Paladin Security and Criterion Security announce mega-merger

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Criterion Security, a healthcare, government and corporate security company in the U.S., has joined forces with Paladin Security, a full-service guarding company and security systems integrator based in Canada, to create a North American super-company—PalAmerican Security.

The marriage between organizations will immediately increase service offerings and company reach across the US nationwide, operating initially in 16 states from coast to coast and growing that reach daily, according to Ashley Cooper, CEO of Paladin Security and PalAmerican Security.

“Criterion is a great company and has done some really insightful things, certainly in the healthcare field, so we are excited to be working with them and to bring some of what we do to that side as well,” Cooper told Security Systems News. “Together we are really bullish on the future and we will be working on a rebranding in the coming months, and also on firming up all of the qualitative processes that we use as we continue to build on the company.”

Although PalAmerican is mainly a manpower and services company that does consulting and emergency management, business continuity and security officer work, “Our goal is to be a full service security company that really has the top experts in the entire field within our firm to support our clients in any challenges that they might have,” said Cooper.

He noted that Paladin, which has had tremendous success in the Canadian marketplace over the past number of years, both on the manpower side as well as the technology side, has grown from a small regional company into a national firm across Canada. “We felt that the next iteration for us was a move into the United States where we have a lot commonalities with customers, and a lot of specialized vertical knowhow,” he said. “So when we came across Criterion Security, we thought it was just a great fit for Paladin.”

"As owners of Criterion Security, we are honored that Paladin Security, the premier security company in Canada, has selected us as their American partners,” Robert Buchanan, president, PalAmerican Security, said in the announcement. “The merger of these two security companies has resulted in the best security platform in the US, PalAmerican Security. Through combined best practices, PalAmerican will enhance opportunities for employees and resources for our valued clients nationwide."

Jeff Young, vice president of healthcare for PalAmerican Security and the immediate past president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), said that healthcare security will be a main industry of focus for PalAmerican Security.

"Criterion has done some excellent work in the US healthcare sector already, and we feel strongly that we can provide the best healthcare security programs in the industry to our clients by integrating our Paladin Security healthcare model with the Criterion offerings, to truly deliver a patient-centric security program to our clients,” he said in the announcement.

Don MacAlister, PalAmerican Security's COO, in a prepared statement said, "Our clients will literally have the industry's foremost security experts in North America at their disposal and we are confident that it will change the face of the security industry."

All told, there are more than 10,000 employees across both the Paladin and PanAmerican Security organizations, with sales in excess of $400 million.