MCTS Could End Privatized Security, Hire Its Own Workers

MCTS bus on N. Van Buren St. Photo by Dave Reid.

Milwaukee County officials are moving closer to replacing the private security vendor for the Milwaukee County Transit System with an in-house security team.

The latest proposal would see a team of MCTS civilian security officers provide security. The Transit Safety Task Force has also studied using sheriff’s deputies.

Brian Kading, director of safety, security and training for MCTS, presented a rough sketch Thursday of a plan for bringing security in-house at MCTS with at least 56 security personnel being called public safety officers.

MCTS estimated that it would cost approximately $3.2 million annually for a 46-member team of public safety officers and approximately $4 million for 56 officers. In 2022, the contract with Allied Universal, the current contractor, cost the county $2.7 million. “That seems like something the county board would be able to dig into our pockets to find,” said Supervisor Ryan Clancy.

The task force has also already reviewed a plan from the Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO) to create a new transit security division within the department. The estimated upfront cost for such a force was approximately $13 million, with an annual operating cost of $8 million. The task force also discussed standing up a “transit ranger” program that would be modeled on the parks rangers program.

The public safety officers would operate 24 hours a day. “They will respond to calls for service from operators, perform intersection checks, station checks, conduct bus rides, wellness checks, fare enforcement as well as performing routine patrols at all MCTS facilities,” according to MCTS’ report. Kading said the officers would have uniforms that resemble police uniforms and higher-visibility security signage on vehicles that “provide a strong presence which helps with deterrence.”

With security in-house and controlled by MCTS the system could provide better wages and benefits and also better hold the security force accountable, Kading said. Though, as employees of MCTS and not employees of Milwaukee County, they would not have the ability to write citations for ordinance violations as the parks rangers can and the hypothetical transit rangers could.

Like the transit rangers, the MCTS security workers would not be sworn law enforcement and would not have the legal authority to arrest or detain someone. The workers would still need to contact local law enforcement or the MCSO for incidents when those police powers are needed. Additionally, they would not have the authority to make someone identify themselves, which could necessitate involving law enforcement to issue the ordinance violation citations.

Beyond the discrepancy in citation power, Kading said the MCTS proposal for public safety pfficers is largely the same as the idea for the transit ranger program.

Donnell Shorter, ATU president, asked what the time frame would be to transition the Public Safety Officer program to an actual law enforcement division. Kading responded that initial investigation of that question indicates it could take as little as one year, though likely longer. Though, to stand up a law enforcement agency with all the requisite powers would require an act of the Legislature.

Sawyer Schmitt, MCTS Safety and Security Coordinator, said that the public safety officer program does not address the problems that currently exist related to following up and investigating crimes that occur on buses. “That’s why I still strongly believe that law enforcement is appropriate,” he said.

Sup. Peter Burgelis, who co-chairs the task force with Clancy, asked whether any consideration had been given to a contingent of sheriff’s deputies dedicated to transit security that could support the non-law enforcement transit security. Kading responded, “It would be great to have some cooperation with the sheriff’s department, as well as to this program.”

The task force has still not seen a cost analysis for standing up a transit ranger program that would be under the purview of the county but outside of MCTS.  Co-Chair Clancy said he thought that’s what would be before them, and said the notion that it could be a “pathway” to a transit police department “doesn’t make sense.”

Schmitt pointed to the minutes of the last meeting and said the task force had reached an agreement that it made sense for the “park ranger safety officers public safety, whatever you’d like to call them” to be stood up within MCTS. “Because we have the infrastructure already, we have the vehicles, we have the dispatch center, we have the capabilities of technology,” he said.

Transit union leaders have been pushing for security improvements for years and have made it clear that they want a security solution as soon as possible. The task force is attempting to have a proposal it can present to the Milwaukee County Board before the end of July, so that any such proposal could potentially be incorporated into the 2024 budget. The task force appears set in its decision to replace the private security force, but what exactly the replacement will look like remains to be seen.