CHARLOTTE — State Auditor Dave Boliek is calling into question the security hiring practices and approach by the Charlotte Area Transit System and the city of Charlotte.
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The auditor released his preliminary findings Tuesday. The audit into CATS was in response to the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska that happened on Aug. 22 on a light rail car in South End.
Boliek said in 2018, the CATS armed security contract called for between 68 and 88 personnel.
State Auditor Dave Boliek's preliminary special report on CATS is in. One finding- "while the CATS security contract value has increased from $5.9 million in 2022 to $18.4 million in 2025, the number of armed security has decreased by at least 40% over that time."
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However, there were only 39 armed security officers, despite the contract increasing from $5.9 million in 2018 to its current $18.4 million.
The security contractor for CATS is Professional Security Services.
At first, Boliek said PSS was only hired to provide unarmed security.
The auditor said CATS limited its selections from this contract to firms that were registered in the city’s business inclusion program.
CATS terminated its contract with its armed security vendor due to poor performance and then expanded the PSS contract to add armed security responsibilities.
In response to the audit, Mayor Vi Lyles defended PSS saying, “This report appears to suggest that PSS is not qualified but fails to offer specific evidence to support this conclusion.”
She said PSS has met contract requirements and continues to provide satisfactory services.
The state auditor said a full report on CATS will be released at a later date.
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