NC Files Cease and Desist Order Against Southern Pines Apartment Complex-A-1 Tactical Security www.privateofficer.com

 

Southern Pines NC June 19 2013 The state Attorney General’s office has filed three cease-and-desist orders against representatives of the management company, the security company and a security guard at Brookside Park Apartments.

Southern Pines Police Chief Bob Temme said the orders were filed on Friday.The orders stemmed from incidents that happened earlier this month around the time police and representatives from the Moore County District Attorney’s office met with community members to discuss the possibility of a nuisance abatement lawsuit against the owners and managers of Brookside Park Apartment.
Temme said on the day before the community meeting, the police were informed by representatives of PK Management that security guards would be stationed at the complex. When asked if the guards would be armed, Temme said the answer was no.
The night after the meeting, Temme said a lieutenant and a patrol officer came across an individual who said he was a security guard working for A-1 Tactical, a company believed to be hired by the management company.
“He was, in fact, armed with a Glock semi-automatic handgun,” Temme said.
The gun, Temme said, had been modified and had not been issued by the security company, both violations of state law.
“We think it is an act of extreme indifference to human life to have armed security guards there,” Temme said, “We are not against armed security guards, we are against illegally armed security guards.”
Temme said A-1 Tactical security company is not registered with the state Attorney General’s office, making it illegal to provided armed security.
Temme said the nuisance abatement lawsuit has not been filed and the Attorney General’s actions are separate from ongoing problems at the complex.
During the public meeting earlier this month, Temme told residents that the department has averaged between 1,600 and 1,700 calls for service each year over the past six years at the Brookside complex. This figure only represents the Southern Pines Police Department’s responses, and does not include statistics from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI or any other agency.
Temme has said officers’ calls to Brookside account for about 7 percent of total calls. And of those responses to Brookside, 500, or 29 percent, are calls that require officers to initiate an investigation. It was a call volume that Temme said was “astronomical” considering the 150-apartment complex is such a small part of the town.
The frequent calls to Brookside are straining town resources, Temme said.
Representatives from the PK Management and security officers attended the meeting.
During that meeting, Temme said the police and representatives from PK management reached an agreement in 2010, but little progresss has been made since.
A copy of a letter dated July 23, 2010 from the Southern Pines Police to Teresa Blanco, PK Management’s regional manager, details the “mutual concerns regarding public safety at Brookside Park Apartments.”
During the meeting earlier this month, Krueger told attendees that the purpose of a lawsuit is to get the owners and the management company to stop the nuisance. She indicated these nuisances are in two categories: illegal drugs and breach of the peace, which she called a “situation where there are repeated acts that disturb the public order.” Filing a lawsuit could result in a judge ordering the property owners and managers to abate the nuisances. If they don’t, they could face fines or even jail time.
Residents voiced concerns over being evicted, safety, and poor communication between residents and the management company as well as the police.
Any lawsuit related to nuisance abatement at Brookside could be filed as early as next week.

Source-thepilot.com

Atlanta area HOA’s using private security to enforce traffic rules www.privateofficer.com

 

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. June 18 2013

By- Jodie Fleischer

WSBTV

A Channel 2 Action News investigation found private security guards pulling over drivers in several local neighborhoods.

They use lights, sirens, and even write traffic tickets, but they aren’t real police officers. Channel 2 producers went undercover to catch the activity on video.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer received calls and emails from drivers complaining about security guards running radar and staking out stop signs in several neighborhoods.

In the gated St. Marlo community in southern Forsyth County, a security officer pulled over our producers for rolling through a smaller version of a stop sign. (Channel 2 producers first consulted our attorney and law enforcement, then drove below the speed limit. They also made sure there were no children or pedestrians around before carefully driving through, to document a traffic stop.)

The security officer issued a $100 fine traffic citation, payable to the neighborhood’s homeowners’ association, which employs the guards.

“If I was to stop a motor vehicle with lights in my car, I would be on my way to jail,” said resident T.J. Ward.

Ward believes the security officers are impersonating real ones. He has been a certified police officer for 40 years.

“A private individual can’t make a traffic stop and security officers are private individuals. The only person that can stop a motor vehicle is a law enforcement officer,” said Ward.

Ward got pulled over a few years ago, which launched a heated exchange with his HOA. In a letter, the neighborhood’s property manager wrote in part, “The decision by individuals to stop for security personnel is purely voluntary, given their understanding of homeowner responsibility to comply with all rules promulgated by the association.”

The neighborhood already installed speed bumps and posted the speed limit and stop signs.

“I think it has nothing to do with safety. It’s a money maker, and they know it,” said Chip Terrell, who got a $50 ticket in the St. Ives neighborhood in Johns Creek.

“If you don’t come to that head-jerking stop, they are coming out and trying to write you a ticket,” said Terrell.

Our cameras also caught security trucks in both neighborhoods rolling through stop signs.

Terrell believes his pest control truck made him a target. He said drivers working in the neighborhood frequently receive tickets.

“They are taking advantage of people that can’t defend themselves. There’s no legal system in here. You pay the ticket or your company doesn’t work in here anymore,” said Terrell.

“I don’t know that they’re necessarily targeting anybody,” said Tom Bartolozzi, an attorney who has represented hundreds of homeowners associations.

He said neighborhoods have the right to enforce their own rules on their streets.

“If they see a stop sign, they should just stop,” Bartolozzi said.

He added, “All it takes is one incident of a small child coming through, because you’re rolling, looking to the left, and someone comes out there. I think they would rather err on the side of caution.”

He said that guests consent to the traffic stops when they enter the gated community, and homeowners agree to live by association rules when moving in.

“It’s just the same thing like they can’t paint their house a certain color or they have to keep their lawn maintained,” said Bartolozzi.

“I think it’s absurd. It certainly seems to run afoul of state laws,” said constitutional law professor and former U.S. Attorney Bob Barr.

Barr published a column on the topic years ago, and said most homeowners don’t want the trouble or expense of battling their HOA, or they think the officers are real police officers.

“I pulled over thinking I was yielding to an emergency vehicle,” said attorney Ken Poris, who fought a traffic stop in his neighborhood outside Chicago.

The Court of Appeals wrote, “The security officers are without legal authority to stop and detain drivers for violating association rules.”

But Poris lost in the Illinois Supreme Court earlier this year.

“I felt that they were dead bang wrong,” said Poris, whose community was not gated.

He said the private security officer used a radar gun with no calibration or training.

“It’s vigilante law. He was making what amounted to a citizen’s arrest without the authority,” said Poris.

Back here in Georgia, the St. Marlo officer advised our producer that she would not be allowed back in the community until the ticket was paid.

The officer said, “We’re here to make sure no one speeds and everyone is safe.”

Critics like Ward worry about the safety of the officers and their neighborhoods.

Ward said, “God forbid that a child gets hit by a car. I understand there are a few people who speed through here, but there’s other ways of doing it. They can target a car, see the car, send them a ticket by mail.”

Bartolozzi said in most neighborhoods, the HOA board is willing to hear appeals from drivers who want to fight a ticket, but that’s the same board that collects the money.

The citations do not affect drivers’ state maintained records, and there is no criminal penalty for non-payment. However, if the driver lives in the neighborhood, the HOA can place a lien on the owner’s property for non-payment. It can also hold homeowners responsible for tickets received by their visitors, because the guards document the guest information when they enter the neighborhood.

Because a homeowner in the St. Marlo community allowed our producers through the gate, the HOA can fine that homeowner if the ticket goes unpaid. Channel 2 Action News plans to pay the fine.

Representatives from several law enforcement agencies have contacted Fleischer saying they are outraged over the issue. Many pointed out that traffic stops are one of the most dangerous parts of their job.

$55 million civil jury award against security firm in shooting case www.privateofficer.com

SAN BERNARDINO CALIFORNIA June 16 2013

A civil court jury voted to award $55 million to a Rancho Cucamonga man who lost his legs because a private security firm’s security guard failed to protect him from a gang member who shot him at the Fontana apartment building where he lived in 2006, the panel decided.

The negligence lawsuit said a guard from Stratus Security Services neither broke up a late-night outdoor drinking party of about 10 men associated with the Crips gang, nor told shooting victim Antonio Steward and his two friends who were sitting outside on a nearby apartment stairwell to go back inside their own homes because it was dangerous. Jurors decided the case Thursday, June 13.

