Security
Security two-way radios on Zello
Your officers work alone, across big sites and long shifts. One press of the Zello push-to-talk button puts every guard in touch with a supervisor. No dialing, no waiting for someone to pick up.
Short answer
Do these work across several properties?
Yes. Zello works anywhere there is cell service or Wi-Fi, so a guard at a site across town is on the same channel as the team here. Officers press one button and talk, supervisors see everyone on a live map, and on Managed Zello Plus an Emergency Alert reaches the control room with the officer’s location.
The problem
What gets in the way
Guards are spread across buildings, parking lots and separate client properties, often working alone through the night. A supervisor rarely knows exactly where an officer is, and when something happens the report reaches the control room late, without a location and sometimes without knowing which officer called it in. Phones make that worse rather than better. A call has to be dialed, answered and explained, which is the last thing an officer wants when they need help immediately. Consumer radios fix the speed problem but not the range one: they cover a single building or site, so a guard posted to a client property across town is simply unreachable. What you are left with is a supervisor who cannot see their own team, an incident log assembled from memory after the shift, and a client asking for evidence you cannot produce.
How we set it up
How the channels are set up
We set up one Zello channel per property, so officers only hear traffic from the site they are working, plus a supervisor channel that reaches every site at once. A guard moving between client properties keeps the same radio: we change their channel access in the Management Console, not on the handset. On Managed Zello Plus, the radio’s emergency key raises an Emergency Alert on the channels you designate, with the officer’s name and location, so the control room knows who needs help without anyone having to explain. Supervisors see status and battery life for every device, which catches a dead radio before the night shift starts. Message Vault keeps every message for search, playback and export, and breadcrumb history shows where an officer was, which is what turns a disputed incident into a documented one.
Typical use cases
Where it gets used day to day
Guard tours across multiple client properties, each site on its own channel. Control room to patrol communication without dialing. Keeping sight of lone officers through a night shift, with location, status and battery at a glance. Incident escalation that arrives with location and officer identity already attached. Shift handover briefings to everyone on duty at once. Pulling up last Tuesday’s traffic in Message Vault when a client asks what happened.
Recommended solution
What we would recommend
Managed Zello Plus on rugged two-way radios is usually the right fit. Officers get a proper radio, and Plus adds Emergency Alerts, Message Vault and transcription. Add a Dispatch Hub seat for the control room.
Questions
Questions security teams ask us
The things supervisors and account managers raise before they commit to a fleet.
Can a supervisor see where every officer is?
Yes. Real-time location tracking is included in both Managed Zello Core and Plus, so a supervisor or control room sees who is where without calling round. On Managed Zello Plus, breadcrumb history lets you show a client where an officer was at a given time. Accuracy depends on the device and the conditions. Not a substitute for 911 or code-required life-safety systems.
What happens when an officer presses the emergency button?
On Managed Zello Plus, it raises a Zello Emergency Alert with the officer's name and location, routed to the channels you designate, so it can reach a control room, a duty manager, or both. Emergency Alerts are a Plus feature. Not a substitute for 911 or code-required life-safety systems.
How do supervisors keep track of lone officers?
Supervisors see each officer's live location, online status and battery level, and a quick call on the supervisor channel confirms anyone who has gone quiet. Zello does not run timed check-in prompts. On Plus, the emergency key raises an alert with the officer's location.
Can each client site have its own channel?
Yes, and it is how we normally set up a security account. Each property gets a channel so officers only hear traffic relevant to where they are posted, with a supervisor channel running across all of them. An officer moving between sites keeps the same radio.
Can radio traffic be recorded?
Yes, on Managed Zello Plus. Message Vault archives voice and text in the cloud for search, playback and export, and transcription turns calls into searchable text for incident review. Check your own obligations around recording and retention before relying on it.
Related
A typical security setup
Patrol officers usually carry the Telox TE320, site supervisors the Inrico S380 with a Bluetooth earpiece, and officers who also need a phone carry the Sonim XP5plus. Every device runs Zello with real-time location for the control room, and a Zello Dispatch Hub seat lets one person reach any patrol or all of them.
Guarding a client site that already has radios? The Zello radio gateway keeps them in the conversation: see radio interoperability. To choose a plan, compare Managed Zello Core vs Plus.
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