LAS VEGAS—In a city geared largely toward tourism, securing the public transit system requires a combination of soft and hard security measures. “As one of the top destinations in the world for visitors, we have to be cognizant of the fact that people who use the transit system here may not have used it before, so it has to be an education for them,” said Jerry Keating, assistant general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

To do this, security officers must integrate an element of customer service into their duties. “Officers need to be able to assist customers with questions and be knowledgeable about the system and fares and also be able to show some type of fare enforcement presence at the same time,” he said. “It’s a kinder, gentler security approach rather than one that’s more strong-armed and heavy-handed.”

The bus system employs approximately 40 AlliedBarton contract security officers to protect its fleet of 400 vehicles, which carried nearly 60 million passengers in the Greater Las Vegas Valley in 2009. The agency uses a 50/50 combination of armed and unarmed security officers.

“Some people are threatened by armed officers and are more comfortable with unarmed presence and that’s why we chose to go that route,” Keating said. Having armed security officers means the agency doesn’t have to rely exclusively on local police to diffuse a situation. “If an event escalates, we have armed officers who can get there in a matter of minutes,” he said.

Part of the reason for arming officers is because of the overburdening of law enforcement. “We were forced to try to supplement or augment what police do and it’s not that they don’t want to respond, it’s just that there are lots of other issues they’re dealing with that are more pressing than a fare evader or loiterer or trespasser,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to train us and give us the tools so we can handle those situations and take a little bit of the load off local police.”

Along with training from AlliedBarton, security officers also receive specialized training from the RTC. “Our employees have all been put through terrorist awareness recognition programs, which is important they are trained to look for suspicious devices,” he said.

However, maintaining these security parameters means having a close-knit relationship with one’s security provider and making sure the contract clearly outlines such goals. “The contract has to explain what the expectations are and it takes vigilant effort to stay on top of your contract provider to ensure they’re providing the level of service to meet those expectations,” Keating said.