Steward, who was 17 when he was shot, is 24 years old now and in constant pain from the nine gunshot wounds he suffered, his attorney Gary Dordick of Beverly Hills said Friday, June 14.

Steward lives with his parents Steve Steward and Annie Camp in an apartment unequipped for his disabilities. Despite his wounds, he was able with prosthetics to walk across stage in his delayed graduation from Alta Loma High School in 2009. An article about the event called him “Miracle Man Walking.”

Steward volunteers at Loma Linda University Medical Center where he counsels new amputees. His prosthetic legs broke in a fall a few years ago, and no longer fit. They have not been replaceable since an insurance change with his 21st birthday.

The law firm representing Stratus relayed a message from its insurance adjuster on Friday that “the process is not over and we are not in a position to make a comment at this time.” Defense attorneys can seek a new trial, ask for the judge to overturn the jury’s verdict, or appeal. Dordick said defense attorneys indicated in court they plan to do use all three options if needed. The trial judge also can reduce the award.

In earlier court actions, Stratus claimed that the security guard believed the men were going back inside the apartment where they had been invited as guests, and there was no evidence of imminent danger.

Steward’s negligence lawsuit said the guard employed by Stratus Security Services should have ordered dispersal of a group of men who were drinking and partying outdoors at 12:30 a.m. Aug. 26, 2006 at the apartment house complex on Arrow Boulevard in Fontana. Instead, the guard told the men about a noise complaint and then walked away, testimony and court documents said.

The security guard said he was reluctant to do much more than that. “If you’d been there, you wouldn’t have wanted to be there,” court records said the man testified in an early hearing in the case. “It was about 10 of them and one of me…it was just a situation I didn’t want to be in.” One of the men from the group shot Steward shortly after the guard went to his car to write a daily activity report.

If the security guard did not feel safe dispersing the large group of men, he should have told Steward and his friends to go back inside their apartments and called police the lawsuit said. Dordick said there was testimony that Steward obeyed security guard orders in the past because he didn’t want his family to get evicted.

But that night, Dordick said, the security guard did not issue any warnings to Steward or his friends. Shortly after the guard went to his car, Roosevelt Turner broke away from the group of men, tried to bum a cigarette off Steward, and then shot him.

Only about half the $55 million will actually be available to Steward, if it is not reduced further by either post-verdict action or appeals, Dordick said.

Even before any possible reduction of the jury’s award by the trial judge or from appeals, the actual amount is already reduced to 49 percent Dordick said . Jurors assigned 49 percent responsibility of the shooting to Stratus Security Services, 49 percent to Turner, and 2 percent to Steward.

Steward is not liable to himself. Turner, who is currently serving two consecutive life-with-possibility-of-parole prison sentences stemming from the shooting, also is not a source for paying damages. “I don’t know how many license plates he can make,” Dordick said.

But at $26.9 million, “People hear a number like that and they think it’s extraordinarily large – and it is,” Dordick said “But it is a reasonable number, given the catastrophic nature of the injury and damages. Both of his legs were amputated above the knee. He has had 56 surgeries and will need at least 40 more in the future. More than 40 percent of his stomach was removed.”

Dordick said Steward will need constant care for the rest of his life and will battle an array of infections. The quality of that care will determine how long Steward will live. He lost his legs to gangrene which was caused by a lack of blood flowing to the limbs, a complication of the gunshot wounds, court records said.

“I was pretty shocked at the amount,” Steward said Friday in a phone interview. “Now I just want to get it over, move on, and try to be a productive member of society.” He said he plans to use whatever money he actually gets to get a handicap-equipped home for himself and his parents, and to make donations to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was treated and underwent physical rehabilitation.

Steward said he is not angry. “It was just tragic. People were not in their right minds. It was just a shock; I remember I just hit the ground and it was, ‘are you serious? The guy just shot me.’ I’m still here, and I am grateful for that, so I can’t be mad at the guard or the shooter.”

“God has a reason that he saved me, but He won’t let you know that; you have to find that out for yourself…I don’t cry about it, I just take a breath and do what I have to do,” Steward said in a phone interview. He said he tells new amputee patients that he counsels, “If you are a man, you need to man up and if you are a woman, you need to woman up. We are here for a reason, because we were all saved.”

Source- PE.com

Woman sues Hilton Galveston in response to alleged rape by security guard www.privateofficer.com

 

 

GALVESTON TX June 15 2013 – Fertitta Hospitality Inc. and Hilton Worldwide are targets of a lawsuit from a woman claiming she was raped at their Galveston hotel last year.

According to court papers filed June 10 in Galveston County District Court, a security guard at the Hilton Galveston Island Resort sexually assaulted plaintiff Diana Buckner on Aug. 26, 2012.

The suit asserts the guard, who is not a defendant in the case, provided Buckner a suite. He used his status as an employee to improperly gain access to the suite, and once he had gained access, he proceeded to wrongfully restrain the plaintiff and repeatedly sexually assaulted and raping her, the original petition says.

It adds the incident in question left the complainant with injuries to her head, lumbar spine, cervical spine, tailbone and other parts of her body. Buckner cites the respondents for respondent superior, accusing them of negligently hiring and supervising the guard. They are faulted for:

• Failing to exercise reasonable care;
• Failing to reasonably protect the complainant;
• Failing to keep the premises safe;
• Failing to properly hire, train and supervise security personnel;
• Failing to provide a safe place;
• Failing to implement policy and procedures for checking in all guests; and
• Failing to provide adequate security.

Consequently, Buckner seeks a minimum of $100,000 in damages and a jury trial.

She is represented by attorney Stephen P. Carrigan of Carrigan, Cook, Anderson PLLC in Houston. Galveston County 212th District Court Judge Susan Criss is presiding over the case.

Case No. 13-CV-771

First Coast Security lands $36.5 million contract to guard five sites in DC www.privateofficer.com

 

Washington DC May 12 2013 The Federal Protective Service, a component of DHS, has awarded a contract worth $36.5 million to First Coast Security Solutions, Inc., of Jacksonville, FL, to provide armed security guards at five different buildings and facilities in Washington, DC.

The award announcement, which was released on May 7, covered the District’s Central Heating Plant, offices of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, the National Building Museum, the Franklin Court Building and offices of the National Park Service, says the notice.

“As an integral part of this security effort, the contractor shall provide and maintain all management, supervision, manpower, training, equipment, supplies, licenses, permits, certificates, insurance, pre-employment screenings, report, and files necessary to accomplish the requirement,” said the Federal Protective Service.

In its earlier solicitation, the agency said it anticipated offering a single award, indefinite delivery requirements contract with a fixed monthly price.

Founded in 1999, First Coast Security, a privately owned firm, says it has over 550 officers throughout the Eastern U.S. assigned to physical security, of which over 150 officers work in an armed capacity.

Further information about this contract is available from Rosetta Jackson at 215-521-3105 or rosetta.jackson@dhs.gov

Security guard allegedly commits gay hate crime www.privateofficer.com

 

PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO IL May 3 2013 — Attorney Yao Dinizulu of the Dinizulu Law Group, Ltd. filed a hate crime complaint on May 1 on behalf of plaintiff Falon Carter, 30, who alleges that an apartment security guard beat her with a steel flashlight and used derogatory terms to her relating to her sexual orientation.
The complaint states that security guard, Stanton Robinson, had repeatedly harassed Carter in the past because of her sexual orientation. The Illinois Hate Crime Act, 720 ILCS, states that a “person commits a hate crime when he/she commits a crime based on the actual or perceive: race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or gender .”According to reports, on May 12, 2011, Carter was visiting her girlfriend at Parkway Garden Apartments in Chicago when she was approached by Robinson. After he attacked her, Robinson, who is 5’8″ and weighs between 265-285, told Carter, who is 5’3″ and weighs approximately 110 lbs., that she “looked like a boy.”

Although Robinson already knew that Carter was a frequent visitor at Parkway Garden Apartments, he asked if she lived there and shined a steel flashlight in her face.

According to witnesses, Carter asked Robinson not to shine the flashlight in her eyes. Robinson then proceeded to strike her in her face with his flashlight. As a result, her face became bloody and swollen. Carter suffered a fractured bone in her face at the base of her skull. She had additional injuries to her right hand, which she used to protect herself. She also reportedly suffered from emotional and psychological distress from the incident. According to victims, Robinson has a history of violence and excessive force. He was previously a Cook County Department of Corrections Officer, and was discharged for using excessive force on inmates. He was then hired by Parkway Garden Apartments .The complaint, which was filed at the Richard J. Daley Center, names Robinson, as well as Parkway Gardens Preservation, L.P. and Related Management Company L.P. as defendants.

