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In the past, I've been critical of the security guard industry, saying guards are, for the large part, underpaid, under-trained, and unlikely to be particularly helpful in times of crisis. This opinion was sharpened by my time in Israel, where guards are a more highly valued piece of society's machine. However, some news coming out of USProtect's bankruptcy gives me hope. Well, a little hope. Basically, it's impressive to me that security guards, after having their paychecks bounce, didn't just walk off the job. I would have understood that inclination, certainly. But they kept their posts, which are theoretically important to the safety of others. That's the good. If they see their jobs as valuable and important, that's a great thing and proves true the argument that guards would be more dedicated and professional if they were just given some more training and made to feel like professionals. However, some of this article troubles me. As in, we don't actually have a security officer quoted saying her job is valuable and important. Instead, it's a financial thing, which, again, is understandable, but maybe disappointing. Jones said her co-workers have been professional and continued to work in the chance that they can keep their jobs and get paid for the work they did for USProtect. Imagine a quote from a firefighter, working, say, for a town that didn't get the tax receipts it expected and had to declare bankruptcy. Imagine her check bounced. Wouldn't you hope for a quote along the lines of, "Hey, we're going to keep working because someone's house might catch fire tonight, and I couldn't bear death or destruction I could have protected"? Maybe Jones said something like that and the reporter just didn't feel it was part of the story, but I would have liked to have heard it.