​Every position that a security officer is assigned to has a set of post orders. Essentially a form of job description, post orders list everything that the officer is supposed to accomplish on his shift.
 
Post orders do more than just tell the guard what to do. They detail the policies of the enterprise that is being protected. The most effective sets will be joint creations, starting with what the client wants to be accomplished, incorporated in the manner the security professionals determine will be most effective, followed by a final review by the client.
 
Post orders are the groundwork for a security plan. They allow new officers to be familiarized with a position quickly, and ensure that the security officer is correctly implementing the protection measures that are specific to that location. Post orders for a position covering a hotel may contain detailed instructions on how to respond to guests or treat incoming packages, whereas an officer working at a parking lot may have guides on how to record vehicle information or remove a wrongly parked car, and these instructions would be of no value to the other position. 

​There is a popular perception that when the weather becomes colder and winter conditions take hold that less crime is committed, and that the community is generally safer. This is true, in that sometimes statistics imply that less total crimes are reported over freezing days. However, it is a critical miscalculation to interpret that to mean all crimes see a universal drop without considering how the weather affects specific types of crime.
 
Warmer days see a higher number of spontaneous crimes, especially passion crimes and violence in crowds. In colder weather, people in general spend less time outside or at events, meaning there are fewer opportunities for these types of crimes to occur. Calculated crimes can see very different behavior patterns. Burglary and property theft frequently see higher rates of crime in lower temperatures, in particular in businesses that need to shut down during days they would normally work. Often snow days with low crime rates will see a large increase when the temperature rises, showing that the cold will only delay and not deter a determined criminal.
 
Climate shapes how people live. However, it is arguable that many of the effects on crime are due more to the changing habits of the population as opposed to the temperature itself. Auto theft spikes as millions of cars are left running unattended while they warm up. Higher unemployment rates, fewer witnesses, and hours of extra darkness all assist in making the determined criminal’s task easier. Weather does not prevent crime, any more than it causes it, and cutting corners in protection only ensures you are at your most vulnerable.
 
 

Possibly the most well known of the tasks usually given to a security officer, and probably the most important of them, is the task of entry control, that of only allowing access by authorized personnel and keeping the property perimeter secure. Frequently not given the same consideration are the many duties and difficulties faced once the property is occupied, in this case that of exit control.

Safety codes usually require that exits are always open. This is contrary to proper security design; material taken through open fire exits can create massive losses. There are a few solutions that have been used to solve this issue. Some are hardware based, such as a panic button to lock the doors down for only enough time to fix the situation, keeping the doors open and thus in compliance most of the time. That however provides no security if the act is not caught as it happens.

Some solutions are more concrete, for example in the retail and restaurant businesses, alarms are sometimes attached and set off any time an exit-only door is opened. In many scenarios, such as high rises and secure office buildings, there may be no alternative to make sure the exit is unused than to have the exit screened at all times. Though the methods and approaches may vary, there is always a strategy to remove any bypass to the security system.