Security guard car hits elderly woman www.privateofficer.com

 

OCEANSIDE CA April 22 2013— A woman in her 70s was struck by a security guard’s car and gravely injured as she crossed an Oceanside street with a walker Saturday night, police said.

The woman’s name was not released.

She was injured as she tried to cross the road at North Clementine Street and Mission Avenue about 9: 35 p.m., said Oceanside police Lt. Sean Marchand.

The guard, who was not injured, stopped after the accident, Marchand said. He said it was not immediately clear who may have been at fault.

Paramedics took the woman to Oceanside Municipal Airport, and she was flown by medical helicopter to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

GA. senior citizen sues Kroger-private security agency for assault www.privateofficer.com

 

Fulton County GA April 13 2013 A Fairburn good Samaritan is suing grocery store chain Kroger after a store manager allegedly body-slammed him in the parking lot for trying to help another patron.

John Young, 74, is also suing the now former manager, Jack Hinesly, and the private security company that employed the security officer who accompanied Hinesly during that Aug. 22 incident.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Fulton County State Court, accuses Hinesly of assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional stress.

Young is demanding damages of at least $3,500 to recoup medical expenses for a torn rotator cuff and stitches to a cut allegedly suffered in the incident, and he is asking that his legal fees be paid and for an unspecified amount in putative damages. “I can hardly use that arm now,” Young said when reached by phone Thursday, referring to his injured right arm. Hinesly was arrested by the Union City police and charged with simple battery and released after the incident on $1,000 bond. Kroger fired him. Neither Hinesly, nor spokespersons for Kroger or security company Norred could be reached Thursday for comment.

Young is a retired truck driver who had been operating a non-profit that cooperated with grocery stores to donate perishable foods to needy families. He had been a regular at the Union City store for years. The complaint says he was shopping at the store in the 4500 block of Jonesboro Road when he said he overheard a woman on the phone saying she couldn’t afford to buy some items. As Young checked out, the woman was behind him, and Young said he invited her to follow him.

“Something said to me, ‘Help her,’” Young told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last August. The woman went with him to his truck, where he began to look for food to give her. That’s when Hinesly, nearly 20 years younger than Young with 60 pounds and six inches on the elderly man, allegedly confronted Young with the unnamed security guard in tow.

“Defendant Hinesly slammed Plaintiff Young to the ground with such force that (the) plaintiff’s head hit the pavement, shattering his eye glasses, causing a deep cut to his head and profuse bleeding,” the lawsuit claims. “Plaintiff Young was restrained by … Hinesly.” It was unclear on Thursday when this case would go before a judge.
Source-ajc.com

NY Attorney General Sues NYC Security Guard Training Company That Scammed Unemployed Consumers www.privateofficer.com

 

NEW YORK April 12 2013- Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that he filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against a company and its owner for using phony job listings and false promises of employment to con consumers into paying for expensive security guard training courses. The New York City-based 1st Security Preparation & Placement, Inc. and its owner, Allen Haft, may have scammed more than 15,000 consumers since 2008.
The Attorney General’s office also secured a temporary restraining order freezing any assets the company or Haft may have and temporarily barring them from advertising job openings or selling security guard training courses.
“My office will not tolerate companies that break the law to take advantage of vulnerable, unemployed consumers,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “Posting phony job listings during an economic crisis is a particularly cynical effort to prey on the hopes of struggling workers and families. We will seek the maximum penalties against 1st Security as well as restitution for defrauded consumers.”
The lawsuit, filed yesterday, seeks full restitution for consumers defrauded in the scheme since at least 2008. As many as 15,000 people, many of them New York City residents, signed up for classes. The suit also seeks injunctive relief prohibiting the company from continuing to operate this scam. The company faces penalties of up to $5,000 per customer defrauded.
After reviewing about 200 consumer complaints, the Attorney General’s Office conducted an undercover investigation of the company revealing that it has posted hundreds of fake security guard job listings on Craigslist and in newspapers, including amNewYork, the Daily News, the New York Post and Metro. The advertisements make it seem like the company is hiring employees at high hourly wages when in fact the company is selling its courses.
When consumers respond to the ads, 1st Security falsely promises them that they have been selected for a position. The company tells applicants that before they can start working, they must complete a series of security guard training courses, typically at a cost of $449 to $667.
1st Security holds classes at 250 West 40th Street that last approximately four days and issues students certificates for those classes.
After consumers pay for and complete 1st Security’s training courses, they meet with 1st Security’s placement office and are given worthless “referrals” to security guard companies — instead of the promised jobs. When consumers follow up on the referrals, they are not hired for any position usually because the companies are either not hiring or not interested in hiring individuals with no experience. They find that the companies that they were referred to have no knowledge of 1st Security and are not expecting the consumer for an interview.
In addition to making false promises of employment, 1st Security also falsely represents that consumers must complete their entire package of courses to be eligible to work as a security guard. In fact, only one of the three courses in the series — the eight hour pre-assignment training course — is required to begin working as a security guard. In addition, 1st Security’s training courses are poor in quality, overpriced and do not comply with New York requirements for security guard training courses, including minimum hours of instruction and required topics.
If you were a victim of 1st Security’s scheme, please file a complaint with the OAG. Complaint forms are available at: http://www.ag.ny.gov/bureaus/consumer_frauds/filing_a_consumer_complaint.html.
Consumers seeking to work as a security guard should be wary of any security guard training school that poses as an employer of security guards or promises to place students in security guard positions. Consumers should read any contract with the security guard company carefully and, before signing any contract, check to see if the school is approved by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Consumers should also keep in mind that low-cost and even free security guard training courses may be available. For example, the State University of New York’s Manhattan Educational Opportunity Center offers free security guard training courses for individuals who meet certain income guidelines and many community colleges offer low-cost security guard training courses.
The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Lee and Investigator Andres Rodriguez. It’s being supervised by the Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection’s Deputy Bureau Chief Laura J. Levine, Bureau Chief Jane M. Azia and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Karla G. Sanchez.

Illinois security company owner and school board candidate says arrest for impersonating a police officer is bogus www.privateofficer.com

Rockford IL April 7 2013 A Rockford school board candidate says his arrest for impersonating a police officer Thursday was not only a  poorly thought out plan to trump up charges against him, but politically motivated.

Juan Reyes, owner of Security Professionals of Illinois, is campaigning for the Subdistrict F seat on the Rockford Board of Education. Thursday morning, April 4, Reyes was arrested at his home by the Illinois Secretary of State Police.

The arrest stems from an incident Reyes says he has thought little about until this week. Nov. 28, Reyes, 41, was stopped by a Cherry Valley police officer for speeding. In complying with the request to produce his driver’s license, Reyes reached for his wallet, which holds a law enforcement badge. Reyes carries the badge because he’s a member of the Illinois Police Bureau, a non-profit auxiliary law enforcement agency that assists police departments across the state. “He asked me, ‘Do you work for an agency?’” Reyes said. “I told him, ‘I’m with the Illinois Police Bureau out of Chicago.’”

The officer issued Reyes a warning, advising  him to obey the speed limit. “That was the end of it,” Reyes said. “I drove off.” Reyes said the stop surfaced briefly a month later when he applied for a position with the Secretary of State Police. “I applied to be an investigator,” he said. “It was perfect–a job that would have allowed me to keep working my security business.”

Close to what Reyes felt was a job offer, a hiring officer inquired about the Cherry Valley traffic stop. “He asked me if I told the police officer that I was a Chicago cop,” Reyes said of the interview. Reyes later received written notice from the Secretary of State that he was no longer being considered for employment. “I got the letter Jan. 10,” he said. “It thanked me for applying and that ‘due to the circumstances’ I was permanently ineligible for a job.”

The answer to why he was being accused of a crime almost five months after the alleged offense, Reyes said was nothing short of puzzling. An official in Springfield, while reviewing his employment application, initiated a complaint against him for allegedly impersonating an officer during the November traffic stop. “It makes no sense,”  Reyes said. “They already had my paperwork long before Jan. 10. And now, day before the election, someone says I need to be arrested?” Had he committed a crime, Reyes said, he would have expected to be arrested by the Cherry Valley Police Department.

