Licensed BSIS guards for commercial corridors, industrial parks, and residential communities in northern Marin County
Novato is Marin's northern, more suburban city, and its security work blends residential coverage with a real research-and-business base. The county's second-largest city, with about 53,000 residents spread across 28 square miles of low-density neighborhoods and open space, Novato has built a reputation as a biotechnology center: it's home to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and to life-sciences companies like BioMarin and Ultragenyx in the Bel Marin Keys Business Park. Add the Class-A office space in the redeveloped Hamilton air-base hangars, the Vintage Oaks shopping center anchored by Costco and Target, and a revitalized downtown along Grant Avenue, and the work runs from research labs to retail to quiet residential streets. A research campus, a business-park office, a big-box retail center, and a residential community each need a different plan, and we scope to the property.
ShieldWise Security is a California-licensed private patrol operator (PPO #122008), with officers working across the North Bay and the broader Bay Area. Novato is an active service area for us, and its research, business-park, retail, and residential mix is the kind of work we staff to the specific site.
The research campuses and biotech tenants, including the Bel Marin Keys Business Park, where high-level access control, sensitive-area procedures, and a discreet, professional presence are the priorities.
The Class-A office space at Hamilton Landing and the city's other business parks, with lobby access control, visitor management, and patrol scoped to the property.
The Vintage Oaks center and downtown Grant Avenue, with loss-prevention coordination, parking coverage, and a steady presence.
Low-density neighborhoods, condos, and HOAs where courtesy patrol, scheduled rounds, and vacation-property checks are common, plus construction across the city's continued development around Hamilton.
Every contract starts with a walk-through. We document entry points, lobbies, parking, lighting, and the hours that carry risk, then write post orders specific to the property. For a research building that means controlled access and sensitive-area procedures; for a residential community it means set patrol routes and entry coverage. Officers log patrol and access activity through our digital reporting system and write up incidents during the shift. A supervisor reviews the reports, and you receive them on the schedule set in the contract, with a same-shift phone call for anything serious. For construction work, we provide gate access logging and patrols, plus fire watch with a documented log when a permit or a fire-system outage requires it.
ShieldWise Security operates under California BSIS Private Patrol Operator license #122008. Every officer completes the BSIS Power to Arrest course and the required guard-card skills training, carries a valid guard card on shift, and completes any property-specific training the post requires. Armed posts are staffed only where the contract requires it and the officer holds a valid BSIS exposed firearm permit; for most research, office, retail, and residential properties, unarmed officers are the right fit, trained to observe, document, and escalate. We're licensed, bonded, and insured, with documentation available on request, and we're a member of CALSAGA
A note on emergencies: ShieldWise Security provides private security services. We do not provide police, medical, fire, or emergency first-responder services. In an active emergency, always call 911 first.
"Novato's security needs split between two different settings. The research and office side calls for low-profile access control that doesn't disrupt the work. The residential side calls for patrol that residents recognize and feel comfortable with. For clients here we staff to both."
Hamoon Khodayee, Operations Manager, ShieldWise SecurityLast updated: June 2026. | Member: CALSAGA.
Novato is Marin County's northern commercial center, with a different character than the county seat. The Buck Institute brings a research-campus anchor, the former Hamilton airfield has been redeveloped into business parks and housing, Novato has a long corporate-insurance heritage, and Vintage Oaks and the Grant Avenue downtown round out the retail and commercial base. The security work leans toward research and office campuses, business parks, and retail and residential property.
On a research or office campus and in the business parks, the job is access control, a clean visitor and vendor log, and timed vehicle patrol of the perimeter and parking areas, logged on GPS so facilities can verify it. For retail and the downtown, it's a visible, de-escalation-first BSIS-licensed unarmed officer, parking support, and clean incident reporting. Residential and HOA communities get consistent patrol, with supervisor support behind the officer on site and clear communication to the manager.
On location: ShieldWise is a California-licensed Private Patrol Operator, PPO #122008, based in Riverside, not Novato. We cover the city on a contract and project basis with no local office. For a single post a local Marin firm may fit better; we tend to suit multi-site operators. Our officers observe, document, report, and escalate to law enforcement.
Novato's security needs split between two different settings. The research and office side — the Buck Institute campus, Hamilton Landing's converted-hangar offices, and the biotech and life-science tenants along Redwood Boulevard — calls for low-profile access control that doesn't disrupt the work. The residential side — communities like Bel Marin Keys and the hillside neighborhoods off Highway 101 — calls for patrol that residents recognize and feel comfortable with. For clients here we staff to both: documented visitor and vendor logs and perimeter patrol for the research and office properties, and consistent community patrol with incident reporting for residential and HOA clients.
Reviewed by Hamoon Khodayee, Operations Manager, ShieldWise Security (PPO #122008).
Contact ShieldWise Security for a walk-through and a proposal specific to your location. PPO #122008 , licensed, bonded, and insured.
Get a Free Quote Contact UsNovato's commercial corridors, light-industrial properties, and residential communities have distinct patrol profiles. The walk-through maps the risk hours for this specific property before any post order is written.
We document entry points, lighting, blind spots, prior incident history if the property has it, and the hours that actually carry risk.
From that walk-through we write post orders specific to the site, so the officer is not improvising.
Officers log patrol activity through our GuardTrac digital reporting system and write up incidents during the shift, not after.
A supervisor reviews those reports, and you receive them on the schedule set in the contract.
For anything serious, you get a phone call the same shift, not a summary three days later.
"Novato clients span from light-industrial properties in the highway corridor that need dock and gate patrol, to residential communities in the hills that want visible evening presence. We write the protocol around the property's specific type and its risk hours."
Last reviewed: June 2026. | Member: CALSAGA.