How do you get a Colorado security guard license (Colorado municipal licensing authorities)?
That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit. What replaces state licensing is a combination of local ordinances, employer vetting and client contract requirements, and in practice the client's standards — particularly on federal, healthcare and critical-infrastructure sites — are often stricter than a state guard card would be. Colorado has no statewide armed guard permit either. Armed security work is governed by Colorado firearms law, any local licensing requirement, and the employer's and client's own standards — check all three before carrying on duty. Because the requirement is jurisdictional rather than statewide, confirm the position with the specific city or county you will work in before your first shift, and treat any national summary that says "Colorado requires a guard card" with scepticism.
- Establish which Colorado city or county your post falls in and whether it licenses guards.
- Obtain the local licence or card if one applies to that jurisdiction.
- Complete the employer's and client's own background, training and site requirements.
- For armed work, confirm state firearms law, local rules and the client's standards before carrying.
- Keep any local card current on its own renewal cycle.
Colorado security guard license at a glance
This guide is general information about Colorado licensing, not legal advice. Colorado municipal licensing authoritiesrules, fees and deadlines change — confirm your own position with the board, or with a licensed attorney, before you rely on anything here.
Colorado security guard license types: the full Colorado municipal licensing authorities ladder
Progression in Colorado runs through employer trust, client clearances and armed status rather than through a licensing ladder, because the state does not maintain one.
Unlicensed unarmed officer
The ordinary position in Colorado: no state credential exists, so the employer's vetting, the client's contract standards and any local ordinance are what govern whether you may work a post.
Locally licensed guard
Where a Colorado city or county licenses security personnel, that local card is the credential — and its reach stops at the jurisdiction boundary. That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit.
Armed officer
Colorado has no statewide armed guard permit either. Armed security work is governed by Colorado firearms law, any local licensing requirement, and the employer's and client's own standards — check all three before carrying on duty. Armed status in Colorado is a matter of firearms law, local rules and client requirements rather than a state guard permit, and clients typically impose training and qualification standards of their own.
Site and client-specific clearances
Federal contract sites, healthcare facilities, ports, utilities and critical infrastructure impose vetting, training and sometimes clearance requirements that operate entirely independently of state licensing — and are often the highest bar an officer here has to clear.
Security supervisor
Not a separate credential in Colorado, but a distinct role: supervisors are usually held to higher employer and client standards on experience, incident reporting and use-of-force training even without a licensing tier behind it.
Private investigator
A genuinely separate and more heavily regulated occupation with its own licensing in most states, requiring substantially more experience than security work. Do not assume security experience translates into it automatically.
Contract security company
The business side: a contract security provider in Colorado still faces registration, insurance and, on many client contracts, bonding requirements, even where individual guards are unlicensed. Clients check the company's standing where they cannot check a state guard register.
Exact experience hours and fees vary by license type and can change, confirm current requirements on the Colorado municipal licensing authorities Security Guard program page.
Unarmed in Colorado vs Armed in Colorado Security Guard in Colorado, what is the difference?
How do you get a Colorado unarmed Security Guard license?
- 1
Establish whether any Colorado jurisdiction licenses your post
Colorado does not license unarmed security guards at state level. There is no Colorado guard card to apply for, and vetting is left to employers — but several Colorado cities do license guards locally, Denver among them. That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit. Start with the city or county where the site sits, not with the state: the licensing question in Colorado is answered by a municipal clerk or police department licensing unit, and the answer can differ between two sites twenty minutes apart. Get it in writing where you can, because a client audit will not accept "I was told there was no requirement".
- 2
Obtain any local card that applies
Where a Colorado municipality licenses security personnel, expect the familiar shape of the process — an application, fingerprints, a criminal history review and in most cases a training requirement — administered locally and on the municipality's own timetable and fee schedule. The card's reach stops at the jurisdiction boundary, so officers covering multiple sites across a metropolitan area sometimes hold more than one.
- 3
Meet the employer and client requirements that replace state licensing
This is where the real bar sits in Colorado. Contract security employers run their own background checks, drug testing and training, and clients on federal, healthcare, utility, port and critical-infrastructure sites impose vetting and training standards that routinely exceed anything a state guard card would require. Treat the client's standard as the operative requirement, because failing it costs you the post just as surely as failing a licensing check would.
