A security officer is a person who is paid to protect property, usually by a company. The security officer's job normally consists of walking through buildings to ensure there is no illegal or unsafe activity taking place which would endanger his/her client's property. A security officer's authority comes from the United States' 4th amendment, which gives property owners the right to protect thier property - Or they can hire someone to do the job for them. This being the case here, the security officer assumes all rights the property owner has regarding protecting the property in question. In order to protect said property, a security officer is only allowed to use a level of force slightly greater than what is being issued by an offender. Example: Offender hits officer, officer can hit and takedown offender. If a life is in danger, however, an officer can use whatever force necessary to render the offender incapable of killing. This depends largely on circumstances, and can be anything from dislocating a joint, breaking an arm, or shooting him/her. Although this sounds very sophisticated, the type of person who is a security guard is not the type you would want to babysit your kids. The job is incredibly taxing at times, but also involves a lot of sitting around, so slackers tend to gravitate toward this occupation.