(The Center Square) – Safety concerns centered on a 55% reduction in armed security staff, 211% increase in contract value, and ties to diversity, equity and inclusion are in a damning preliminary audit of the Charlotte Area Transit System released Tuesday evening.
Dave Boliek, first-term Republican state auditor, pledged the probe in response to the Aug. 22 stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska aboard a light rail train. His staff investigated contracts for the public transportation system colloquially known as CATS in the home city of the NFL Carolina Panthers, checking from 2018 through September.
Armed security personnel for CATS were between 68 and 88 in a 2018 contract with G4S Secure Solutions. This month’s detail was 39.
PSS has the contract today. The pact was for $5.9 million in 2022 and is $18.4 million this year.
Private security firms for the transportation system, the report says, are influenced by the Charlotte Business Inclusion program. During a meeting of its advisory committee in April, the report says the panel was advised to hear the “Republican argument” supporting proposed legislation to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state and local government in order to “be prepared to counter it.”
Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI, known also as House Bill 171, was vetoed in the summer by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. It remains eligible for veto override, a process that would have to start in the House of Representatives where no Democrats were in favor at the 60-48 passage.
Charlotte’s city compliance officer in 2022, the report says, wrote in an email about the security contractor that the “solicitation is only open to CBI security firms, it is not open to other firms regardless if they have other certifications by other parties.”
The contract today allows up to 219 personnel. That means 82.1% of the available jobs are vacant in an agreement allowing armed guards on all 48 train cars at once.
“The safety of the citizens of Charlotte needs to be first and foremost when security decisions are being made,” Boliek said, noting a final report is forthcoming. “Our report shows there has been a clear shift away from armed security in the CATS’s private security contracts.
“Further, limiting any part of a contract providing citizens with security to only firms that meet a DEI checkbox raises questions as to whether politics has taken priority over public safety. As we continue our investigation, we will be examining the decisions that went into designing, soliciting, and approving these security contracts.”
CATS had ridership of 14.9 million in fiscal year 2024 in a 675-square-mile service area for the nation’s 14th largest city with population of about 925,000. There are 48 train cars in two rail services; more than 330 buses on 67 routes and more than 3,000 stops; and four transit centers.
