How to verify your security guards are doing their rounds
Updated October 22, 2026
To verify patrols, use a record the guard can't write after the fact: a timed scan at fixed checkpoints, checked against the phone's location. Paper logs, daily activity reports and spot checks each show part of the night. An independent scan record shows which rounds were walked and which were skipped.
What are the ways to check patrols?
| Method | What it proves | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|
| Paper patrol log | That someone wrote down a time for each round | Entries can be filled in later from the booth |
| Daily activity report | The security company's account of the shift | Written by the company being checked |
| Unannounced spot checks | What happened while you were there | Covers minutes out of an eight-hour night |
| Security cameras | What the cameras saw | Someone has to review hours of footage, and blind spots stay blind |
| Timed checkpoint scans | Each checkpoint visit, with its time and the phone's location | A guard can still skip a round, and the record then shows the gap |
The checks work best together. Use the scan record every day, and spot checks and cameras to follow up on what it shows.
What are the signs a guard is skipping rounds?
- The log shows every round at the same minutes past the hour, night after night.
- Daily activity reports repeat the same wording with no detail about the property.
- Residents report they never see a guard on foot after midnight.
- Incidents happen in areas the log says were patrolled at that hour.
- The patrol car sits in one spot all night.
What does a sleeping guard look like in the data?
In a checkpoint record, a sleeping guard leaves hours with no scans at every checkpoint, often followed by a burst of scans near the end of the shift. A guard who scans photos of the codes from the security booth leaves scans flagged as too far away, because the phone's location is hundreds of meters from the checkpoints. Both patterns appear on the dashboard the next morning, with the guard's name and the times.
How do you set up patrol verification at a property?
- List the checkpoints. Pick spots that cover the whole property: gates, stairwells, lots, the pool and the back of each building.
- Set the rounds in the post orders. Write down how many rounds each shift must walk, and leave enough time for a round to be finished.
- Post the codes. With Accountaguard, print the QR codes, tape them up and pin each spot on the map. Guards scan them that night.
- Put it in the contract. Add a patrol verification clause that ties the monthly fee to verified scans.
- Review the record weekly. Look for gaps and flags, and raise each one with the security company in writing.
What should you do when the record shows missed rounds?
Send the security company the dates, times and checkpoints that were missed, in writing. Ask what happened and what they will change. If the contract has a patrol verification clause, apply the fee reduction for each day under the threshold. Keep the correspondence with the record; it shows at the next insurance renewal that you check your vendors.
Questions property managers ask
Can I verify patrols without software?
Partly. Unannounced spot checks and camera review show what happened while you looked. They cover a small part of each night, and they take your time. A checkpoint system records every round, every night, without anyone watching.
Will the guards know they are being checked?
Guards know they scan the codes. With Accountaguard they never see the flags: their phone shows a checkmark, the checkpoint and the time, so they can't learn which scans were caught.
How often should security patrol an apartment complex?
Set it in your post orders, based on the property's size and risk. Choose a number of rounds the guard can finish: a round that takes 30 minutes can't start every 20. Accountaguard groups scans into rounds, and a gap of more than 45 minutes between a guard's scans starts a new one.
Are paper patrol logs reliable?
A paper log shows what the guard wrote down. It can't show when the entry was written or where the guard was standing, so it can't separate a walked round from one filled in later.
Make your security company prove every round
$0.25 per apartment unit per month. Your QR codes can be live within minutes, and your security company is accountable starting tonight.