Is this what you’re spending $6000 a month for?

We have folders and folders full of photos and videos of guards sleeping on posts that we visit, or drive by. We call it the Wall of Shame. It’s probably not very funny to them, it’s certainly not funny to the people that pay them, and it shouldn’t be to us either. But sometimes you do just have to laugh.

It must be boring to sit at one spot all night, every night. It’s probably fairly easy to dose off. We don’t have the luxury of getting sleepy. We’re constantly on the move and going from place to place. You wouldn’t last very long sleeping at 50 miles an hour. To us, being alert isn’t just a professional courtesy, it’s life and death.

But regardless, whether they’re actually awake or not is the lowest common denominator. That should be a given. But even if they are awake, how alert are they? How attentive? How much good is it doing versus having someone who comes by several times a night and checks on things and sees the property anew each visit?

Most people would say it’s better to have the on-site guard there. And we would usually agree. But is it worth 10-20 times the expense of a patrol? No. You get more for your money with a patrol service.