Building Service Workers Award Honoree Perry Mercado: Serious About Security

Perry Mercado doesn’t think he did anything that impressive when he intercepted a man with a gun at work one day. Mercado, 26, was going about his normal routine as a security guard at the Human Resources Administration building in Brooklyn when a young boy pointed out that there was someone with a gun. “Basically like a guy came in here with a mask and a gun in his bag. And then one of the clients saw him and informed me, and I just followed the protocol, you know, informed my base and HRA police and they took it from there,” Mercado says.

For someone who grew up in a rough neighborhood, he says it wasn’t all that scary. “I am aware that when they did catch him and they took him to court, that he had done a string of robberies with the mask and a gun and he's already a prior convict. I feel like I'm just doing my job though,” he says.

Mercado is a security officer who takes his job incredibly seriously. He hopes to continue moving up the ladder as an HRA police officer, or maybe a peace officer, and eventually to guarding armored trucks. He has been working in security for five years and has previously won an award for stopping someone from robbing a store where he used to work.

His favorite part of his job is helping people. “I like making sure that everything is going in the right order, nobody's being taken advantage of. Everything is, you know, copacetic,” he says. He thinks the most important characteristic of a good security officer is observation. “Observe and report, that’s our job. If you have a good memory, that’s key,” he says.

Mercado was born and raised in Brooklyn, and now lives there with his girlfriend and two daughters. He likes playing video games, as well as sports like basketball and football. His mom still lives in Brooklyn, and he often takes his daughters to spend time with her.