I had to stop in and use the public restroom at the Korean Bell just outside the locked gate where they had production vehicles inside. Outside of that area was a security guy playing public bathroom cop. He tried to approach me and give me a hard time after I parked near the public restroom before entering. This took at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Oct 9th. He started questioning about who I was. I quickly told him it was none of his concern. Immediately after using the restroom I told him that he had no authority over a public restroom and to stop harassing those using the open facility. He quickly realized he was wrong and apologized. Just the same, this company needs to train their staff better. Don't engage people in public trying to use the restroom at a local park unless they are causing problems with nearby equipment, or production equipment, which by the way there was none. They need to take refresher courses on security protocol.... Main objective of the security guard is to "Observe and report", not play rent a cop with people! read more

Very rude, no copy of permit when asked. Asked for the contact info for the productions location manager, the security refused. Seems to be a company that tries to muscle in on neighborhoods the night before to hold parking for productions who don't permit their shoots. Scummy company for scummy producers. read more

Cinema Security is currently putting up no parking tow away signs for 7 AM tomorrow morning on the non-street cleaning side of the street. It's 5 PM. They're supposed to give you at least 48 hours. They know this. I called Film LA and apparently parking isn't on their permit. This is a commercial for the American Cancer Society. I'm sure the line producer is responsible but a company like Cinema Security should know what's on the permit so they can inforce it. I'm certainly never hiring them. If you're interested in not getting in trouble you shouldn't either. read more

Cinema Security - Tow away and cones just put up for morning. Not on their permit. - Los Angeles, California

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Extremely rude and unprofessional. I am a female and I felt very threatened when trying to park my car (where I live, mind you), because a film crew took over the valet unannounced. This occurred on 8/23 at 1pm. I am hoping that the owner of this company will train their staff not to threaten people. read more

Wondering why the security guard who looks like a 'veterano' profiled my brother-in-law who is dark skinned and was riding his bike this morning in OUR neighborhood of Eagle Rock. The security walks up the hill towards our house as I was warning up my car. I saw him and asked what he needed as our house is 3rd up the street. He said he was investigating a prank on their signs. He told me he was looking for the person who may have tied up bunch of their no parking signs to a cone. I knew he was profiling my bro as my bro rode by to see if he could see any celebs. I told the guard Dave as he identified himself to kick rocks as there was nothing up my street to concern himself over. He left but I do not appreciate the 'investigation'. I then drove by the set on my way into my street and asked for the head of the security detail and was told it is 'Chato' but he has not been at the site all day according to another guard. So, this review is based on some 'rent-a-cop' profiling my brother in law. Hey Dave, a LOT of neighbors are annoyed by the film crews and their traffic, not just us dark skinned residents. read more

