To verify a security guard license in Michigan, ask the company for its agency license number, then check that number against the state record. Michigan licenses the business. Each guard works as an employee of a licensed agency or a licensed sole proprietor.
The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, known as LARA, issues that license under Public Act 330 of 1968. An agency license number has 10 digits and starts with 3801.
The check needs no account and no fee. Five minutes tells you whether the company on your quote is licensed today.
What the Michigan license covers
Public Act 330 of 1968 is the Private Security Business and Security Alarm Act. It sets who may own a security guard business in Michigan and what that business owes the state.
Under MCL 338.1056, the applicant must be at least 21 years old. The applicant needs a high school education or the equivalent, and no felony conviction.
Prior experience in the business is also required: three years on their own account in another state, or four years as an employee of a licensed business.
Guards are covered through their employer. MCL 338.1067 sets the floor for employees.
A guard must be at least 18 years old. Anyone hired after June 21, 2002 needs a high school diploma or a GED.
Every licensed employer answers for the conduct of the people it employs. Michigan has no separate license for an individual employee guard, so the agency number is the credential to check.
Ask for these four items first
Request all four before anyone walks your property:
- The agency license number, all 10 digits.
- The expiration date printed on the license.
- Proof of the bond or the insurance policy that the state requires.
- A separate certificate of commercial general liability insurance.
Items three and four are different documents. The state requirement protects the public from a wrongful act by the licensee. Coverage for a loss at your building comes from the commercial policy.
How to verify a security guard license in Michigan, step by step
Open LARA’s page to find or verify a licensed business. Search by the company’s legal name.
Legal names on licenses often differ from the trade name on the vehicle. Ask which name the license is filed under before you search.
Match three fields in the record: the legal business name, the license number, and the status. LARA’s private security guard agency page confirms that license and application numbers begin with 380.
A license issued under this act lasts two years, per MCL 338.1059. Compare the expiration date to today’s date.
Lapsed status means the company is unlicensed as of today. LARA has a separate relicensure path for a lapsed agency, and a company in that position should say so on the call.
What the state bond covers
MCL 338.1059 blocks a license until the applicant posts a $25,000 bond with the department.
An applicant may substitute an insurance policy for the bond. The policy names the licensee and the state of Michigan as coinsureds.
Its limits are $25,000 for property damage and $100,000 for injury to or death of one person. For injuries or deaths involving more than one person, coverage rises to $200,000.
An injured person may sue on that bond directly. The statute covers any willful, malicious, and wrongful act by the licensee, or by the people it employs.
Those figures are a licensing threshold. They exist to protect the public, and they are written around wrongful conduct by the company. Damage at your site is a separate question, answered by the commercial general liability certificate in item four.
The quarterly roster question
MCL 338.1067 requires a licensee to file a complete employee roster with LARA every quarter. The deadlines are April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15, each covering the quarter before.
Missing or inaccurate rosters are cause for suspension. LARA will also decline a renewal when any quarterly roster from the previous two-year term is absent.
Ask whether the officer assigned to your site appears on the most recent roster. A licensed company answers that from its own filing.
False employment claims are a licensing offense. Under the same section, a licensee that falsely states someone is in its employ can lose the license.
Anyone who falsely claims to be an agent of a licensed security guard business commits a misdemeanor. The penalty reaches 93 days, a $500 fine, or both.
Two checks most buyers skip
MCL 338.1058 requires a physical location in Michigan for an agency license. A company quoting your Metro Detroit building from an out-of-state address deserves a direct question about which entity signs the contract.
Branch offices face a second gate. Under MCL 338.1057, a branch license needs written approval from the county sheriff or the city chief of police, along with the county prosecuting attorney. A vendor with four Michigan offices cleared that approval four times.
Complete these checks before you place unarmed security guards at a property. An armed officer on the post raises the stakes on every one of them.
Before the next contract renewal
Pull the license number for every security vendor you use now, including the one you have used for years. Licenses lapse between renewals, and no one sends a facilities manager a notice when it happens.
Metro One Security is licensed in Michigan. We serve Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties.
Ask for our license number and our insurance certificate on the first call. Call (248) 436-4799 or request a quote.