Security professionals play a vital role in organizational resilience, business assurance, and public safety. During the pandemic, alongside other essential workers, societies were reminded how much we rely on them and of their contribution to nations’ critical infrastructure. 

 It is true that technology now plays a growing role in the industry’s delivery of security, but it cannot—and will never—meet the totality of security needs. There is no technological silver bullet that will solve security and eliminate the need for a human element.  

Security work fits squarely into the categories of labor that technology can’t replicate: work that involves complex rules, changing environments, and unexpected variables; work that involves high-stakes situations that are unacceptable to automate; and jobs in which shaping emotions is a component, such as in de-escalation of potentially violent incidents. Intrusion devices act great as a force multiplier, for example, but no matter how feature-rich security systems are—or how good they become at identifying out-of-the-ordinary events or suspicious activity—they will never be able to go to a scene and help. 

Rather than making security officers unnecessary, technology is shifting security officers’ value equation away from mere deterrence toward their ability to react, investigate, and manage incidents.

Security work in general has changed—becoming more business-minded, diverse, and technical, requiring greater specialization and enhanced skills.  

Recipients of private security services must universally resist partnering with security providers that pay substandard and unsustainable wages and should embrace efforts by the leading security companies of the world to align compensation with the vital role of frontline security work, with shifting economic conditions, and with the greater specialization and training that is now demanded.