Jobs / Protective service
Can agents do protective service work?
Police, fire fighting, security guards, and other work that protects people and property.
- US jobs
- 3,776,600 (2.4% of employment)
- Typical wage
- $57K a year (employment-weighted mean of occupation medians)
- Occupations
- 28 in O*NET 31.0
- Evidence
- 0 direct benchmarks, 0 also relevant, 0 context only
The answer today
UnmeasuredNo change since 24 Sep 2025.
Rule: No direct benchmark gives a success rate.
Next step: A direct benchmark that reports how many tasks agents complete.
How much of the work is measured
0% of the work in this family is measured by direct benchmarks. Little of the work is measured (less than 20%). On 24 Sep 2025: 0%.
Work = the O*NET 31.0 work activities of the family's occupations, weighted by how important each task is and by US employment. A benchmark measures an activity when its tasks make the agent do it and its grading checks it. Method.
| Work activity (O*NET) | Share of the work | Direct benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain safety or security | 14.1% | Not measured |
| Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties | 8.8% | Not measured |
| Notify others of emergencies or problems | 7.5% | Not measured |
| Investigate criminal or legal matters | 4.4% | Not measured |
| Intervene in crisis situations or emergencies | 3.6% | Not measured |
| Administer emergency medical treatment | 3.5% | Not measured |
| Operate audiovisual or related equipment | 3.3% | Not measured |
| Prepare reports of operational or procedural activities | 3.2% | Not measured |
| Provide information to guests, clients, or customers | 2.8% | Not measured |
| Record information about legal matters | 2.7% | Not measured |
Unmeasured territory
No benchmark in this atlas covers protective service yet. Most of this work needs a body in the physical world. The evidence must come from robots and self-driving vehicles, and public benchmarks for them are still rare.
Know a benchmark that belongs here? Tell us.
What we do not know
- Benchmarks measure tasks, not whole jobs. A job is a bundle of tasks, judgment, and relationships.
- Capability is not adoption. A task that agents can do in a benchmark may still be done by people at work.
- Most results come from single runs. Reliability over many runs is often unknown.
Occupations in this family
Sorted by US employment (BLS OEWS May 2025). O*NET sub-occupations share the employment figure of their SOC group. Work measured = the share of the occupation's O*NET work that direct benchmarks test.
How to cite
Credit the original work first: the benchmarks listed on this page, and their institutions.
Then, if you used this page:
Can Agents Work. "Can agents do protective service work?." https://canagentswork.com/jobs/protective-service/ (accessed 2026-09-24). CC BY 4.0.@misc{caw-jobs-protective-service,
title = {{Can agents do protective service work?}},
author = {{Can Agents Work}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://canagentswork.com/jobs/protective-service/}},
note = {Accessed 2026-09-24. CC BY 4.0}
}