I am often surprised when I talk to residents of PGA National and discover how little they know about what we do as your security provider. Other than the four manned gatehouses, Wackenhut supplies PGA National with the following work force twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week:
- One Supervisor Patrol
- Two Roving Patrol Officers
- Communications Center
Dispatchers staff the Communications Center and are responsible for monitoring both the police and fire rescue scanners. Whenever either department is dispatched into PGA National, the supervisor or one of the patrol officers respond in kind. Dispatchers also monitor all PGA National radio traffic using a base station radio, which operates on a repeater located at the PGA National Resort & Spa.
The dispatchers assigned to PGA National record all radio traffic, calls for service and code violations that are issued within the community. This along with answering phone calls and providing directions to residents and visitors keeps them extremely busy at times.
The supervisors and patrol officers are part of the Custom Protection Division of The Wackenhut Corporation. To be hired as a Custom Protection Officer, security officers must have certain background prerequisites. CPO’s must
-
possess one or more of the following background criteria:
- Law Enforcement / Correctional Officer
- Police Academy Graduate
- Criminal Justice Degree
- Career Military, Military Police or Military with combat experience
For example, Captain Keith Echols graduated from Bethune Cookman College with a four-year degree in Criminal Justice and has been with The Wackenhut Corporation since 2003. CPO Henry Antul worked as a deputy Sheriff for 23 years in Worcester County, Massachusetts.
These officers patrol not only all of the residential communities, but the commercial properties as well, and they respond to all calls for service (e.g. alarms, resident complaints, suspicious incidents, burglaries, etc.). In 2007, the supervisors and patrol officers were responsible for:
- Writing 9,368 POA Code Violations
- Conducting 19,364 Pool Checks
- Responding to 5,927 Incidents
- Conducting 1,964 Property Checks
As your security provider, we are always happy to respond to your needs and we try to rectify your problems whenever possible. If you need to contact Wackenhut Security at any time, please call us at 561-627-1600.