Unarmed Security Guard Requirements For Idaho

Security Guard & Officer Legal Requirements In Idaho

Here on SecurityGuardTraining.io we want to provide you with all of the information you need to successfully become an Unarmed security guard in the state of Idaho!

For Security Personnel, A World of Opportunity in One State

There’s no getting around it, Idaho's famous for potatoes. The word celebrates its centennial as a license plate logo in 2028; the proud tater is State Vegetable; half of all McDonald’s french fries are grown here; two thirds of the tubers that make up North America’s processed potato products, too. Idaho sprouts more spuds than any other state (and more restaurant trout, more lentils and more Austrian winter peas, also, so - with “Famous Peaing” - those tags could’ve been worse).

In fact, dairy is the agricultural colossus, followed by cattle on the hoof, with potatoes only coming in third. Wheat and hay are also biggies, and the state is a massive global producer of seeds (more than 80 percent of the planet’s sweet corn seed is produced here, for instance). Idaho is also the world’s heftiest supplier of alfalfa seeds, of garden bean seeds, of carrot and onion and turnip and lettuce seeds, and - oddly - of Kentucky bluegrass seeds.

All those fields, as far as the eye can see, need a lot of protecting. But they won’t be mentioned again, because this isn’t an essay on agricultural output. More comes from the Idahoan muck than spuds, and this information also relates directly to the security guarding profession.

Idaho’s handle - The Gem State - references the 72 different types of precious and semi-precious stones mined within our borders. Almost every known type of gemstone lurks beneath our highly productive soil, and Idaho is one of only two places, globally, that produce significant quantities of star garnets (the other is India). Agate, jade and jasper, opal, topaz and tourmaline and zircon have all been grubbed out of Idaho’s stream gravel since the late 1800s.

Just a taste of the records held indicate the opportunities for private security personnel: The Coeur d'Alene countryside is the world's second most mineral-rich region, and has produced well in excess of two billion dollars in metal-centric salaries over the years. The Bunker Hill operation produces more lead and silver than anywhere else in the U.S. The Star mine is North America's largest zinc producer. All three of America’s richest silver mines are in Shoshone County, and more silver is mined in Idaho than in all the other states combined; approximately 45 percent of the nations newly-minted material. Further, a full 15 percent of the United States’ annual phosphate production also rolls out of Idaho.

The state is home to 72 different gemstones, more than any other stand-alone entity, coming in behind only Africa in all the world (and Africa is a continent, of course, neither a country nor state). The largest diamond ever mined in the U.S. - weighing in at an incredible nineteen and a half carats - was unearthed between New Meadows and McCall.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines confirms Idaho as having more mineable gold than any other state. With values skyrocketing in recent years, a great many once-abandoned old workings have been reopened. In fact, the discovery of gold was elemental in the establishment of Idaho as a territory, in 1863, and incremental production has increased every year since. Antimony, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, platinum, tungsten, vanadium and zinc are also all mined in significant quantities.

The ore trains must be protected from pilferage, and the warehouses and mines need men and women prepared to stand in harm’s way, primarily located across the state’s northern extent.

The Sunshine Mine, between the cities of Kellogg and Wallace, is Idaho’s largest, with the Galena mine, located close to the base of the panhandle, coming in second. Bunker Hill is third. All these operations occupy northern Idaho. Between them, they hire hundreds of private security personnel every year.

Further, aerospace giants Empire Airlines, Horizon and Quest are all carrying out R&D and the testing of aviation-related products in northern Idaho; alongside them, another three dozen small and mid-size aerospace companies also operate. The fledgling Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program, which supports the integration of unmanned machinery with what's already up in the nation’s airspace, looks set to be centered in Idaho.

But the north doesn'y have it all. Of around 1.6 million Idahoans, approximately 600,000 make their homes in the Boise metro area, well to the southwest. That’s an extraordinary population concentration, leaving little doubt as to there being a great deal of work, also.

Weyerhaeuser building materials distribution, alongside Trus Joist paper and wood product manufacturing, are headquartered in Boise. Chobani’s dairy and yogurt operations in the Magic Valley... Premier Technology in eastern Idaho... Ground Force Manufacturing in the center... all are massive engines of economic development.

The manufacture of semiconductor devices at Micron Technology, in the southwest, and of fertilizer at JR Simplot (one of the nation’s largest privately-held food and agribusiness companies), continue to create massive wealth and employment opportunities. In fact, electrical equipment - with computer components in poll position - are Idaho's top manufactured product.

Semiconductors comprise gold, because it’s inert and doesn’t corrode; fertilizer comprises ammonium nitrate, a highly fickle and powerful explosive. Opportunities for security guards are obvious.

Despite all this, service industries now generate the largest portion of Idaho's economic activity. Tower blocks rise above the state capital, and massive commercial and industrial parks are under construction satellite to the city and the I84, I86 and I90 corridors.

The state’s major flight hub, unsurprisingly, is Boise Airport in the southwest (Spokane International Airport serves northern Idaho, and of course there’s no reason residents can’t cross the state line to work every day, but licensing requirements may be different for Washington). The Idaho Falls Regional Airport; the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport, the Magic Valley Regional Airport, the Pocatello Regional Airport and the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport all hire security through private agencies.

Further, the Port of Lewiston is the west coast’s farthest-inland Pacific port. Dams and locks on both the Snake and Columbia rivers allow barge traffic between Lewiston and Portland, where they connect and communicate directly with ocean-going vessels from all over the planet.

Safety and protection implications are obviously massive when working with networks of this nature, so ICE and Border Patrol presences are augmented by an enormous number of private security personnel.

More important to our profession, though, are the railroads. Idaho is hub to three transcontinental carriers; Amtrak's Empire Builder, The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and the Union Pacific. Between them, they form a nexus connecting passengers and product directly to and from Billings, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle and Spokane. 

From those nerve centers, anything and anyone can be anywhere in the United States, without ever passing through a passport control or perimeter check.

Security, thus, is obviously an imperative. Rails also run directly to and from Canada, a border which - despite all the publicity garnered by future presidential candidate Sheriff Joe Arpaio, down in Maricopa County, Arizona - is far more porous than that between the USA and Mexico.

The day of the railroad bull’s bad reputation may be behind us, but the need for stockyard security certainly isn’t. Whether guarding millions of acres of agricultural land, protecting todays herds from modern rustlers, escorting silver and gold and gemstones, or monitoring access to massive commercial and industrial facilities, Idaho is a rich and varied source of opportunity for professional security personnel.

Minimum Requirements

Must be at least 18 years old
High school diploma, G.E.D or equivalent certificate

Fees Schedule

Contact

Go to top