“Being a law enforcement practitioner, I know that if I impersonated an officer, the agency that I impersonated to would need to arrest me, not the Secretary of State.” While the Secretary of State Police does possess arresting power, its role is largely behind the scenes, regulating licenses issued to pawn shops, automobile dealers, auto parts stores and taxi companies. It also assists in tracking down stolen vehicles.

Lending to Reyes’ confusion was the identity of the arresting officer. According to court documents, the arrest warrant was served by Investigator Seth Beard. “It’s the same investigator who interviewed me for the job with the Secretary of State,” Reyes said. “Again, he was already informed of the (traffic) incident long before Thursday. During my interview, he even took a picture of my bureau ID and badge. I was told there was no problem.”

Reyes was charged under Illinois Statutes 720 5/17-2(b)(3), False Impersonation of a Police Officer, and 720 5/17-2(d)(1), Producing a False Law Enforcement Badge. According to the statute, it is a felony to misrepresent an individual or public police agency using the words: “‘Police Department’, ‘Patrolman’, ‘Sergeant’, ‘Lieutenant’, ‘Peace Officer’, ‘Sheriff’s Police’, ‘Sheriff’, ‘Officer’, ‘Law Enforcement,’ ‘Trooper’, ‘Deputy’,’Deputy Sheriff’ and ‘State Police.’” It is also a crime to, ” knowingly produce, sell, or distribute a law enforcement badge without the express written consent of the law enforcement agency represented on the badge or, in case of a reorganized or defunct law enforcement agency, its successor law enforcement agency.”

Reyes says he did nothing to violate either law. “There was nothing false about it,” Reyes said. “I didn’t tell him, ‘I’m a police officer.’ I told him I was the deputy chief of the bureau. That’s where it ended. Reyes was also charged with using a false name, two charges he says are also not valid. “When the officer ran my plates, he saw that my car is registered to me and the Illinois Police Bureau, he said.

“I listed the title that way because I use red and blue police lights when I do work for the bureau. In order for a car to use red and blues, the vehicle must be associated with an agency permitted to use them.” According to Chief Richard Buroff of the Illinois Police Bureau, Reyes has been with the more than 20-year-old agency for three years and serves as the deputy chief in charge of training. Buroff said Juan’s time with the organization has included nothing but exemplary service. “I don’t believe Juan is guilty of anything,” Buroff said. “To me, someone delighted in starting something up they knew would appear in all of the newspapers.”

As for his campaign, Reyes, a former U.S. Marine and Desert Storm veteran, said he is running for school board because he believes in public education and aims to continue making a difference in Rockford. “I have four kids in the district,” he said. “I am vested. I’ve been a coach. I am involved

. If people want change in District 205, they can vote for me. I don’t hide behind anything. I will be that one guy with a true voice. “These charges are bogus and they are trumped up.” Reyes faces Michael Connor and Jeffery A. Holt in the April 9 election. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, April 11, in courtroom B, inside the Winnebago County Justice Center. An attempt to reach Investigator Seth Beard was unsuccessful.
Source: rockfordrecord.com

Salinas security company owner charged with tax evasion and fraud www.privateofficer.com

 

SALINAS, Calif. April 5 2013  —The owner of a private security company hired to patrol Oldtown Salinas and help clean up the homeless problem is now facing prison time for tax evasion and insurance fraud.

Monterey County prosecutors charged Anthony Vincent with four felony and two misdemeanor counts of not providing workers comp insurance to employees, and failing to pay employee taxes.

Vincent is the owner of ESA International, a Salinas-based private security company. They were hired by the Salinas Oldtown Association 18 months ago to patrol downtown.

The director of the association, Amit Pandya, was surprised by the allegations against Vincent. Pandya said Vincent’s company has been a good partner and helped cracked down on crime.

The company is paid $200 a month to patrol the area, but the director says the partnership will be reconsidered when the association has it’s next regular meeting Thursday. One possibility is to terminate the contract with ESA International. The current contract is set to expire at the end of June.

Vincent’s attorney says his client was advised by his accountant to hire his security guards as independent contractors to avoid paying worker’s comp. But that’s against the law.

Vincent will be arraigned April 30. A conviction on all counts could mean 12 years in prison.

source-www.ksbw.com

Patient sues Westside Regional Medical Center over sexual assault by security officer www.privateofficer.com

PLANTATION, Fla. April 5 2013 — A patient is suing a South Florida hospital after a man paid to protect her allegedly committed an alarming attack.
For five days Tali Duke was at Westside Regional Medical Center Baker Acted, meaning a security guard was with her at all times.
Duke said, during those five days, she was sexually molested 15 times under strong medication, unable to protect herself. “From kissing me,” said Duke, “to touching my breasts and putting his hand down my pants.”
The lawsuit states, the security guard “forced himself on Tali Duke by grabbing Duke’s face and kissing her. (He) touched Duke inappropriately on her breast, lower back and buttocks, and rubbed his groin against her arm.”
Duke and her attorney said Westside Regional Medical Center is to blame for failing to protect a patient. They claim Westside Regional breached their duty of reasonable care by failing to establish and implement policies and procedures to prevent sexual assault.
Duke said she was also sexually assaulted as a little girl. She claims what happened to her set her back. Now, she and her attorney are asking for $5 million. “I thought that everything that I lived through was behind me,” said Duke, “and when he did this to me, he just restarted that pain.”
Only Westside Regional, as parent company, is named in the lawsuit.
The security guard was investigated but never charged

source-/www.wsvn.com/

Woman Pulled From Metrorail Sues Security Company, Guard www.privateofficer.com

Miami FLA April 4 2013 The woman who was kicked off the Metrorail for singing religious songs is suing the guard who took her off the train and the security company he worked for.

Emma Anderson, 82, was removed from the Metrorail train in February after she was asked by the security guard to stop singing. When she refused, the guard asked her to leave. She refused again, and the security guard grabbed her belongings and pulled her out of the train.

Video shows Anderson falling after the guard pulled her out.

The complaint was filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on Monday against 50 State Security Service and the guard. It said that Anderson was “slammed” onto the station pavement and was “bruised and battered.”

The complaint says Anderson’s brother, Frank Milton, had died in the two weeks before the incident.

Her “thoughts were engaged in lifelong family memories and events involving Frank and other family members going back to the small farm in Georgia where plaintiff was born during the Great Depression,” the complaint reads.

A telephone message left after normal business hours, with a woman who answered the phone and said the office was closed, was not immediately returned.

Anderson’s attorney Al Carbonell says the county has been placed on notice about a possible lawsuit.

Miami-Dade Transit said it cannot comment on pending or ongoing litigation. In a previous statement, the agency did cite that county rules prohibit anyone from “singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument” without a commercial permit.

Carbonell maintains his client did not break any Metrorail rules.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a public apology to Anderson last month.

“We are sorry that this incident occurred and apologize to Mrs. Anderson. The situation should have been handled with more care and common sense,” Gimenez said in a statement.

Source: NBC 6

Farmington NM security guards struggling with pay problems www.privateofficer.com

FARMINGTON NM April 3 2013— Several dozen guards who ensure safety for local schools, shops and government offices are struggling to get paid for their efforts.

The uniformed, unarmed guards claim they have had problems receiving their bi-monthly paychecks on time or cashing them when they do receive them.

The employer, Chief Building Services, a security-services company headquartered in Phoenix, supplies security for commercial, private and government accounts. Monday, several guards who work security for Farmington schools walked out at midday.

Assistant Superintendent of Operations for the school district James Barfoot was aware of the company’s periodic payroll problems but said that the schools have never been directly affected by it. “We have a four-year contract for nine guards — four at Farmington High, four at Piedra Vista and one at Rocinante during evening classes,” Barfoot said.

“This is the first time that it’s starting to look serious,” he said of the payroll complaints. The school district has a contract for the nine guards worth close to $90,000 for 180 school days each year, Barfoot said. “We bid every four years, but if they have a problem paying their employees, we will file a breach of contract,” he said. “So far, we haven’t had to do that.” Emails and phone calls to the company owner went unanswered Monday.

Part of the problem might be that the owner, Al Hawkins, is currently stationed in Afghanistan. Hawkins, a former employee, bought the company two years ago, roughly when Farmington guards say the payroll problems began. Elsie Sheyka stands guard at Piedra Vista High School, but says she has had enough stress and financial hardship working for Chief Building Services. She is now looking for work as a guard elsewhere. “When our paychecks do come, they come late,” said Sheyka, 38.

