By admin 
GLENDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — Two men face charges of aggravated assault and impersonating a peace officer after Glendale police investigated an armed private security group that allegedly filmed themselves terrorizing people.
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According to police, Thomas Nichols, 22, and Alexander Alcantar, 21, recorded videos of themselves chasing people down streets and threatening them with guns and Tasers, then posted the footage to social media.
Investigators said a video recorded on Meta glasses worn by one of the guards sparked the investigation. The footage shows a guard chasing a girl down the street and pointing a Taser at her. The girl appears visibly terrified before she is ordered onto her stomach and handcuffed.
Sgt. Justin Ramsey of the Glendale Police Department’s Violent Crime Impact Team said that video is just the beginning of what detectives uncovered.
Last week, the team was alerted to social media advertisements promoting teen parties in the desert where Desert Protection Security was providing armed security.
“They’re actively victimizing people,” Ramsey said. “And some of these videos that we saw on social media were of these two individuals who we later identified as Thomas Nichols, 22 years old, and 21-year-old Alexander Alcantar. And some of these videos are very violent in nature. There’s one of these individuals chasing a young woman through the desert, threatening her with a Taser. Another we saw is them pointing firearms at a person inside a vehicle who was attempting to leave a party, a desert party.”
Police contacted Nichols and Alcantar in Phoenix regarding the videos. During post-Miranda interviews, both men admitted to pointing weapons at an individual they verified did not have a weapon or pose any threat, Ramsey said.
Karl de la Guerra, an international security consultant who reviewed the footage, described the guards’ behavior as “utterly incredible and disgusting.”
“You see the conduct of these individuals that claim to be security officers on that video and the way they’re conducting themselves,” de la Guerra said. “There’s a public trust that the community has with their police officers, as should there be a trust when companies hire security agencies that they are going to conduct themselves professionally and with the liability of their client in mind. This clearly wasn’t done.”
Glendale police said the guards dressed like police officers, wearing tactical vests and gun belts.
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According to de la Guerra, the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) must approve the uniforms authorized for private security services.
“And in that video, we saw a mishmash of uniforms from these individuals,” he said.
DPS requires armed private security guards to hold a license, complete a training course and obtain state certification. While Nichols has been licensed since July 2024, his license expired Monday. DPS has no record of a security license under Alcantar’s name.
“The type of conduct that these individuals are displaying under the color of authority of a state-licensed security officer is grossly negligent, just speaking of their conduct alone,” de la Guerra said.
Glendale police have contacted several victims and are encouraging others to come forward.
During their initial court appearances, a judge set Alcantar’s bond at $50,000 and Nichols’ bond at $7,500.
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