How we verify

Security Company Check is compiled from public records, not from who paid to be listed.

Sources

• DCA public license data: Bureau of Security and Investigative Services file — The Department of Consumer Affairs' monthly public license file for BSIS: license type, number, name, address, county, original issue date, expiry and status.
• DCA License Search (Bureau of Security and Investigative Services) — California's own lookup, including disciplinary actions.
• IDFPR Professional Licensing dataset (pzzh-kp68) — Every license IDFPR issues, with status, dates, city, county and disciplinary actions.
• IDFPR License Look-Up — Illinois' own lookup.
• Private Security Services Act and Alarm Company Act (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 7580 et seq., 7590 et seq.) — Licensing, insurance, guard registration and training, alarm agreements.
• Illinois Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 (225 ILCS 447) — Agency and branch licenses, insurance, PERC cards, firearm control cards, advertising and discipline.

California: the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) publishes the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) license file once a month. Every week we look up the current file in DCA's public data folder and keep Private Patrol Operator, PPO Branch, Alarm Company Operator and Alarm Company Branch licenses with status Current, a California address and an expiry date that had not passed. Individual guard registrations, private investigators, repossessors, training facilities and proprietary security employers are not listed.

Illinois: every week we query IDFPR's public licensing dataset for Private Security Contractor Agency, Private Alarm Contractor Agency and branch office licenses with status Active, an unexpired date and an Illinois address. Disciplinary entries are shown exactly as IDFPR records them (date, action, case number, reason); we don't rank or interpret them, and they don't change the order.

Branch offices are linked to the main license with the same name in the same state. Where a California license is held in a person's own name, we show only the city and ZIP code; PO boxes are not shown as street addresses. Order within a city: longest-licensed first, then alphabetical.

Neither file has phone numbers or insurance policies; California's file has no disciplinary data (the DCA License Search does). We never mark a company as unlicensed: one missing here may be licensed under another name, licensed after our last refresh, or based in another state. Check the state's lookup for any company.

Featured companies appear in a separate, labelled box and never change the order of the list.

What a badge means

State-licensed: the company's guard or alarm license appears in the state's public licensing file with a current status and an expiry date that had not passed: California's Bureau of Security and Investigative Services file (status Current) or Illinois IDFPR's file (status Active). We only publish positive matches. A listing without a badge is not an accusation — most gaps are name variations between registries.

Freshness

Data was last refreshed on 2026-10-16. DCA publishes California's BSIS file once a month and IDFPR updates Illinois' file daily; we re-pull both every week.

Corrections

Email sabrsystemssoftware@gmail.com or claim your listing on the for-business page. We fix verified errors within two business days.