It's pretty uncommon for a security company to be listed on Yelp, as they are a private business that is hired by film productions. So in terms of reviews, the only people actually purchasing services from the guard company should be the only one's leaving reviews. Of all the reviews I've read for this business, only one was from someone who actually retained the services of Cinema Security for their security protection services on a location film shoot. I've been using Cinema Security for over 5 years, and as a location manager, I've found their service to be flawless. Other reviewers have often been people affected by filming, not people who have hired these guards. They complain about how the guards have put up No Parking signs or how they have been rude to area residents, but think for a second about the big picture, to understand why these people may have such biased, one-sided opinions of this guard company. Residents are annoyed as hell that a film production is in their neighborhood, taking up parking, etc., and they walk up to security because of the inconvenience, and all these negative emotions tend to spew out at the first security person they meet. Most guards are WONDERFUL at listening and empathizing with these angry, annoyed people, but sometimes it happens that the anger directed toward the guard hurts the guard. You try to be calm and kind when you have angry neighbors yelling at you. This is the main thing all these guards deal with every single day. It's a tough job. Most of them respond very calmly and Kindly. I won't claim to say that all their guards are perfect and always have been, because everyone has bad days. But what I will tell you is that these guards CARE more than any other company, about trying to make everyone happy. I've had guards come up to me over and over to tell me about the neighborhood and who we need to be sensitive to, and who we need to help, what problems we could mitigate to make everyone happier in the neighborhood. So all these negative reviews aren't really the whole picture, they're one tiny microcosm of the world of film security companies. They're the people who were really angry because of filming and decided to make a security guard company the scapegoat. It's lame. I also saw someone mention something about No Parking signs and how the guard company was putting them up themselves. Here's a little insight into that process: LA DOT puts signs up 48-72 hours prior to filming. Angry neighbors or area people OFTEN ILLEGALLY REMOVE THESE SIGNS. So it is quite common to put signs back up after the neighbors illegally remove them. Just because they saw a guard putting signs back up does not mean it's illegal. It means that perhaps the neighborhood should not do as much filming for a while, if all the neighbors pull down the DOT signs as soon as they go up. It means the neighborhood maybe needs to talk to the one neighbor doing too much filming and Film LA about frequency issues, so that it can be managed in a better way than illegally taking down parking signs. Leave a and review for your neighbor as a film location, not the security company that has deal with the fallout from that neighbors actions. Oh and one last note about their guards constantly getting high; in my five years I haven't had that experience once. I've done about 700 commercials and have had no issue with drug abuse from the guards on my sets. I hire about 8-10 guards every shoot, so that's a total of 7,000 guards in that five years without anyone abusing drugs on my sets. This team has some of the most empathetic and caring people for the community I've ever worked with, and they help me do my job well. Highly recommend. read more

If anyone reads this who is determining whether or not to contract these guys: They have two reviews as of August 20 2015. Both 1 star. Figure it out. Security is supposed to stop problems from happening, not cause them. If you want a lawsuit from one of the people they cause problems with...these are your guys. Further investigation had lead me to believe they are NOT a legitimate security business. Their business license was first suspended then removed in 2009. They are currently listed there with the root business name of Joes Entertainment. Two of the officers I have spoken to have no idea of what the BSIS is, let alone that they are obligated by local law to be registered with that organization to be security officers. Cinema Security does a lot of the patrol for the numerous film shoots that infiltrate our neighborhood in the arts district of downtown LA. Part of the requirements of anyone granted a permit to is not to disrupt the local residents who are not presenting a problem to their production. Cinema Security however grants themselves the right to accost people walking in their vicinity who are not anywhere near the film production they are guarding, speak to them rudely and in my case tonight, steak ground directly in front of me and physically assault me by pushing me...and oh, then deny they did when called it. Fortunately there are cameras all over by the security people in my building. The instance was clearly documented This was not the first time their employees have bullied me for no justifiable reason, but I assure you it will be the last. Completely ghetto read more

I like this company the owner Gil is a great guy his guards are great every time his company come to my neighborhood the guard look out for us n let us park till the morning thanks guys u great keep coming to the neighhood read more

Poor customer service. The security assigned to Griffith Observatory on April 1st, 2015 @ 10:40 PM lacks people/CPI skills. No interpersonal skills or emotional intelligence. Instead of politely telling us the observatory is closed, he yells at a car full of women (myself, elderly aunt and two young girls). I'm not gonna let some male chauvinist jerk speak to me in that manner. I yelled back at him. He lowered his tone and said that is his normal speaking voice. I then try to explain our situation and get out of him a time or alternate route. He could have been helpful, but instead he chose to be sarcastic. He threatens to call a Ranger as if we are putting him in danger. He then tells me to have a good night, I say the same to him. As he's walking away, he calls me a "Jack Ass!" Not once, but twice. I ask him for his name, he refuses to give me his name and tells me Cinema Security. I tell him I am a customer and that it is inappropriate for him to treat us in this manner. He responded with "I don't work for you!" I will be leaving this review here, as well as posting on several social media sites for Griffith Observatory. read more