Push To Arm MetroLink Security Guards Gains Momentum
St Louis MO March 10 2021 Arming private security guards continues to be an issue with the board of directors of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments after the Jan. 31 shooting death of a Sullivan guard.
Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler, also chairman of the Madison County, Illinois, board, read a letter from John Blackmore, pastor at Sullivan Christian Church, where James Cook attended, at the East-West Gateway board’s Feb. 24 virtual meeting. Cook, an unarmed private security guard, was fatally shot at MetroLink’s Delmar Loop station in the city of St. Louis.
Blackmore wrote that it is important for leaders to take action whether their counties are served by Metro Transit or not.
“As we allow the city to decay and become lawless and filled with crime, the whole region suffers,” he wrote. “I fully support arming security guards. Not only will it save lives but the lives of 90 percent of peaceful passengers depending on public transport for their livelihood.”
Taking action could prevent a future incident, Blackmore wrote. “Please let’s join together and make a difference,” he wrote. “We can no longer let outside government, culture and causes destroy the very region we love, where we live and who we lead.”
Taulby Roach, CEO of Bi-State Development, the interstate compact over Metro Transit and MetroLink Security officials, said he was moved by the words of the pastor, but Bi-State is limited because the federal compact does not allow private security to be armed.
“We will be looking at what are the overall aspects of the federal compact and how it works within a comprehensive security program. We are committed to doing that,” he said.
Kevin Scott, general manager for field security at Metro Transit, said it is important to have a multi-jurisdictional transit authority that meshes into one team. He defended the East-West Gateway-funded study by WSP, of St. Louis, that changed Metro Transit’s policy on armed private security as of April 1, 2020.
“The WSP study went through very systematically what we did not have in place as a company in comparison to nationwide best practices,” he said. “It also vetted the legalities of which we have to operate within, and it brought to light some very serious concerns about some things we were doing that were counter to those legal obligations.”
Scott said Bi-State has “redefined” its relationship with the primary MetroLink law enforcement partners in St. Louis city and county and St. Clair County, Illinois, and added 107 off-duty or secondary officers to complement the primary police that are deployed, Scott said. “It’s a very complex dynamic, but we also have to operate within federal guidelines.”
Franklin County Presiding Commissioner Tim Brinker thanked Prenzler for his “stick-to-itiveness” on the situation. Brinker said he has yet to see where it is written in the compact that private security cannot be armed.
Scott responded that the compact is clear that Metro Transit can’t house its own internal police agency and can’t issue weapons designed to cause bodily harm. “This was something that was brought forward by the analysis by WSP,” he said.“There was huge concern about our liability and how we were performing and the type of equipment we were deploying.”
Metro Transit previously had firearms on its system that were not company owned, Scott said. “They were all different types of firearms,” he said. “We didn’t know the working condition of those. We weren’t in control of the ammunition being deployed. Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, it was a very scary scenario for us as a company.”
Bi-State has come back into compliance with federal guidelines over the last 13 months, Scott said.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon, vice-chair of the Gateway board, asked if the federal compact is ever renegotiated.
Roach said it was passed by both state Legislatures and the federal government. “That enables us to operate in a two-state dynamic,” he said. “I do want to stress that, within our security program, there’s no question that full deadly force is needed within the layered security program. We have moved to increase that but at the highest level of training and professional capabilities, and that is through strengthening these key relationships with our professional police partners.”
Although Brinker previously discussed pushing federal lawmakers to change the interstate compact governing Bi-State to allow for armed private security, that was not brought up at the Feb. 27 meeting, and no official action was taken.
No elected officials from St. Louis city or county or St. Clair County, the jurisdictions served by MetroLink, spoke on arming security at the meeting.
