City of Missoula hires private security to patrol some areas
MISSOULA, Mont. March 13, 2022— The city of Missoula hired Rogers International to patrol vulnerable areas of Missoula.
Rogers has been patrolling these areas since September, and so far president of operations David Pritchard says they have seen some success.
“I would say definitely if anyone was to drive by that area and look at it, it’s quite a bit different than it was three to four months ago,” Pritchard said.
It’s been around five months since Rogers International signed the contract with the city for up to $670,000.
So far, estimates have shown Rogers will receive around $60,000 a month for their continued service in different areas of Missoula.
The city has paid Rogers close to $160,000 to date.
A section of the contract shows the areas Rogers will patrol, including l the area around the Poverello Center, in addition to the authorized campsite off Reserve Street and the area surrounding the Johnson Street shelter.
Rogers International shared body cam footage of their interactions in those areas, reviewed by NBC Montana and Rogers International for confidentiality reasons.
We sat down with Pritchard, who says they have been successful in limiting some of the chaos that surrounds Montana’s largest homeless shelter.
But in our sit-down interview, he says success hasn’t come from the use of force.
“We build relationships, so if a couple of people are ready to fight out in the street, we are able to go up talk to them, separate them and mitigate that situation so PD doesn’t need to be called,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard calls the relationship building a crucial point to how they have been able to be successful in their new assignment.
We asked to see some of the city’s emails with Rogers. Those emails detail training requirements for Rogers staff.
We found some that detail relationships developed on patrol.