“Then I spend time and gas trying to find someplace to cash it.

It’s too much trouble.” Sheyka, who commutes to work over an hour each way from Lukachukai, Ariz., said she still has a check from March she is unable to cash. “I was able, finally, to cash an older check at Sunray Casino, but when I went back with my second March check, they became like all the others and I drove home without my money,” she said.

She asked the Farmington branch of her employer for her pay to be directly deposited into her bank account, but was told the now-common payment option was unavailable.

Other guards who voiced complaints over their paycheck headaches declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution by their employer. “Either we are treated fairly or we will leave,” Sheyka said. “I’m frustrated and tired of this. I’m looking for a new job.”
Source: The Daily Times

Securitas security guard says he was fired for filing comp claim www.privateofficer.com

St. Clair IL March 29 2013 A St. Clair County man says he was fired from his job as a security guard after he filed a workers’ compensation claim.

James A. Fisk filed a lawsuit March 11 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Securitas Security Services USA Inc. Fisk says he worked for Securitas Security Services claims that between March 2010 and January 2012 he sustained several injuries while on the job. On February 19, according to the complaint, Fisk filed a workers’ compensation claim and nine days later was terminated from his job.

Fisk alleges he was fired in retaliation for filing an injury claim and, in doing so, the company violated Illinois’ Workers’ Compensation Act.

He asks for more than $100,000 in damages for lost wages and benefits, plus costs of the lawsuit.

Fisk is represented by attorney Keith Short of Edwardsville.

St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 13-L-129

Source- The Madison-St Clair Record

TN. SECURITY AGENCY VICTM OF ARSON www.privateofficer.com

NASHVILLE TN. Feb 18 2013 Police officers are investigating a burglary and arson of a private security service that occurred over the week-end.

Metro police and fire officials responded to a building fire at the Crime Suppression and Security Services Saturday afternoon and found the structure on fire.
According to a company representative, someone had broken into their office and vandalized their property before setting it ablaze.
The agency provides armed and unarmed security and patrol services in the metro area.

The building’s owner said the damage inside was pretty extreme but they will rebuild.

Private Officer International has set up an assistance fund and is asking that the security community help this company with their losses.

You may donate here: http://www.privateofficer.com

US Security Associates sued after guards helped steal $5 million worth of vehicle batteries www.privateofficer.com

ATLANTA Ga Feb 3 2013 (CN) – Contract security guards helped thieves steal $5 million worth of vehicle batteries, which were resold on the cheap, the Trojan Battery Co. claims in court.
Trojan sued U.S. Security Associates and Golf Cart World, in Fulton County Superior Court.
Trojan, of Lithonia, Ga., specializes in golf cart batteries. It claims that the very security guards it hired to stop the battery thefts took extraordinary steps to help the thieves, who sold some of the hot batteries to Golf Cart World, and that Golf Cart World had to know the batteries had been stolen because it got them so cheaply.
Trojan claims the security guards moved security cameras to hide what they were doing, took bribes to open the gates for the thieves, and watched as they loaded up with batteries and drove them away.
Golf Cart World, of Eastman, Ga., bought some of the hot batteries way cheaper than wholesale, and resold them for substantial profits, Trojan claims.
“Trojan hired U.S. Security for the primary purpose of preventing the theft of batteries from the facility,” the complaint states. “To prevent theft, U.S. Security was obligated to provide qualified and competent guards who are charged with, among other things, guarding the gated entrance to the facility, verifying the identity of each person and checking the contents of each vehicle that enters and exits through the gate, and otherwise preventing stolen batteries from being removed from the premises. Recently, Trojan discovered that U.S. Security guards, in complete derivation of their security duties to Trojan, knowingly and willfully facilitated and participated in the theft of Trojan batteries from the facility, including by allowing vehicles to exit the facility containing the stolen batteries in return for monetary payment by the thieves.”
Trojan claims it discovered the thefts in September 2012, though they had been going on for years, costing Trojan more than $5 million.
“Commencing in as early as 2009, U.S. Security guards became complicit with certain employees of Trojan at the time and possibly other persons in the theft of batteries from the facility,” the complaint states. “The U.S. Security guards did so by, among other actions, intentionally (1) opening the gate at the entrance to the facility to allow the thieves to enter the facility during off hours, (2) moving security cameras so that that theft could not be observed, (3) observing and allowing the thieves to load batteries into trucks knowing they were to be stolen, and (4) opening the gate to allow the trucks loaded with stolen batteries to exit the facility without checking the content. Moreover, to hide the theft, U.S. Security guards failed to maintain logs of the thieves entering and exiting the facility. In return for these and other misdeeds, on information and belief, U.S. Security guards received cash payments from the thieves of the stolen Trojan batteries.
“After committing the theft, the thieves then sold the stolen batteries to others, either directly or indirectly, including to GCW, for a fraction of their retail value. Given the extremely low price for the batteries and other factors, GCW knew, or should have known, that they were stolen. GCW then resold the batteries to the public at a substantial profit.
“In September 2012, Trojan first discovered the thefts when Trojan reviewed video footage from several cameras after noticing several pallets of batteries went missing over a weekend. The footage of the theft was taken in the evening hours after the plant had closed on Aug. 31, 2012, and clearly shows, among other things, a U.S. Security guard intentionally moving two security cameras so that they could not record the theft. Different cameras, however, capture footage of the U.S. Security guard admitting a truck through the gated entrance, and the truck being backed into a shipping dock where batteries were loaded. Several minutes later, the truck is seen pulling away from the dock and stopping at the gated entrance. Knowing that stolen batteries were contained therein, the U.S. Security guard did not check the truck’s contents, but instead he is handed something by one of the thieves, believed to be money. Then, the U.S. Security guard is seen opening the gate and allowing the truck to exit, never having been either inspected or logged.”
Trojan seeks compensatory and punitive damages for conversion, breach of contract and negligence.
It is represented by Douglas Duerr with Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson.

Tucson Police skeptical of security officer involved shooting www.privateofficer.com

TUCSON AZ Feb 2 2013- A shooting last month at a student housing complex left buildings riddled with bullet holes. The security company involved that night says they were mistreated by Tucson police.
Two members of Pro One security were on duty that night. They claimed they were shot at by a man with an assault rifle but in the course of the investigation the victims claim they were treated as suspects.
“I popped back up to re-engage the suspect he jumped over the wall. We heard a vehicle start and take off at a high rate of speed. I contacted Tucson Police and Tucson Police responded to the scene,” said Donald Erickson, owner of Pro One Security.
Police combed through the scene to conduct their investigation and they had Donald explain how things went down. They felt something wasn’t right.
It’s one thing for someone to call 911 or call the police and not be sure. They’re unsure about what they saw or they are confused, or they forgot. But it’s another when you’re witnesses give a very detailed account of what they saw and what they did and then when you take that account, match it up with physical evidence and it doesn’t match, that warrants further investigation,” said Sergeant Chris Widmer with Tucson Police.
TPD didn’t understand why the guards never fired back. Positions of the shooter and casings were not consistent with the guard’s story and there was even a mention of two shooters instead of one. It was a confusing scenario that just wasn’t adding up.
“He then told me that he did not believe me. That he believes that because we were losing the contract that we had actually had someone come and stage this event,” said Erickson.
TPD read the guards their Miranda rights but the guards were not arrested. The security guard owner is incensed.
“This is an insult to everything that I started with this company three years ago. These are questions that I just could not answer because we’d just been in a situation where somebody was shooting at us,” said Erickson.
Donald says he has filed a complaint with internal affairs. Tucson Police say the case has been sent to the aggravated assault unit for review. There is still no clear answer as to who was firing that rifle.

Source-KVOA.com

DOE awards $182 million security guard contract, WSI ‘disappointed’ www.privateofficer.com

Knoxville TN Jan 19 2012
Federal officials announced Thursday that they have awarded a $182 million contract to protect U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, including the East Tennessee Technology Park, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, and the rest of the Oak Ridge Reservation, not including the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The five-year contract was awarded to National Strategic Protective Services LLC, or NSPS.
“We are pleased to welcome NSPS as a part of the Department of Energy team in Oak Ridge,” said Larry Kelly, Oak Ridge Office manager. “We evaluated the proposals and it was clear to us that NSPS is the right company for this difficult and important job.”
NSPS will replace WSI Oak Ridge, which has provided protective force services in Oak Ridge since 2000.

