When Los Angeles police Officer Brady Lamas was relieved of duty in 2022 for allegedly sharing nude photos of a fellow cop — his wife at the time — he reportedly found a lifeline with a private company named Watermark Security Inc. Started by Jamie McBride, an
investigations stemming from complaints lodged by ex-Watermark employees over payroll issues, according to department records. , allowed McBride to reduce his payroll tax and insurance obligations. One former Watermark employee, Tai Vaimaona, said he was hired to work at the Walgreens at 6th Street and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown, which was known in the private security world as a particularly troubled location with foot traffic around the clock. He left the company after only four months, he said, after noticing he wasn’t getting a paid lunch break.
cop started the security firm that evolved into Watermark in 2012. In a declaration earlier this year in a lawsuit related to a shooting by one of his former guards, McBride wrote that the company, in which his wife has a stake, had grown to between 100 and 120 employees. Clients came to include Target — through a subcontract with Allied Universal, one the nation's largest providers of guards, to protect about 15 stores. Watermark also worked with Walgreens and Patagonia.