Georgia Security Guard & Company License: Requirements & How to Verify (2026)

Hiring a security company in Georgia? Confirming its license is the single most important check you can make — it's what tells you the provider is lawful, insured, and accountable, and it shields you from the negligent-hiring liability that comes with putting an unvetted, uninsured operation on your property. This guide covers who regulates security in Georgia, what a company and its guards must hold, how armed work is permitted, and exactly how to verify a license yourself.

What makes Georgia different

Georgia has a structural gap worth understanding: the state licenses the company and registers armed officers, but it does not individually register unarmed guards. For unarmed coverage, that means the agency license and the training the firm actually provides are the only things standing behind the guard on your site — so vet the company's own program carefully. Armed officers need a weapons permit built on roughly 40 hours of training (about 24 classroom hours plus 15 hours of handgun work) with an 80% qualification, and both applications and license lookups run through the Secretary of State's GOALS portal.

Who regulates security in Georgia

Private security in Georgia is regulated at the state level by the Georgia Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies (Secretary of State). A legitimate firm holds a Security Agency (company) license from Georgia Board / Secretary of State, meaning it has cleared the state's ownership, background-check, insurance, and record-keeping requirements. That license number is the first thing to confirm — ask for it in writing and verify it yourself on Georgia Secretary of State — GOALS Licensee Search rather than trusting a certificate on the wall. The licensing authority can also suspend or revoke a license for misconduct, so a live status check tells you not just whether a firm is licensed, but whether it's in good standing.

What each security credential authorizes in Georgia

"Licensed" alone doesn't tell you what an officer is actually cleared to do — Georgia uses more than one credential, and they aren't interchangeable. Here's what each one authorizes:

Guards and training

Individual officers in Georgia generally must hold an employee registration (armed officers are registered; unarmed guards are not individually registered), and the state requires training set by the employer/agency (no fixed statewide unarmed hour count). A valid company license doesn't guarantee every officer on the roster is credentialed and trained, so confirm the guards actually assigned to your site hold current registrations — verifying the company and the people are two separate checks.

Armed guards and firearms in Georgia

Arming a guard in Georgia takes more than the base credential: an armed officer needs weapons permit plus armed employee registration, with a minimum age of 21. Armed coverage also raises your exposure — a firearms incident can reach the client through vicarious-liability and negligent-hiring theories, and standard general-liability policies often exclude firearms — so confirm the specific armed credential (not just the base registration) and the firm's firearms coverage, and reserve armed posts for a documented threat. Our armed vs. unarmed guide covers the decision in depth, and you can compare armed security services directly.

Georgia treats on-duty firearm authority as a Board-controlled privilege layered on top of the armed employee registration required under O.C.G.A. § 43-38-10(c). A registered armed guard must hold a separate Board-issued weapons permit, which the Board grants in one of two forms — an exposed (open-carry) permit or a concealed permit — each limited to a revolver no larger than .357 or a semi-automatic handgun no larger than .45 (Board Rule 509-4-.01); carrying a shotgun requires separate written justification and Board approval. The permit is a security-specific credential distinct from Georgia's general civilian Weapons Carry License, and even certified peace officers moonlighting in security must obtain it (Ga. Att'y Gen. Op. 97-22). Permit holders must requalify on the range at least once a year with the weapon they carry or are assigned (Board Rule 509-3), on top of biennial continuing education (8 hours every two years for security officers, 16 for private detectives, per Rule 509-3-.12). Batons, OC spray, and stun guns are not separately permitted by the Board and fall under general Georgia weapons law.

What security guards can and can't do in Georgia

Georgia is unusual nationally: in 2021, HB 479 repealed the state's broad citizen's-arrest statute (former O.C.G.A. § 17-4-60) after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery — the first state to eliminate general private-person arrest power outright — and in the same Act repealed O.C.G.A. § 43-38-13, the provision that had given licensed security officers a private citizen's arrest power. What survives is only a narrow authority to briefly detain, not arrest. The new O.C.G.A. § 17-4-80 lets a retail or food-service owner, or their agent or employee (which reaches in-house security), detain a person on reasonable grounds of shoplifting or theft using only reasonable, non-deadly force, and requires prompt surrender to law enforcement. In parallel, O.C.G.A. § 51-7-60 gives merchants and their security agents civil immunity for a reasonable-manner, reasonable-time shoplifting detention, but it is construed strictly to shoplifting/theft suspicion and collapses into false-imprisonment or battery exposure if the manner, force, or duration is excessive. Unarmed guards are not individually licensed by the Board at all (they fall under O.C.G.A. § 43-38-7.1); force must stay limited to what is reasonable to detain, never to effect an arrest.

How to verify a security license in Georgia

Verification takes only a few minutes and is the check that protects you:

1. Get the license number in writing from the provider — don't accept a logo or a verbal claim.
2. Open the official source — Georgia Secretary of State — GOALS Licensee Search, not a third-party directory.
3. Confirm the record is active, unexpired, matches the exact legal business name and address, and shows no disciplinary action.
4. Verify the officers — confirm each holds a current employee registration (armed officers are registered; unarmed guards are not individually registered), plus the armed credential for any armed post.
5. Confirm insurance and subcontracting — request a current certificate of insurance and confirm it meets or exceeds a $25,000 surety bond, or $1,000,000 general liability (options vary), plus workers' compensation, and ask in writing whether any of your posts will be subcontracted to another firm.

Re-verify at renewal. Renewal in Georgia: every two years. A credential can also be suspended between renewals, so a check isn't one-and-done — re-check at renewal time and before signing a new contract.

Our national guide on how to verify a security company's license explains what to look for on the record; our hiring guide and cost guide cover the rest of vetting and pricing.

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