In a press release, DOE said NSPS is a joint venture between Triple Canopy Inc. and Securiguard Inc. with Santa Fe Protective Services Inc. as its subcontractor. Santa Fe Protective Services Inc. is a woman-owned small business.
NSPS and Triple Canopy Inc. are located in Reston, Va. Securiguard Inc. is located in McLean, Va. Santa Fe Protective Services is located in Santa Fe, N.M.
WSI Oak Ridge said it was disappointed with the contract award.
“Since 2000, we have strived for mission excellence and excellence in the community,” the company said in a statement. “We are proud of our work for DOE and for our support of the Oak Ridge community and many of its worthwhile charitable organizations.”
The company, previously known as Wackenhut and now part of G4S Government Solutions, had earlier lost its contract to provide more than 500 security guards at the Y-12 National Security Complex. That contract termination followed the July 28 security breach at Y-12, when three anti-nuclear weapons activists cut through fences in a high-security area before dawn and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.
Oak Ridge Today asked Michael T. Koentop, a spokesman for the DOE Oak Ridge Office, if the security breach had had any impact on the contract award announced Thursday.
“NSPS was selected after a thorough and careful evaluation of all offerors, and was chosen because it provides the best value for the American taxpayer in providing this vital service,” Koentop said in an e-mailed response. “All offerors were considered against the same set of technical criteria, which included technical approach, key personnel, corporate experience, past performance, transition approach, and Small Business Participation Plan.”
He declined to name other bidding teams or say how many there were.
WSI said it has more than 50 years of service to DOE across the country and will work with NSPS to ensure a smooth and productive transition.
“We will also work to ensure that all of our employees continue with the new contractor and will assist those who are not placed in finding new employment,” said WSI Oak Ridge General Manager Steve Hafner.
The NSPS general manager for the new protective forces contract is Greg McDowell. The contract period of performance is five years, which includes a three-year base and a two-year option period.
A 60-day transition period begins January 22.
Security guards at Y-12 are now provided by the plant’s management and operating contractor, currently B&W Y-12. WSI became a subcontractor to B&W Y-12 after the July 28 security breach. WSI had previously operated under a separate contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration.
A new contractor has also been announced for the Y-12 plant as part of a consolidated contract to also manage the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. The new contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, is expected to provide security services at Y-12 when it takes over May 1.

Source-Oak Ridge Today

ELPS Private Detective Agency wins patrol contract for West Chester www.privateofficer.com

WEST CHESTER PA Jan 18 2013 — Following the withdrawal of a bid from AlliedBarton Security Services, Borough Council awarded this year’s contract for a private security patrol in the southeast neighborhoods to ELPS Private Detective Agency.

“I think it was very gracious of them what (AlliedBarton) did,” said Councilman Chuck Christy.
ELPS, the service provider in 2012, received a unanimous recommendation from the borough public safety committee last week to continue the service, but was not the lowest bidder in the search. The committee had recommended the award to ELPS because of the company’s familiarity with the neighbors and problems in the affected communities.
Four security services, including ELPS and AlliedBarton, responded to a request for proposal sent in December of last year.

RELATED ASSETS
The committee eliminated the two highest bidders immediately, leaving ELPS and AlliedBarton.

AlliedBarton was the lowest bid with a rate of $16.77 per hour, while ELPS came just above at $18.50.

The borough’s code states council must award the bid to the lowest “responsible bidder.” AlliedBarton legally had to be chosen as council members stated at Tuesday’s work session because they determined both providers were “responsible.” Since AlliedBarton withdrew its bid, ELPS was the lowest bidder.

Cleaning woman raped by security guard at Electronic Arts’ Redwood City offices files lawsuit www.privateofficer.com

Redwood City CA Jan 10 2013 A cleaning woman who was sexually assaulted by a security guard while working at the Electronic Arts offices in Redwood City filed a lawsuit Monday against her attacker, the security firm he worked for, and the gaming company.

The woman, a San Mateo County resident, is employed by a company that provides cleaning services at Electronic Arts. The man who raped her, Raymond Nygard, was working for security contractor Allied Barton in early 2011 when the assaults occurred.

Nygard was sentenced in October to nine years in state prison for the attacks after pleading no contest to felony counts of forcible oral copulation and rape.

According to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, Nygard assaulted the woman three days within a two-month period, once raping her and twice forcing her to perform oral sex. When she resisted, he threatened to report her to immigration officials or have her fired. The woman, a legal immigrant, reported the assaults to her supervisor.

The woman’s lawyer, Gustavo Pena, said although his client is still employed by the cleaning service, she is not required to work in the building where the assaults occurred.

“She does not want to go back there,” Pena said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s obviously been a very difficult recovery. She’s worked very hard with her therapist to get to a better place. But it’s not something that she’s ever going to be able to put behind her.”

According to the suit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, Allied Barton and Electronic Arts bear responsibility for the attacks because they “controlled the premises where plaintiff was assaulted on each occasion and failed to keep the premises safe for plaintiff.”

The two companies “knew or should have known” that Nygard “was stalking and assaulting plaintiff,” the suit states.

“Nygard was not supervised and allowed free reign of the premises. Defendant Nygard was caught on camera harassing, following and assaulting plaintiff on three separate occasions over a period of six weeks but (Allied Barton and Electronic Arts) did not review the film or notice that Nygard was manipulating security equipment to his advantage.”

The woman has suffered wage losses, hospital and medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and other damages, according to the suit; she is seeking an unspecified monetary compensation.

Nancy Tamosaitis-Thompson, a spokeswoman for Allied Barton, said Tuesday that the company had not yet reviewed the complaint and would not comment on pending litigation.

Similarly, John Reseburg, the senior director of corporate communications for Electronic Arts, said he could not comment on the matter because of the legal action being taken against the company.

Source:Palo Alto Daily News

Sound Transit overpaid its private security firm $350k www.privateofficer.com

Seattle WA Jan 9 2013 Sound Transit overpaid its security firm $349,632 over a 4 1/2-year period, State Auditor Brian Sonntag has found.
An untrained employee and overly-complex accounting systems were to blame for the payment mistakes, which benefited the private firm Securitas, according to a report issued Monday. The excessive payments were:
* Fees of $126, 147 the transit agency paid for late processing. Sound Transit actually budgeted for paying late fees, according to the audit.
* Overtime pay of $189,879 for holiday shifts and $1,532 for court appearances, which were not eligible for extra pay in the contract, and another $31,960 for overtime that hadn’t been authorized in writing by Sound Transit.
* A clerical mistake in billing rates, amounting to a $114 loss.
In addition, the auditor dinged Sound Transit for paying $17,081,913 to the King County Sheriff’s Office, for transit-police services, without reviewing the paperwork. Transit staff relied on the KCSO to review itself, and the KCSO didn’t send invoices on time during most of 2012. “We don’t think we’ve paid extra to the sheriff’s office. All the expenses were justified,” said transit spokesman Bruce Gray. Invoices are now arriving on time, he said.
State auditors note that Sound Transit, whose yearly budget is $1.1 billion, met state rules in most areas, and passed its five previous financial audits without major lapses. However, a recent performance audit, published last year under authority of Tim Eyman’s Initiative 900, said the agency’s Citizen Oversight Panel lacked a clear watchdog mission, and that transit leaders filled positions with boosters.
Sound Transit is simplifying the billing process, and attempting to recover the excess holiday and overtime pay from Securitas, said Gray. Sound Transit also launched an internal performance audit on other goods and services, he said.
Massive construction contracts, such as light-rail extensions, are overseen by the federal government and monitored through regular progress reports.

