The guard tour system of the present invention is comprised of a central computer which runs a computer program that enables a variety of electronic hardware components to function as the guard tour system. As a guard progresses through a guard tour, he or she uses a touch button reader to read information stored within a plurality of touch memory buttons located along the patrol route. At the end of the patrol, the guard places the touch button reader in a downloader that transfers the stored data to the central computer which processes the data and generates reports summarizing the patrol data. The computer program of the present invention provides a novel method of organizing security information in hierarchical categories. Further, the guard tour system of the present invention uses a novel method to determine the number of times a guard visited a location in a given time period.