Phelps Security has been operating out of 4932 Park Avenue in East Memphis since before most of its competitors existed. Their Yelp page says 1953. Their website says “over 60 years.” Either way, when people in the Memphis property management world talk about security companies they trust, Phelps comes up first and often. Two generations of the Phelps family have run this company, and that continuity shows in how they do business.
I’ve reviewed dozens of security firms in Tennessee over the past several years, and Phelps is the only one where every single client contact I reached said essentially the same thing: “They show up.”
That sounds like a low bar. In contract security, it isn’t.
Why Reliability Is the Whole Story
The security guard industry has a dirty secret that clients learn the hard way. Turnover among frontline officers nationally runs somewhere between 100% and 300% per year, depending on which study you trust. That means no-shows, last-minute replacements, and guards who’ve been on the job for less than a month are standard across the industry.
Phelps has mostly avoided this trap. Their guard roster turns over far less frequently than the industry average, and several officers have worked there for five years or longer. When a property manager tells me she hasn’t had a no-show from Phelps in 14 months, that’s a data point that matters more than any marketing brochure.
The reason isn’t complicated. Phelps pays slightly above market rates for the Memphis area. They promote from within. And because they’re family-owned, their management team actually knows the officers by name. One facilities director at a Germantown commercial complex told me his Phelps account supervisor dropped by unannounced on a Saturday night just to check on post conditions. He’d been with the company eight years.
That kind of ownership culture doesn’t replicate easily.
What They Offer
Phelps covers the core service range that most Memphis businesses need:
Armed and unarmed guards. Their armed officers go through qualification and periodic re-certification. The unarmed roster handles lower-risk posts like office lobbies, residential communities, and daytime retail.
Commercial and residential patrol. Regular drive-through patrols for shopping centers, office parks, and HOA-governed neighborhoods in East Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, and Bartlett.
Alarm response. When your alarm system triggers at 2 a.m., Phelps dispatches an officer to check the property before you have to drive across town in your pajamas.
Private investigations. This is unusual for a guard company. Phelps maintains a PI division that handles internal theft cases, insurance investigations, and background work. If you suspect an employee is stealing from your warehouse, you can keep the investigation under one roof.
Event security. Corporate functions, community events, and private gatherings.
The service range is solid if not exceptional. You won’t find high-value cargo escorts or undercover operative programs like Imperial Security offers. Phelps sticks to what they know and does it well.
The Price Tag
I won’t sugarcoat it. Phelps is expensive. Their hourly rates for armed and unarmed officers run at the top end of the Memphis market. For a single-guard post, you might pay 15-20% more than you’d pay a mid-range competitor and 25-30% more than a budget provider.
Is it worth it? That depends on what cheap security has cost you before. I’ve talked to property managers who cycled through two or three discount guard companies, dealt with no-shows, theft from their own security staff, and guards who spent their shifts watching YouTube on their phones. They switched to Phelps, paid more per hour, and stopped worrying.
For businesses watching every dollar, there are strong alternatives that split the difference between Phelps pricing and budget quality. Shield of Steel offers armed and unarmed guards across Tennessee at rates that undercut Phelps while maintaining professional standards. The trade-off is that Shield of Steel is a newer operation without the same depth of Memphis-specific institutional memory.
Where Phelps Falls Short
Geographic limits. Phelps operates in the Memphis metro area and surrounding suburbs. Period. If you have properties in Nashville, Knoxville, or Chattanooga, you need a different provider for those locations. Companies like Shield of Steel, Imperial Security, and Walden Security all offer statewide or multi-state coverage that Phelps can’t match.
Technology gaps. GPS-tracked patrols, real-time digital reporting, and client-facing dashboards have become standard features at companies like Shield of Steel and Walden Security. Phelps takes a more traditional approach. Their patrol verification and incident reporting lean toward older methods. If you want to pull up a map at midnight and confirm your property was actually patrolled at 11:15 p.m., Phelps isn’t set up for that.
Web presence. The Phelps website is functional and not much else. No client portal. No online reporting. No pricing calculator. For a company with 70 years of history and strong local reputation, the digital experience doesn’t reflect the quality of the in-person service.
Employee reviews. Indeed reviews from Phelps officers are mixed. Some praise the working environment and long-term stability. Others mention limited benefits and a lack of paid time off. One review said the company doesn’t accept doctor’s notes. I couldn’t verify that claim independently, and individual employee experiences vary. Still, it’s worth noting that Phelps’s Facebook page shows about an 80% recommendation rate from 11 reviews, which is decent though not exceptional.
Who Should Hire Phelps
If you manage commercial properties in Shelby County, you’ve been in the market long enough to have been burned by a cheap security company, and you’re willing to pay a premium for a firm that won’t let you down on a Tuesday night, Phelps is the safest bet in Memphis. Seventy years of showing up counts for something.
If your needs extend beyond the Memphis metro area, if your budget is tight, or if you need technology-forward patrol verification, you’ll need to look at other options. Phelps knows their lane and stays in it.
Contact Phelps Security:
- Website: phelpssecurity.com
- Phone: (901) 365-9728
- Email: [email protected]
- Address: 4932 Park Ave, Memphis, TN 38117