§ Notes ·
Armed or unarmed: which post needs which
The decision is rarely about preference. It's about the property, the time of day, and the threat profile — and the right answer is usually more boring than people expect.
By Terry Payton
Whether a post should be armed or unarmed is one of the first questions a client asks, and one of the last questions that should actually matter. Most posts don't need a firearm. A small number do. The decision should turn on facts about the property, not preferences.
Florida licenses armed and unarmed officers separately. Class D officers are unarmed; Class G officers are armed. A Class G officer is a Class D officer with additional training, a separate license, and ongoing requirements that the agency has to maintain. The training matters, and so does the standard.
For most commercial and residential posts, an unarmed uniformed presence is the right answer. The post is about visibility, deterrence, documentation, and customer interaction — not response. Adding a firearm to that profile adds risk without adding capability the post actually needs.
Posts where armed coverage tends to make sense: cash-handling sites, late-night posts where response time from law enforcement is long, properties with documented threat history, and contracts where the client's risk assessment specifically calls for it. In each of these, the question isn't "armed or unarmed," it's "what does this post require, and who is qualified to deliver it."