- 4
Handle armed work with particular care
Colorado has no statewide armed guard permit either. Armed security work is governed by Colorado firearms law, any local licensing requirement, and the employer's and client's own standards — check all three before carrying on duty. Without a state permitting scheme to define the standard, the burden falls on you and your employer to satisfy Colorado firearms law, any local requirement, and the client's own qualification and requalification expectations. Document the training and qualification you complete: in a state with no licensing register, your own records are the evidence that you were qualified to carry on that post.
- 5
Keep records and re-check the position periodically
Because there is no statewide register in Colorado, verification falls back on employer records and, where they exist, local licensing offices. Keep your own copies of training certificates, qualification records and any local card. Re-check the local position from time to time as well — municipalities add and amend security ordinances without much publicity, and "there was no requirement last year" is not a defence.
Does a Colorado security guard license transfer to other states?
There is no Colorado guard licence for another state's to transfer into, so reciprocity is not the right frame here. An officer moving to Colorado from a licensing state will find their guard card simply does not apply, and should expect the employer's and client's vetting to be the operative hurdle instead. In the other direction, time worked in Colorado without a state credential can be harder to evidence when applying for a licence elsewhere, so keep your own employment and training records — a licensing state will want documentation that Colorado never required you to produce. Confirm the destination state's position with its regulator, and confirm Colorado local requirements with the relevant city office.
Reciprocity agreements change, always confirm the current list and requirements on the Colorado municipal licensing authorities Security Guard program page before applying.
How much does a Colorado security guard license cost, and how long does it take?
Colorado imposes no state licensing fee, because there is no state licence. What you may pay for is a local card where a municipality licenses guards, and any training your employer or a client requires that is not employer-funded. Armed work carries the real costs here — firearms training, range time and requalification — and whether the employer covers them varies by contract. Confirm current local fees with the issuing city office rather than a third-party summary.
Colorado guard requirements and how to verify an officer
What actually applies in Colorado, and how do you check?
Colorado sets no state training curriculum for security officers, because it does not license them. What fills the gap is a mix: local ordinances where a Colorado municipality licenses guards, employer training programmes, and client contract requirements that on federal, healthcare, utility and critical-infrastructure sites are frequently more demanding than any state curriculum. That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit. Colorado has no statewide armed guard permit either. Armed security work is governed by Colorado firearms law, any local licensing requirement, and the employer's and client's own standards — check all three before carrying on duty. The practical advice is to treat the client's standard as the operative one and to document everything you complete, because in a state with no licensing register your own training and qualification records are the only evidence that you were qualified for the post.
How to verify a Colorado security guard license
There is no statewide register of security guards in Colorado to search, which is the single most practical consequence of the absence of state licensing. Verification therefore falls back on three things: the local licensing office where a Colorado municipality issues cards, the employing security company's own personnel and training records, and the client's site-access records. Employers and clients should ask for training certificates and, for armed officers, firearms qualification records directly, and should verify the security company's own registration and insurance. GlobalCybers verifies every candidate's background and credentials before they reach your portal.
Do security guards need a license in Colorado?
Not from the state. Colorado does not license unarmed security guards at state level. There is no Colorado guard card to apply for, and vetting is left to employers — but several Colorado cities do license guards locally, Denver among them.
That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit. That does not mean there is no requirement — it means the requirement comes from a city ordinance where one applies, from your employer, and from the client whose site you are working. On federal, healthcare and critical-infrastructure contracts the client's vetting is routinely stricter than a state guard card would be.
How do you get a guard card in Colorado?
There is no Colorado guard card to get at state level. What you do instead is identify the city or county your post falls in and check whether it licenses security personnel — That makes the honest answer in Colorado jurisdictional rather than statewide: Denver operates its own security guard
licensing through the city, and other municipalities including Aurora and Colorado Springs have applied their own requirements at various points, so where you work determines whether you need a card at all. Armed work is a separate question again, governed by Colorado firearms law and by employer and client requirements rather than by a state guard permit. — and then satisfy the employer's and client's own background, training and site requirements, which is where the real bar sits here.
Colorado Security Guard licenses, Frequently Asked Questions
Colorado municipal security guard licensing authorities · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 (33-9032) · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (Security Guards and Gambling Surveillance Officers) · ASIS International (private security standards and guidelines). Fees and rules can change, confirm current details at dpo.colorado.gov before applying.
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