Our Story

Our story goes back to when Sonny Bates started his law enforcement career as a military police officer in the US Air Force in the late 1960’s. After he completed his service for our Country, Sonny became a Dallas, Texas, police officer. Much of the funda­mentals he learned in security are from his years in military service and his 9 years of service with the Dallas Police Department.

As a police officer, Sonny responded to many security system calls but one security company, Sonitrol, always stood out because of their unique technology that gave officers like him a signif­i­cantly better chance to apprehend the criminals. He actually appre­hended criminals off Sonitrol security system dispatches! When Sonny was ready for the next step in his career, he naturally went to work for Sonitrol of Dallas. He began his career there as a sales­person and quickly became the general manager. During this time his wife, Pat Bates, also went to work for Sonitrol of Dallas.

By 1984, Sonny and Pat were ready to go out on their own and were fortunate enough to buy the independent Sonitrol of Lexington, Kentucky franchise. Sonitrol of Lexington was started in 1969 by Harry and Ann Miller. After Harry’s passing, Ann wanted to pass what they had built on to another family that would take care of their customers and grow the business. So, in 1984, Sonny and Pat got to work and started building the business by bringing in new energy and services to the company’s offering. The Sonitrol of Lexington franchise is still an important part of our business, but our overall business has now grown into what is today Bates Security.

Sonny’s law-enforcement background and insight into the criminal mind gave him a unique perspective on security. That perspective helped grow the company from a small business in Lexington with 331 active accounts to a national security company with over 16,000 customers.

Today, Sonny and Pat are retired from the business, and the day-to-day opera­tions are now in the hands of their sons, Jeremy and Bryan, who grew up working at Bates and have a combined 50+ years of experience between them. Jeremy, Bryan, and the team they’ve built over the last few decades have a deep under­standing of both security funda­mentals and customer service. That carries over into the company’s guiding principles, and it’s what has made Bates Security one of the largest security companies in the nation, ranking at #32 in the most recent SDM 100 security rankings.

Bates has achieved phenomenal growth and great results for the businesses and homes we protect. As we continue to grow, we remain committed to the same custom security instal­la­tions and excep­tional customer service that made us the company we are today.

Our Core Values

Our passion is to build a great company while also enabling personal success for our team members. We have already estab­lished a successful company that allows us to provide the best services to our customers. However, we believe that our job is never done. To have the best people on our team, we need to provide a great work environment that enables them to achieve their personal goals and grow in their careers. This way, we can continue to deliver the best services to our valuable customers.