The short answer
Written post orders convert a security contract into clear instructions an officer can follow during a shift. A custom security plan explains the broader risks, layers of protection, communication, and performance goals. Together they reduce ambiguity, improve consistency, and give supervisors and clients a fair basis for training and review.
What to know
Strong post orders identify the property, hours, command contacts, emergency numbers, patrol routes and checkpoints, access rules, keys, alarm procedures, prohibited areas, required equipment, report standards, and escalation thresholds. They also state what the officer must not do. Site-specific details—such as gate exceptions, after-hours vendors, healthcare codes, construction hazards, or event credentials—should not be left to verbal memory.
The broader plan should explain why each control exists and how guards, lighting, locks, cameras, access systems, management, and public responders fit together. It should be based on a current assessment of assets, people, threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences. Post orders are living documents: update them when construction changes a route, a tenant moves, an access system changes, an incident reveals a gap, or responsibilities shift. Train officers on revisions, record approval and effective dates, and remove obsolete copies. Arrow’s stated consultation process should produce assignment-specific duties; clients should ask to review and approve them before deployment.