Overview
- The transit agency’s pivot cut off private patrols, which Friday night led Monterrey Security to tell about 250 guards to stop work, including many from subcontractors Kates Detective & Security Agency and Rush Solutions, with 159 represented by SEIU Local 1.
- CTA leaders said money once used for unarmed guards will go to sworn officers, K-9 teams, and crisis-response staff, though they did not say how many additional police will be deployed.
- The move follows months of pressure from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration tied to a possible $50 million cut in aid after a series of attacks, even as city data show overall transit violence down this year with sharp rises in sexual assault and aggravated battery.
- A recent spending plan sets aside $20 million for expanded Chicago Police patrols, $10 million for more K-9 units, and $12 million for added Cook County sheriff’s deputies.
- Monterrey says the CTA signed a one-year renewal three weeks earlier and exited early, a claim the agency did not address in its statement.