Getting a PERC Card

PERC is the Permanent Employee Registration Card which is issued only the State of Illinois. Hence if a candidate wants to start his career as a security guard in Illinois, then he needs the regular security guard certification license, which is common across the US and he also needs the PERC. The PERC is nothing but a document issued by the government certifying that the holder has cleared all background checks and has no criminal history.

Process for obtaining your PERC Card

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is the sole agency that is responsible for issuing the PERCs. The basic eligibility criteria that this agency has fixed for applicants who want to apply for a PERC are those: they must have completed 18 years of age and they must be a US citizen having a valid social security number. No relaxations are allowed on these basic rules.

One of the first steps involved in applying for the PERC is electronic fingerprinting. The applicant must provide his fingerprints for processing at a Live Scan center in his locality. Enrolling of fingerprints this way is a way of agreeing for criminal records check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Once the applicant submits his fingerprints, he gets a submission certificate.

The next step is to apply for the PERC by filling in the necessary form issued by the IDFPR. This form is available online and can be easily downloaded. Alternatively, the applicant can get a copy of this form from his training academy too. All necessary details in the form must be filled out clearly and it must then be submitted to the IDFPR along with the applicant’s latest photograph and the fingerprint submission certificate copy.

By this time, the FBI would have completed the background check and criminal history of the applicant. If the applicant clears all these background checks and found to have no wrong doing in the past and not accused of illegal possession of weapons, then his PERC application is approved and within two weeks of application, the applicant gets his PERC mailed across to him. The applicant needs to pay a non-refundable amount of $55 for the entire PERC application process.

Once the applicant gets the PERC, the security guard license is a breeze. The candidate has to attend the required training courses for the specified number of hours. The licensed security guard course takes about 20 hours to complete and focuses on the nabbing culprits and basic communication skills improvement. Once the training courses are completed the candidate gets his security license through email, post which the candidate can start his job as a security guard in the city of Illinois.  The candidate can then apply for a security guard card. However if the candidate has already got a PERC and an authorized security license, then he can easily get the guard card. The guard card needs to be renewed every year, which is an important point to consider. Once it expires, it becomes unfit for use.

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