On Tuesday, the Neosho City Council gave unanimous approval to a new city ordinance regulating and identifying security guards, security companies and private investigators in Neosho.
Neosho presently has one security company operating in the city limits, the Newton County Security Patrol. Neosho Police Chief David McCracken told the council the patrol has cooperated with area law enforcement agencies, but the ordinance was needed to track how many security services and private investigators the city has and to make sure they have the proper qualifications.
One of the sections of the new law deals with insignia and lights used by security details. The ordinance states no person licensed as a security guard or private investigator shall impersonate a peace officer, and they cannot operate a motor vehicle with a siren or blinker light.
Dan Reed, a member of the Newton County Security Patrol, told the council the service currently uses four cars equipped with an amber light bar which identifies the car as a security vehicle. Police vehicles in the state of Missouri use red and blue lights.
“The amber light makes us separate from law enforcement or emergency vehicles,” he said. “The lights are to help us see and for our clients and others to identify us.”
“We’re not saying that they can’t have the amber light, we’re saying that we don’t want a vehicle that appears to be a police vehicle,” said City Attorney Steve Hays. “We have school buses that have the amber lights, trash trucks.”
“Anything with a red or blue light is a violation of state law,” said McCracken. “The amber light, I don’t see a problem with that. Certainly, if they’re lit up on a public roadway and they’re stopping cars, that’s a different issue. Red or blue in any configuration is not appropriate. I would just caution the more the vehicle looks like a police car, the more problems we have.”
McCracken said the city has had problems with people impersonating police officers in the past and pulling people over.
The council also discussed whether the new ordinance would pertain to security personnel at Neosho’s Crowder College and private industries such as Jarden Industries. McCracken said Crowder’s security personnel may come under the bailiwick of a state police agency, as it is a state college and wouldn’t be subject to the ordinance, adding that security personnel there do not use their vehicles on public roads in Neosho. However, he said, security guards at private companies would.
Neosho, Mo. —
