The Battle Over Transit Security

An MCTS became a crime scene after a shooting occurred aboard it. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The Milwaukee County Transit System is planning to expand its contract with a private security firm after the Milwaukee County Board suggested it pursue creating an entirely new security force.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley‘s 2024 budget proposal includes a $1.3 million increase to the county’s contract with Allied Universal Security (AUS). This funding would add personnel and hours to the current contract. But the union representing MCTS employees doesn’t support the proposal. Not because union leaders have a problem with the contract, per se, but because they say the problem is with AUS in general.

In September, the Milwaukee County Board voted to recommend a handful of new security policies to MCTS. Chief among them was creating a new security force called Transit Rangers. These would be county-employed and trained security personnel. They could issue ordinance violations, but, like AUS personnel, would not be able to detain or remove passengers from the bus.

This was among a handful of proposals that came out of a Transit Security Task Force created by the Milwaukee County Board. After the task force wrapped up in July, its co-chairs, board members Peter Burgelis and Ryan Clancy, advanced legislation that recommended creating a $3.4 million Transit Ranger force with 51 personnel.

The contract expansion proposed by MCTS integrates some of the ideas that came out of the task force. One example is the addition of AUS personnel that would act as liaisons between the county’s Department of Health and Human Services and the county’s Housing Division. These positions would address the issue of extended riders, or persons who get on a bus with no destination but just to ride. Often these riders face mental health challenges and or homelessness.

If approved, the new contract would also increase the hours of security contracted for by 100 a week, said Brittany Bertsch, an MCTS project manager, at a recent meeting of the board’s budget committee. The transit system also recently issued a directive to security personnel that they are expected to be on the bus for approximately 6 hours of an 8-hour shift.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU) has been pushing for changes to transit security for years. The union’s advocacy prompted supervisors to create the task force. Union leadership has been adamant that their problem is with AUS, not the contract. The union has lost all faith in the ability of AUS personnel to provide security for the transit system, and this led to their supporting the transit rangers idea.

“We want new security,” said Mike Brown, ATU vice president. “We want better security.”

Brown and MCTS operators have frequently criticized AUS response times and noted that its employees provide no deterrence of dangerous or violent behavior on the buses. Operators have testified, at times tearfully, at public meetings that the current security leaves them feeling vulnerable and like their safety is an afterthought for the system.

“We’re looking for something new,” Brown said.

MCTS has pushed back against replacing AUS with the transit rangers, noting that they would also not have law enforcement powers. Additionally, transportation officials have noted that creating such a force is more complicated and more expensive than envisioned in the recommendation passed by the board in September.

The 2024 budget process has only just begun, as supervisors have not yet begun promulgating amendments to Crowley’s budget.