Armed Security Guards Are Taking On More Responsibility. California Wants to Train Them Better

The recent killing of Banko Brown by an armed Walgreens security guard has put a focus on the work of these employees. While they often take on similar roles to cops, armed security guards are not public employees but often low-paid civilians with few protections when they kill someone on the job, and they don’t get proper training on things like use of force or de-escalation either. That’s all supposed to change after the 2019 killing of a man by a security officer in Sacramento, which led to a bill meant to increase the state training standards for security guards. Episode transcript Guest: Marisa Lagos , a politics correspondent for KQED and co-host of the political breakdown podcast. Links: ‘A Tragedy of San Francisco’s Marking’: The Killing of Banko Brown They Carry Weapons. So Why Don’t Security Guards Have to get Use-of-Force Training? This episode was produced by Alexander Gonzales, Jehlen Herdman, Maria Esquinca, and Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices