After being pulled from the City Council ‘s Consent Calendar for the August 10, 2020 meeting, the issue of security guards to staff the jail is back on tonight’s agenda. An appropriation request of $2,095.548.00 for the security firm of G4S Secure Solutions and an additional $388,116.00 for ‘related budget’ will need a four-fifths approval by the council to become policy.
The security firm of G4S Secure Solutions was recently the subject of a major investigation by USAToday.
Below are excerpts from a a USA Today article of January 14, 2020.
“More than 600 firearms purchased by the world’s largest security firm, G4S, for its armed personnel in the United States, have gone missing since 2009, dozens last year alone. Several were ultimately linked to homicides, robberies or violent domestic assaults, or found in possession of children or convicted felons.
“Among the examples uncovered in a yearlong investigation by USA TODAY and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: One G4S employee in Boynton Beach, Florida, was robbed in 2017 by his drug dealer, who took the guard’s firearm away and demanded money at gunpoint. Another company-issued gun stolen from a G4S worker the same year in Boca Raton was later found by police in a car driven by juveniles after a high-speed chase. And, in one of the worst cases, in 2009 a G4S firearm stolen in a burglary was used a few days later to murder two young men playing video games”
“Nor are missing guns the only G4S failure. The investigation revealed a G4S record of hiring or retaining guards with criminal convictions, violent pasts or checkered law enforcement résumés. The company has acquired or retained at least 300 employees fitting this profile, actions often fueled by a rush to fill vacancies and undercut competitors.”
The comment on the agenda item, go to CulverCity.org and then to Meetings and Agendas. The eComment tab is on the far right side of the page.
Judith Martin-Straw
Be the first to comment