As used in this subpart:

(a) Authorized employer means any person that employs private security officers and is authorized by the regulations in this subpart to request a criminal history record information search of an employee through a state identification bureau. An employer is not authorized within the meaning of these regulations if it has not executed and submitted to the appropriate state agency the certification required in § 105.25(g), if its authority to do business in a State has been suspended or revoked pursuant to state law, or, in those states that regulate private security officers, the employer has been found to be out of compliance with any mandatory standards or requirements established by the appropriate regulatory agency or entity.

(b) Employee means both a current employee and an applicant for employment as a private security officer.

(c) Charged, with respect to a criminal felony, means being subject to a complaint, indictment, or information.

(d) Felony means a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, regardless of the period of imprisonment actually imposed.

(e) Participating State means a State that has not elected to opt out of participating in the Act by statutory enactment or gubernatorial order. A State may decline to participate in the background check system authorized by the Act by enacting a law or issuing an order by the Governor (if consistent with state law) providing that the State is declining to participate. The regulations in this subpart that pertain to States apply only to participating states.

(f) Person means an individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation or institution that performs security services, whether for a third party for consideration or as an internal, proprietary function.

(g) Private Security Officer means an individual other than an employee of a Federal, State, or local government whose primary duty is to perform security services, full or part time, for consideration, whether armed or unarmed and in uniform or plain clothes, except as may be excluded from coverage in these regulations, except that the term excludes—

(1) Employees whose duties are primarily internal audit or credit functions;

(2) Employees of electronic security system companies acting as technicians or monitors; or

(3) Employees whose duties involve the secure movement of prisoners.

(h) Security services means services, whether provided by a third party for consideration, or by employees as an internal, proprietary function, to protect people or property, including activities to: Patrol, guard, or monitor property (including real property as well as tangible or intangible personal property such as records, merchandise, money, and equipment); protect against fire, theft, misappropriation, vandalism, violence, terrorism, and other illegal activity; safeguard persons; control access to real property and prevent trespass; or deter criminal activity on the authorized employer's or another's premises. This definition does not cover services by the employees described in § 105.22(f) as excluded from the definition of private security officer.

(i) State Identification Bureau (SIB) means the state agency designated by the Governor or other appropriate executive official or the state legislature to perform centralized recordkeeping functions for criminal history records and associated services in the States.