Larry Heathcott, president of Clarion Security LLC, started his business venture in Memphis in 2009 with three accounts. It rapidly ballooned to more than 20 accounts in three states.

HEATHCOTT

(Photo: Lance Murphey)

Clarion’s success is based on respect for individuals and the community, Heathcott said. Keeping this in mind, he set guidelines to help him find the best employees.

“We’re 100 percent into treating our officers well,” Heathcott said. “We offer health care options – give employees sick time when they need it for themselves or their children. We also do more to screen our officers. We drug test them every three months, and we background check them every six months.”

Believing in the old adage “you get what you pay for,” Heathcott doesn’t ask his security officers to work for minimum wage, he said. He tells his clients that if they’re only willing to pay the minimum, they shouldn’t be surprised when they get minimum effort from employees.

“The bulk of my work is $8.50 or above per hour for the officer,” Heathcott said. “You can’t even work and catch your breath for $7.25 per hour. Gas is high. The cost of living is high. So I go to the clients and tell them if they want a body here for cheap, they can find one, but they’re probably not going to stay long. … We pay officers a better wage because if you do more to make somebody feel good about working for $8.50 per hour, they’ll stay, and if they stay, I can go back to the client in six months or a year and get the officer a raise.”

Clarion Security, at 5498 Poplar Ave., suite 3, also provides a meal for every officer on every shift. Heathcott said he hopes that doing this can keep his employees alert and well-fed. It’s also an opportunity for someone from management or ownership to check in with each officer during his or her shift.

“If (officers) know that we’re going to check on them to see how they’re doing and find out what’s going on with them personally, it makes them feel like, ‘You guys really get it,’” Heathcott said. “And sometimes there’s just not a lot going on, and that’s when officers get bored and tired, and that can lead to falling asleep. It can happen to anybody who’s left alone, but we want to hold our officers accountable as well as take care of them.”

Heathcott has technology that tells him where his officers are. It also allows the officers to take pictures of checkpoints and upload them so management can instantly retrieve them.

Dubbed Clarion Track, Clarion Security’s “e-reporting” eliminates the need for paper charting.

In an effort to leave a smaller environmental footprint, the company is obtaining green transportation under Heathcott’s direction. Currently, every car at Clarion is either hybrid or electric.

“I’ve got a fleet of Toyota Priuses, and I just ordered the brand-new Nissan Leaf,” Heathcott said, referring to his recent acquisition of new cars for the company. “I got a plug-in car – and it’s fast, and it’s great looking, and it’s roomy. I’m told if I drive this car 100 miles every day of the year, my fuel cost is $520. Since gas is so expensive and security guards have to drive around, why in the world would I want a little pick-up truck that gets 15 miles per gallon?”

In his spare time, Heathcott is an assistant coach of the eighth-grade football team at Memphis University School. He spends time teaching players to give respect as well as their best effort – the same thing he expects from his employees.

“To me, the heart of the company comes from the ownership of the company,” Heathcott said. “My heart is to build people up – to treat them fairly and to treat them with all the respect I possibly can.

“If I do my part, then they’ll do theirs.”