Source-Seattle Times

Disabled mall guard, fired after asking Muslim woman to remove veil, sues www.privateofficer.com

BRIDGEWATER NJ Dec 20 2012 — A Raritan man who lost his job as a Bridgewater Commons mall security guard after asking a Muslim woman to remove her traditional head scarf has filed suit alleging discrimination and wrongful termination.
Marc Krause, of Raritan Borough, filed a legal complaint in Somerville against IPC International Corporation, a security vendor, and General Growth Properties, owner of Bridgewater Commons. The complaint was filed on Dec. 10 by attorney Brian Cige in New Jersey Superior Court in Somerville.
Krause had worked at the mall since April 2001 while it was still owned by Rouse Company, and remained employed in 2003 when General Growth Properties took over mall ownership.
“The plaintiff was not a mall employee, but rather an employee of the mall’s security vendor,” according to David Keating, vice president of corporate communications for GGP. He said he could not comment further on pending litigation.
The complaint contends that GGP was the decision maker for Krause’s hiring and firing, and therefore his ‘de-facto co-employer.’
On May 19 while at work at the mall, Krause noticed a woman, who he found out later was Muslim, wearing a Hijab and mistakenly requested she remove the head covering, believing it was against the mall’s ‘no mask’ policy, the complaint said.
The woman filed a report with Bridgewater Police and later filed a civilian harassment complaint with the Bridgewater Municipal Court, which was later dropped, the complaint said.
Krause, who is classified as having borderline intellectual functioning, or below-average cognitive ability, had no prior disciplinary actions against him, had been commended for his work, and both IPC and GGP were aware of the disability, the complaint said. He came to work at the mall as a client of the Bridges to Employment program of the Raritan-based Alternatives, Inc., the complaint said.

Krause later learned that there were exceptions for wearing religious garb in the mall, and was he was given cultural retraining on May 22, but was not allowed to return to work after the incident, the complaint said. The complaint contends that the employers’ actions were motivated by their perception of his disability.
Krause was offered a security position at IPC’s West Windsor location, but when he discovered he would be working alone, and that it was a much longer commute, he found the offer to be unacceptable, the complaint said.
IPC transferred Krause to West Windsor anyway, so Krause told IPC he would have no choice but to file for unemployment benefits unless it allowed him to return to Bridgewater Commons, which it did not, the complaint said.
The lawsuit is seeking Krause’s reinstatement to his previous position at Bridgewater Commons, economic and compensatory damages, non-economic damages for pain and suffering, and attorney costs, with a trial by jury, the complaint said.
“We’re really at the very beginning of the lawsuit,” Cige said.
No court dates have yet been set, Cige said.

Source:NJ.com

Philly security firm sued over Muslim head scarf www.privateofficer.com

Philadelphia PA Dec 18 2012 The EEOC is suing ABM Security Services, which provides guards for the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, for religious discrimination after an employee claimed she was forced to choose between keeping her job and wearing her traditional Muslim head covering.
ABM hired Tahira, a devout Mus­lim, and she reported for training wearing a khimar, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Her trainer told her to take off the scarf, but she refused, explaining that her religion required it. An ABM representative told her that she could not work at the convention center while wearing the khimar and sent her home.
Tahira filed an EEOC complaint, noting that ABM never discussed accommodations that would allow her to perform the job and observe her religious beliefs. EEOC mediation attempts failed, and now, barring a settlement, the lawsuit will go to trial.

CIS Security offers $10,000 reward in security officer murder www.privateofficer.com

 

TAMPA Fla Nov 29 2012  - When K.C. Poulin walked to the podium at Tampa Police Headquarters, he was supposed to make a simple announcement about a reward.  But his message went far beyond the few words he read from his paper.  Instead, without words, the CEO of Critical Intervention Services made a statement about how much pain he and his employees have felt since the killing of Michael Valentin.

“We would like to offer a $10,000 reward,” Poulin paused, choking back tears.  “For the arrest of the individual who assassinated CIS officer Valentin,” he whispered, stepping back from the microphone with watery eyes.

Poulin’s strong language describing the death of a 38-year old father of two sent a clear message.

“We ask the community to help us take this individual off the street,” Poulin said.  “There’s no question that if he is willing to do that to an armed, trained security officer, he has no fear of doing that to anyone else.”

Tampa investigators said it’s been difficult getting people who may know about Valentin’s death to come forward, and they’re hoping this reward ignites a wave of fruitful tips.

Valentin died near the entrance of the Grande Oaks Apartments the night before Thanksgiving.

“It’s hard to believe people out there don’t have any more information,” said Tampa Police Major Brian Dugan.  He was adamant that if residents want to feel safe, somebody needs to find the courage to call police.

“You need to step forward.  If you’re feeling uneasy about living there, start talking,” he said.

Surveillance video of a bicyclist who was riding near the scene of the crime has revealed no suspects thus far.  It shows a person with a bandana occasionally removing it and putting it back on.  The video is being sent to an FBI lab for enhancements.

Police have yet to officially announce Valentin’s cause of death, although CIS said he had been shot.

Flyers have been distributed showing the $10,000 reward and a phone number.  Both CIS and Tampa Police have stepped up patrols of Grande Oaks.

“We’ve worked right through the holidays.  Cancelled personal plans to get to the bottom of this,” Dugan said.

It’s been a difficult year-and-a-half for CIS.  In May of last year, security officer Matthew Little was murdered while patrolling a St. Petersburg apartment complex.  Not long after a reward was offered, a suspect was arrested in that case.

A week after Valentin’s death, police still haven’t identified what led to the killing.

“It raises our level of urgency to get to the bottom of things and bring this person to justice,” Dugan sai

source-www.abcactionnews.com

Atlanta area shoplifter killed during struggle with Wal-Mart employees www.privateofficer.com

 

LITHONIA, GA Nov 26 2012 Police in this metro Atlanta city are investigating the death of a man who was involved in a shoplifting at the local Wal-Mart store.

Lithonia police report that a middle-aged man was caught shoplifting two DVD players from the store about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. He left, but three workers including a contract security guard caught him and had an altercation in the parking lot.

When police arrived they found the employees on top of the middle-aged man, according to a police report obtained by ABC News affiliate WSB-TV. When an officer bent down to handcuff the suspect, he noticed there was no resistance.

At that point, the officer noticed the suspect was bleeding from the nose and mouth, according to the report. He was transported to DeKalb Medical-Hillandale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two associates who helped catch and subdue the suspect before police arrived have been placed on leave; a security officer who police say may have placed the suspected thief in a choke hold, is no longer employed by Wal-Mart.

The cause and manner of death is to be determined by the DeKalb Medical Examiner’s office. A spokesman said no information on the victim would be released until Monday.

“No amount of merchandise is worth someone’s life,” Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said in a statement.

Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District increases holiday security www.privateofficer.com

 

DULUTH, Ga. Nov 25 2012— Black Friday shoppers might notice some extra security patrols as they continue with their holiday shopping.

Channel 2′s Kerry Kavanaugh talked to community leaders in Duluth where they say the presence pays off.

The Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District has increased security around the holidays for the past three years.

They focus on shopping plazas watching out for customers and preventing crimes.

“Over the holidays we focus pretty much on the security of the shoppers,” said Sgt. Josh Smith with Gwinnett Place C.I.D. Security.

Kavanaugh watched as Smith talked to a woman as her car stalled in the plaza.

“He’s just assisting me to make sure no one hit me from behind so the traffic could keep moving, so I really appreciate it,” shopper Pamela Bobb said.

From now through the end of December, the CID has additional security patrols to help out drivers and keep an eye on shoppers so criminals can’t add undue stress during the holiday season.

“I think it makes them feel a lot more secure when they can come here and shop, and not get approached by unknown people,” Smith said.

“Over the past five years we’ve had a 35 percent decrease in crime in this area,” Joe Allen with the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District told Kavanaugh.

Allen runs the CID. He credits the reduction in crime to the CID working with Gwinnett Countypolice up and down Pleasant Hill Road and Steve Reynolds Boulevard. It’s a retail dense area that can be a magnet for crime.

Allen hopes the increased security also increases the comfort for busy shoppers and makes the bad guys think twice.

The Gwinnett County police have also assembled a holiday task force. They plan to blanket busy shopping areas across the county with patrols as well.

Source:WSBTV

Security officers say they are owed back wages www.privateofficer.com

 

Bakersfiled CA Nov 21 2012 Javier Hernandez says it’s outrageous that he and several others who worked security on Black Friday last year still haven’t been paid.

“It’s been a really long time,” Hernandez says. “It’s unbelievable.”

He says the group of security guards showed up at the East Hills WalMart the night of Thanksgiving and worked for eleven hours. Hernandez was told Langner Security, the company who hired him, would mail him a paycheck for at least $120. But, one year later, he says he still hasn’t seen one penny.

“It’s actually been really frustrating because usually it’s quick. But, if it takes a while you actually think they’re forgetting about it,” he says.

