect certificates from every subcontracted guard firm before work begins
• Report overtime at straight time where your state allows it