Armed security group to beef up enforcement around Raleigh transit station

WRAL has obtained a contract between the city of Raleigh and an armed security team. The document gives us a first look at how the officers will try to make part of downtown Raleigh safer.

Capitol Special Police (CSP) will focus on the area surrounding the transit center - and the sidewalks in the block around it - right across from Moore Square and Marbles Kids Museum, and near a middle school.

CSP is the same company that provides security at city hall.

Two armed security guards at a time will patrol around the GoRaleigh station and adjacent bus stops, seven days a week.

A private security force is now on board to begin patrolling in and around the downtown transit center where crime increased through the first nine months of this year - including two homicides.

"Usually within 90 days we have it turned around where it displaces it, corrects it, but it makes the area safer for the average person to come," said chief of CSP Roy Taylor.

The city signed a $223,000 contract with Taylor's company for the a four-month span. It spells out the expectations and requirements for the armed security officers.

One of the requirements is that they “must not have been terminated or asked to resign from a law enforcement agency.”

Two paragraphs outline when officers can use force. It says "de-escalation techniques should always be employed prior to using force” and “consideration should be made as to the level of force that can or cannot be used” in a situation.

Taylor said officers assigned to the transit center will go through additional firearms training.

"We want to make sure they’re comfortable being able to issue commands, understand how to deescalate situations, to hopefully avoid any use of force at all," Taylor said.

The contract also requires the security officers wear body cameras and activate them any time they're interacting with people.

"I think we need that presence to make people feel more secure," said Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. "I really appreciate the care that went into this for spelling out all of the rules, for spelling out use of force."

Social justice activist Kerwin Pittman said the city should focus more on helping people who are struggling instead of policing them.

"I think it’s a wrong investment in the wrong direction," Pittman said. "It’s just like putting a Band-Aid on a cut. Until we address the root problems of the individuals who are down there that they’re suffering with, we’re going to continue to be in this space."

The private security officers will be able to detain people, but not arrest them. They'll have to call Raleigh police for that.

Baldwin said the city will reevaluate the situation over the next few months while also trying to hire more police officers who could be assigned to the downtown area.