The security demand has promoted the growth of the private security sector in Guatemala, to the point that the number of private guards in the country is about 110 thousand, between registered and not registered, and that amount almost tripled the 42 thousand agents of the National Civil Police (PNC).
The illegal operation of private security guards is obvious and is a problem already identified between the authorities and groups of providers of that service.
Until April 2025, The General Directorate of Private Security Services (DIGESSP), of the Ministry of the Interior, had registered 273 authorized private security companies and 23 thousand 872 guards. In 2023 there were 259 service providers.
In addition, for each agent, there is an average of three firearms from different calibers. According to the DIGESSP, private security companies report 109 thousand 173 registered firearms. Approximately 30% are revolvers, 49% shotguns and 21% guns.
Until December 2023, companies had reported to the DIGESSP that had stolen 17,378 weapons and 390 more lost them.
A risk
The illegal operation of private security services puts people’s lives and security at risk, says the head of the DIGESSP, Jorge Santizo and points out that the challenge as a sector is that all guards and companies are regulated, to prevent users from hiring people without experience or with a criminal and police record.
The hiring of unregistered guards is a danger, Santizo exemplifies, because they know the tenants of the condominiums and shops, and could use that knowledge to commit criminal acts.
César Mérida, of the Association of Professionals for Risk Prevention and Integral Protection (Apripri), commented have identified the irregular service of at least 90 thousand guards. He adds that some companies do not register private guards to evade the payment of operations licenses, salary benefits for workers, taxes to the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) and the registration of personnel at the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security (IGSS).
According to the calculations that DIGESSP has made, together with the business chambers, the hiring of a private guard has an approximate monthly cost of between Q7 thousand and Q8 thousand, the agents are already paid the minimum wage. The institution warns that companies that charge less than that price are probably operating irregularly.
“Being able to operate without any registration, without any control, comes to offer services that are probably cheaper, but that fail to comply with the regulations and are probably in illegality,” the official acknowledged.
How security companies operate illegally
Mérida said that one of the great challenges faced by private security companies is unfair competition, and that this could be related to the licensing authorization process by the DIGESSP.
He added that this has led to companies already authorized giving the operating license to people without experience or training in security.
“There is a failure from the process of creating the same security companies or the lack of audit that has to be carried out. New security companies are emerging daily, but the operational scope of DIGESSP, who regulates security companies, limits him to taking certain actions such as the cancellation of the company,” said Mérida.
The Private Security Companies union said that DIGESSP must be strengthened to agree a special unit that monitors the complaints and carry out inter -institutional operations with the support of the PNC and MP.
“This would allow illegal services to be attacked at the root, since captures by flagrant actions would be carried out, and this would create awareness of users about the risk involved in hiring this type of services, since Decree 52-2010, in its article 66, stipulates sanctions,” said the union.
The association commented that it has been identified that some companies legally registered in the DIGESSP irregularly subcontract to others to provide security in schools, grocery stores, shopping centers and other types of shops.
“The risk for the subcontracting companies is in two way. First, the improvisation of security in companies that hire services, and that puts the lives of Guatemalans at risk, because they lack a contingency plan before an incident,” he said.
Apripri said that an analysis of the regulations and the costs of operation licenses should be made, so that entrepreneurs do not see it as an impediment to register.
The DIGESSP commented that they are working to create mechanisms to improve the operation of the institution
Santizo said that the short -term goal is that all management procedures are online, and that to date they have advanced in 50% with the implementation of that project.