SECURITY & PATROL
Equip a security team with 10–40 radios: lone-worker alarms, man-down, 3–5 talk groups and 12-hour battery for 24/7 patrols.
Reviewed by Ellen Zhou
Quick answer
Security work is radio work with a safety layer. A guard on a night patrol may be alone, out of sight and far from the control room. The radio is not only how the control room reaches the guard; it is how the guard calls for help when something goes wrong.
That changes the specification. Coverage, battery life, emergency alarm, man-down and recording matter more than the number of channels. A consumer handheld with a long range claim is not a security radio.
| Post | Typical users | Radio & accessory | Talk group | Example quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control room | 2–4 | Base station + dispatch console | Control | 2 |
| Patrol / night shift | 6–20 | DMR handheld + earpiece | Patrol | 18 |
| Gate / reception | 2–6 | DMR handheld + base station | Gate | 6 |
| CCTV / monitoring | 2–4 | DMR handheld + headset | Control | 4 |
| Response team | 4–8 | DMR handheld + speaker mic | Response | 8 |
| Mobile supervisor | 1–3 | Vehicle radio or PoC terminal | Command | 3 |
Example for a 24/7 site with 20 guards per shift. Add 10–20% spares and a charger at every post.
| Item | Typical security specification | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency alarm | One-key alarm with identity and location | The control room knows who needs help and where |
| Lone-worker / man-down | Automatic alert if the guard stops moving | Protects night patrols and isolated posts |
| Battery | 12–18 h, fast charge, spare pack | Covers a full shift plus overtime |
| Protection | IP67, 1.5–2 m drop | Rain, gates, yards and vehicle use |
| Positioning | GPS/BeiDou optional | Shows patrol and response locations |
| Recording | Local and central recording | Supports incident review and disputes |
| Dimension | Analog | DMR | PoC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency alarm | Basic or third-party | Integrated with identity/location | Platform-dependent |
| Recording | Third-party | Local + central | Platform recording |
| Coverage | Site + repeater | Site + repeater + indoor antennas | Mobile network |
| Privacy | Privacy code only | Encryption available | Platform encryption |
| Best fit | Small single-site guard team | Multi-post, recorded security | Multi-site mobile response |
Plan one radio per guard on shift, plus 10–20% spares for charging, repairs and overtime. A site with 20 guards per shift needs roughly 22–24 radios; a small team of 6 needs 7–8.
Add fixed sets for the control room, gate and any post that stays in one place for a full shift. A base station at the control room is usually better than another handheld on a desk.
Lone-worker protection is a set of radio functions that raise an alarm when a guard cannot. The most common are a one-key emergency alarm, a man-down/tilt alarm and a timed check-in that the guard must reset within a defined interval.
The alarm should carry the radio identity and, where available, the position or post. The control room then knows who pressed it and where to send help, instead of only knowing that someone did.
A small guard team using licence-free handhelds within the power limits may not need an individual licence, but it cannot use a repeater or claim exclusive channels. A site-wide security network with a repeater, multiple posts and recording needs a business licence.
The licence belongs to the operator — the security company or the site owner — and covers specific frequencies at specific sites. Confirm who holds it before the contract starts.
A security network usually has to cover the perimeter, gates, car parks, plant rooms, basements and the control room. A single rooftop repeater can cover the open areas, but the perimeter and indoor posts often need additional sites or an indoor antenna system.
Plan a walk test along the patrol route, not just the building outline. The patrol route is where the guard will actually use the radio, and it often passes through the worst coverage.
Patrol recording has two layers: the radio traffic and the patrol event. The radio system can record nominated talk groups centrally and, on some models, locally in the handheld. A patrol module can log checkpoints, routes and exceptions.
Decide the retention period, who may listen and how a recording is retrieved. A recording that cannot be found when needed is not a record; it is storage.
On a well-designed system, the alarm opens a voice channel to the control room, shows the radio identity and position, and can trigger a response workflow. The control room can acknowledge, listen, call back or dispatch the response team.
Test the full path before acceptance: alarm button, network, console, operator action and response team. A system that only tests the button on the radio has not tested the alarm.
A dispatch platform can link radio alarms to CCTV, access control and fire alarms. When a guard presses the alarm, the relevant camera can be brought up; when an alarm comes from another system, a radio user can confirm or dismiss it.
Integration is a design decision, not a cable. Agree which alarms, which cameras, which talk groups and which operator actions are in scope before the project starts.
Security radio systems collect identities, locations and voice recordings. That makes privacy, retention and access control part of the design, not an administrative afterthought.
Indoor blocks, perimeter, control room and post-based talk groups, with local and central recording and alarm integration.
The control room can reach any post in one call; each post hears only its group; alarms arrive with identity and position.
Client name withheld; the figures describe the delivered configuration.
Read the project profileClick a question to see the answer
One per guard on shift plus 10–20% spares, plus fixed sets for the control room and gate. A 20-guard shift typically needs 22–24 radios.
Yes. Church security radios usually need discreet earpieces, a small talk group for the security team and a simple channel plan that volunteers can use under pressure. We can pre-program 10 codes, call signs and a plain-language alternative, because not every team uses ten-codes and clear speech is easier to train.
A sensor detects that the radio has been horizontal or motionless for a set time and raises an alarm. It protects guards who are unconscious or unable to press the emergency button.
A small team on licence-free handhelds may not need an individual licence, but a site-wide network with a repeater and recording normally needs a business licence held by the operator.
The dispatch platform can monitor and record nominated talk groups, subject to the site’s privacy policy. Define which groups are recorded and who may access the recordings.
A rooftop repeater may cover the open perimeter, but car parks, basements and indoor posts often need additional antennas or a second site. Test along the patrol route, not just the building outline.
A dispatch platform can link radio alarms to CCTV, access control and fire alarms, so an alarm can bring up the relevant camera. The integration scope is agreed at design stage.
The control room can stun the terminal so it cannot transmit or receive. A radio-by-post assignment record shows who last held it and where to start the search.
Send the site size, number of users and talk groups. Our engineers reply within one working day with a workable configuration.
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