Complaint Review: Champion National Security

Supposedly established in 1987, Champion National Security has been by far the most unprofessional and second rate security service business I have ever had the displeasure of working for. I was hired July 20, 2012 and quit on July 28, 2012 after only two assigned posts.

The first post was for Flexicore (an industrial business in Pearland). The place was FILTHY covered in dust, mold, mildew, mouse droppings, and cobwebs and while getting the keys, I spotted a rat the size of a possum.  The golf cart we were to use as a patrol vehicle looked like it was held together with duct tape and had two flat tires.  This forced me to patrol the locked gates in my own vehicle.  At about 24:00, a car had crashed through our perimeter fence from the outside farm road and had not only breached a section of our perimeter fence, but had cause actual physical property damage. 

Police and Fire departments were called by the individuals involved in the wreck and were soon on scene with a helicopter unit.  Upon seeing the scene on my patrol, I called EVERY NUMBER on my emergency contact list including dispatch and failed to receive ANY response from ANY of the numbers on my contact list except a woman who was answering my branch manager's office line.  I was left completely alone with no backup and no real contacts and there was a WRECK on the property!

Finally, after two hours and writing my incident report, the Branch Manager was contacted by his assistant who (it sounded like) had to track him down to get him to respond to my initial emergency call.  The next day, I called dispatch and informed them that I was not going to report to that post any longer (although I was scheduled to report to that very same post July 21, 2012).  She informed me that "this job is not without risks and if you are unwilling to take those risks, then maybe security is not for you." I arrived Monday morning as the office opened with uniform in hand ready to quit and was apologized to and asked to stay by the branch manager who promised me that this was not how they did business and that I would never be in that sort of situation again.

Second post: July 28,2012 was given an official patrol car to monitor a Sam's Club parking lot during the entire 11 business hours that Saturday. My supervisor that morning was filling up the radiator with water and informed me that the car overheats and if this should happen during my shift, there were plenty of cans for water and to turn off the vehicle and allow it to cool off.  Then he fought to close the trunk for 5 minutes.  After getting into the patrol car, the seat was all the way back and was broken so it could not be adjusted and my feet could barely reach the pedals, the "check engine" light came on and stayed on, and the a/c barely blew any cold air at full blast but instead I could smell freon fumes through the vents.

For 11 hours, I sweated in the freon fumed barely cold a/c and had to turn off the car to let it cool off twice when it overheated. After letting it sit and cool off, I had to give it gas and almost flood the engine just to get it started again.  Finally after 11 hours of paroling in this jalopy, sunburned, dehydrated, and nauseous from inhaling fumes, I called dispatch to "clock out". Dispatch was pretty much a woman who just answered the phones and took note of when my shift was over.  I asked her if we (Champion) had another patrol vehicle because this one was in extremely bad shape and was in dire need of repairs. 

She contacted me later that evening (about 11 pm my time) to inform me that Brandon (the branch manager and the same branch manager who finally responded to my emergency call from my first post) said I was alowed to use my OWN VEHICLE for the post the next day as long as I fashioned magnetic signs for the security company and a yellow patrol light to the top of my own car.  She also asked me if I had insurance.  This was asked because if anything happened to my own car while on patrol, they wanted to make sure they were not liable. In other words, they set me up with a post in a broken down patrol vehicle and then instead of taking responsibility for their own car, they were "allowing" me to use my OWN CAR at MY OWN RISK.

So, after only working for Champion National Security for a week, they gave me my first post where I was left completely alone in a filthy environment with no backup and no working emergency contacts. Then, after being talked out of quitting, was given an 11 hour patrol post in 95 degree Houston weather in a run-down unacceptable patrol vehicle.  Conditions were so terrible that I actually looked up Champion National Security on the internet (besides their own website) to insure that they are indeed a legitimate business.  I am sad to report that they are.