Lauren Carrin worked security that night and feels the same way – duped.

“A year later, you’re still trying to figure out where’s the money at?” Carrin says. “We did the time, but we still haven’t gotten paid for our services.”

Eighteen of the unpaid guards filed a wage claim against Langner Security owner H. William Bramble. The company is based in Long Beach and Fresno. 17 News spoke to Bramble in February. He said the guards were not immediately paid because his managers did not collect all their addresses.

When 17 News tried to reach Bramble again Monday, his number said it was not in service.

The guards had a hearing at the California Labor Commissioner’s office in July, but say Langner Security never showed up. After months of waiting, Hernandez received an award letter from the Commissioner’s Office that says instead of $126, he’s due $2,130 in damages and penalties.

“The good thing about the Labor Board is that they’re helping us out,” he says. “All the penalties really added up.”

Carrin was told she would too receive a hefty compensation check through the Labor Board.

“It feels good to get anything beyond what was expected,” she says.

Hernandez and Carrin said the downside was that they were told it still could take years before they receive any payment. Both say they will not be working security on Black Friday this year.

California’s Department of Consumer Affairs says Langner Security is still in business and has a valid state license until 2014.

Two people killed -nightclub hired unlicensed security company www.privateofficer.com

ROCKFORD IL Nov 17 2012  – The San Jose Night Club has been closed since two people were killed just outside earlier this month. The club’s attorney says next week they’ll forfeit their liquor license and close for good. We’ve learned the owners took a short-cut in protecting clubgoers that could have made a difference in the night’s fatal outcome.

The company that provided security to San Jose Night Club when shots rung out is not licensed by the State of Illinois.

“You’re basically a bouncer, with no authority,” says Security Professionals of IL owner Juan Reyes.

Through their attorney, San Jose’s owners say they didn’t realize Juarez Security may not have been the best choice.

“They asked if they had a license, they produced a City of Belvidere business license. They assumed because they had they were properly licensed with the State of Illinois and that was an assumption they shouldn’t have made,” says Attorney Chuck Prorok.

Owners initially listed Security Professionals of Illinois as the agency protecting their parties. But owner Juan Reyes says he quit the job in mid-September. A job that required eight officers a night and netted two grand a week.

“He started breaking us down four instead of eight, ultimately he stopped paying or was defaulting on payments so what happened I said you know what you’ve got a deadline, if I don’t get paid, I’ve got to pull my officers.”

Juarez Security is cheaper. City officials blame them for not enforcing the dress code, which has been linked to contributing to the violence outside.

Attorney Prorok says San Jose’s owners were having financial troubles and that’s why they went with a cheaper security firm. We were unable to find a contact number for Juarez Security.

Security Professionals of Illinois is continuing to provide officers to the San Jose restaurant which is owned by the same people and located down the street.

Source: WIFR

Robbery victim wins lawsuit against Florida hotel-security company www.privateofficer.com

 

ORLANDO FLA.Nov 11 2012 An Orange County jury Friday ordered Hilton Embassy Suites, Interstate Management Company, and SecurAmerica to pay a combined $1.7 million dollars in restitution to Troy Anderson, who was shot in 2008 while parking his car at the Hilton Embassy Suites on Jamaican Court, near International Drive according to court documents.

Anderson filed a lawsuit in 2009 for the shooting that occurred on the premises of the Hilton Embassy Suites on September 26, 2008, when he was shot multiple times during a car jacking. He sustained serious and life-threatening injuries as a result. (Troy Anderson v. Hilton Hotels, et al., Case No. 2009-CA-040473-O, Fla. 9th Judicial Cir.).

Anderson’s lawyers, Riley Allen and Simon Wiseman, explained that evidence in the ten day trial, as Allen said, showed “security was present, but spent more time delivering bed items, towels, and bell carts to guests rather than patrolling the exterior of the hotel and serving as a deterrent to crime. The hotel provided a ‘uniformed housekeeper,’ not security. The guests deserve better.”

According to court documents, lights that would have illuminated the area where the crime occurred were burned out and hadn’t been replaced for months. A former Regional Manager, Chuck Klawitter, testified the hotel would “wait until enough lights were burned out to justify getting a ‘hi-lift’ to replace the burned out lights.” Klawitter and two other former SecurAmerica employees, Emmanuel Denau, a former Quality Assurance Supervisor, and Rob Wombolt, a former Operations Manager, testified they brought their security concerns to the attention of the hotel and the security company.

Witnesses testified that the area where hotel personnel instructed Mr. Anderson to park his vehicle was “very dark,” even though it was only 50 or 60 feet from the hotel entrance. According to court records, Crime Scene Investigator (CSI), Gerardo Bloise, Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSO), photographed and documented the scene and his photographs confirmed that a critical floodlight intended to illuminate the area where Mr. Anderson parked was not working on the night he was shot. CSI Bloise confirmed in his testimony the area was “very dark.”

Assistant Hotel General Manager, Victor Vergara, claimed and testified at trial, contrary to the evidence, that all the lights were working and the parking lot lighting was “perfect.”

Court records reveal that jurors also learned that a similar strong-armed robbery had occurred in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites ten days prior. Deputy Lourdes Clayton of the OCSO appeared on the scene of the armed robbery ten days earlier and was on the Hilton Embassy Suites’ property for approximately an hour. The hotel and security company denied knowing she was on the property though in following protocol she would have arrived with lights and sirens on as the call was a Code 3 emergency. She also completed an “incident report,” which is a public record and which was brought out in her testimony at trial where she verified she was on the property for “approximately an hour.” The victim who was robbed at gunpoint, 72-year-old Roger Kraft from Ohio, stayed an additional two nights at the hotel, yet the hotel and security company argued he did not tell anyone about being robbed despite the fact his wallet, cash, and credit cards were stolen. Allen told the jury the assertion was “ridiculous.” Mr. Kraft unfortunately passed away a year and a half ago.

A “daily activity report” for September 26, 2008, introduced into evidence of the courts demonstrated the SecurAmerica guard was delivering “bell carts” and was responding to “guest requests” during the 25 minutes prior to the shooting rather than providing security of any kind. During the three hours prior to the shooting, the security guard spent more time responding to guests’ requests for bell carts, towels, and bed items than providing security and patrolling the exterior of the hotel despite the fact this was a Friday night. The shooting occurred at approximately 11:15 p.m.

In addition to Vergara, the Vice President of SecurAmerica, Warren Bovich, also denied knowledge of the armed robbery ten days prior to the shooting of Mr. Anderson. According to court documents, the former employees, Klawitter, Denau, and Wombolt each testified they brought their concerns about security to Bovich, but Bovich was more “concerned about losing the contract” with Hilton Embassy Suites “than he was about security.” Klawitter had also brought his concerns directly to Vergara after the incident ten days prior, but Vergara, despite the complaints from security guards about performing non security services and the strong-armed robbery ten days prior, did nothing to change the way security was provided at the Hilton Embassy Suites.

The former employees, Klawitter, Denau, and Wombolt, also testified they had seen a “daily activity report” and “incident report” from the robbery incident ten days prior. Vergara and Bovich denied having seen these documents despite the fact both would have been provided copies according to protocol.

“With foreseeability comes responsibility,” Allen said. “It is clear that documents existed concerning the prior crime and it is further clear the documents were destroyed.”

Allen further explained, “This allowed the jury to consider an instruction from the Court regarding destroyed documents and to infer the destroyed documents would have substantiated the armed robbery ten days prior, thus, making the crime against Mr. Anderson foreseeable and demonstrating that action should have been taken by Hilton Embassy Suites to avoid further crimes.”

The “contract” between SecurAmerica and Hilton Embassy Suites called for the security guard to also provide housekeeping and engineering services. They claim it is the “industry standard” in the hotel industry, according to Wiseman. “That standard needs to change,” said Wiseman. “Otherwise, it is nothing more than a façade.”

Allen and Wiseman also uncovered evidence showing the hotel previously retained additional law enforcement personnel and security to protect its property when “expensive cars” were on its property during the “Florida Classic Weekend,” the annual November football game between Bethune Cookman and Florida A&M, but apparently failed to take security measures when it came to protecting its guests.

MKG Hospitality ranked Hilton as the second largest hotel brand in the world at the end of 2011. Interstate Hotel Management’s website claims they are the largest U.S. based hotel management company in the world and SecurAmerica is the 22nd largest security company in America.