Security Requirements

You choose the company

As a renter, you may hire any security company of your choosing that meets the requirements on this page. Carlsbad Live does not assign a company to you.

Security is required for any event that serves or sells alcohol. The company must stay until the conclusion of the event. Leaving when the bar stops serving is not the end of the security post.

If you hire your own company, send its documents to Carlsbad Live, LLC at least 60 days before the event, unless Carlsbad Live agrees to a later deadline. If the event is booked inside that 60-day window, ask Carlsbad Live for the deadline that applies. The packet is the private patrol company license and a current Level 1, 2, or 3 registration for every guard who will be on site.

The company has to be licensed

A business that sends security guards to an event in New Mexico has to hold a current private patrol company license. That license is issued under Section 61-27B-11. A license from another state is not a New Mexico private patrol company license.

Before the department will license the company, and for as long as the license stays in force, the company has to:

• Have an owner, or a licensed private patrol operations manager, who actually manages the daily operations.
• Keep a physical location in New Mexico where the records are stored and can be inspected by the department.
• Keep a New Mexico registered agent if the company is based outside the state.
• Keep a general liability certificate of insurance in the amount the department requires. If that insurance lapses, the department suspends the company license. A suspended license is not a license.
• Show that the owners, officers, and directors are of good moral character and have not been convicted of a felony, a crime of dishonesty, an intentional violent act, or the illegal use or possession of a deadly weapon. They also submit biometric criminal-history checks.

The guards have to be employed by that licensed company, or under contract to it, for this event. A stack of guard cards from people who do not work for the licensed company is not a security detail.

Every guard has to be registered

The company license is not enough. Section 61-27B-15 says each security guard is registered at one of three levels. The department issues a card in that guard's name with a definite expiration date. The guard carries that card while working any post that requires registration.

An expired card is not a valid Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 registration. A card from a training school, a resume, or a badge the company printed itself is not the department card. The level on the card has to match what that person will do at this building.

• Level 1 is the only registration for a post where the guard carries no weapon.
• Level 2 is required when the guard is armed with anything other than a firearm. That includes a baton, chemical spray, or an electronic non-lethal device.
• Level 3 is required when the guard may carry a firearm. A concealed-carry permit is not a Level 3 registration, and it does not authorize a firearm on a guard post.

A Level 1 guard cannot “help out” with a baton. A Level 2 guard cannot carry a firearm because a Level 3 guard is standing nearby. Each person is registered for the duty that person is performing.

Level 1 — unarmed

Section 61-27B-16 and rule 16.48.2.17 NMAC. A Level 1 registration is issued only when the applicant:

• Is at least 18.
• Passes the department's jurisprudence exam.
• Completes the department-approved Level 1 curriculum before the first guard post. The rule sets an eight-hour minimum, taught in person by a department-approved instructor, and completed within the twelve months before the application.
• Passes a biometric criminal-history background check.
• Has not been convicted of a felony, a crime of dishonesty, an intentional violent act, or the illegal use or possession of a deadly weapon, and has not been found to have violated professional ethical standards.
• Is employed by a licensed private patrol company, under the direct supervision of a licensed private patrol operator, a Level 3 security guard, or a private patrol operations manager.

Level 1 is unarmed. No firearm, no baton, no chemical agent, and no electronic control device.

Level 2 — armed, but not with a firearm

Section 61-27B-17 and rule 16.48.2.18 NMAC. Level 2 is not a starting point. The applicant has to:

• Already hold a Level 1 registration in good standing.
• Pass the department's jurisprudence exam for this level.
• Hold a high school diploma or the equivalent.
• Complete a department-approved Level 2 curriculum on top of the Level 1 training, before the first Level 2 post. The rule sets a twenty-hour minimum, taught in person, and completed within the twelve months before the application.
• Complete department-approved training on the specific weapon that guard will carry. An electronic non-lethal device has to be trained to the manufacturer's requirements for that device.
• Pass a biometric criminal-history background check.
• Work for a licensed private patrol company under the same kind of direct supervision required for Level 1.

Level 2 authorizes weapons other than a firearm. It does not authorize a handgun, a rifle, or any other firearm.

Level 3 — firearm

Section 61-27B-18 and rule 16.48.2.19 NMAC. A Level 3 registration requires all of the following:

• Age of at least 21.
• A current Level 2 registration in good standing.
• The department's required examination.
• A high school diploma or the equivalent.
• A further department-approved curriculum, completed before the first Level 3 post, covering at least the laws on firearms and deadly physical force. The rule sets a sixteen-hour minimum and requires that training within the twelve months before the application.
• Firearm certification by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy or the National Rifle Association, as the statute requires, plus the department's own firearms qualification.
• The psychological evaluation the department's rules require before a guard is certified to carry a firearm.
• Employment by a licensed private patrol company, under the direct supervision of a licensed private patrol operator, another Level 3 security guard, or a private patrol operations manager.

Military service, a peace-officer commission from another shift, and a concealed-carry permit do not replace a current Level 3 registration and firearm certification.

What you bring before access

Carlsbad Live checks this before the company is allowed to post guards in the building:

1. A copy of the company's current New Mexico private patrol company license.
2. A roster for this event. Every person on a guard post is listed with legal name, registration level, registration number, and expiration date.
3. A weapon plan. Say who is unarmed, who will carry a non-firearm weapon, and who will carry a firearm. The level on the card has to cover that assignment.
4. The department card, on the guard, at the event. Staff may compare the card to the roster. A name that is not on both does not work the post.

Alcohol events already require one professional security guard per 100 guests, with a minimum of two. Those guards are held to this page. The headcount rule does not replace the license rule.

What will not be accepted

• A friend, volunteer, bouncer, or crew member with no department registration.
• A company that is insured, bonded, or licensed somewhere else, but not licensed here as a private patrol company.
• An off-duty police officer or sheriff's deputy hired by the renter. The Act exempts an officer only while that officer is performing official duties. A private post paid by the event is not official duty.
• A public show, a ticketed concert, or any event open to the public. Those events are not the narrow statutory exemption for a person hired only for a private gathering that is closed to the public.

Carlsbad Live requires the company license and a current Level 1, 2, or 3 registration for every person posted as security at a rental. Load-in is not the time to debate an exemption. If the documents are not in order, the security detail does not enter, and the event does not use that company.

Where the law is written

The department can change a form or a training hour by rule. The registration requirement does not go away when a rule is updated. Read the Act and the current rules, or ask the department about a particular license number, before you hire a company.

• New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department
• Private Investigations Act, Chapter 61, Article 27B

This page is the house rule Carlsbad Live enforces from that law. It is not a legal opinion, and it does not license anyone. The statutes and the department's rules control.