The Regional Transportation District’s board of directors approved a new contract Tuesday with Allied Universal Security Services to provide security at bus and rail stations and enforce fares. 

In 2019, RTD awarded Allied Universal a three-year contract with three one-year options to provide systemwide security services, interim RTD Transit Police Chief Steve Martingano said.

The contract expires Thursday; Tuesday’s vote allows RTD to use the first one-year contract option, which will expire June 30, 2023. The measure passed 13-1.

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The total cost of the contract can’t exceed $20 million, and RTD is expected to save $3.7 million by using both unarmed and armed guards, Martingano said.

The contract is for 11,882 working hours a week through Nov. 1 as Allied Universal helps RTD transition its conductors on the N line. After Nov. 1, the contract goes back to 11,154 hours weekly. Officials said 4,311 of those hours will include unarmed security guards.

District D Director Bobby Dishell, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the contract, said he would have liked to see the contract bid out to see what other options there are given RTD’s need for security amid increasing crime. He said RTD’s security needs have changed since 2019.

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“Safety and security issues have gotten anecdotally worse, not better, while Allied Universal has been retained as security,” Dishell said.

He later added: “Safety and security has gotten more and more challenging not just here but across the country. It’s a totally different world than it was in 2019 when this scope of work was brought up. It just seems like it would have been more prudent to bid that back out under a scope of work that more accurately reflects our safety and security needs today.”

District F Director Bob Broom asked how well staffed Allied Universal is, and Martingano said that as of Friday, Allied Universal had 246 of its 293 positions filled, a 16% vacancy rate. Martingano said this information is updated every Friday and that the 16% vacancy rate was an improvement after reaching 30% over the past few months.

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