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Multnomah County officials signed a 5-year, $40 million contract in February for armed and unarmed security at county facilities with the Pasadena, Calif.-based security company Inter-Con Security Systems. The security officers began work in April.
The contract represents a much more robust security apparatus than the county has had before—in 2021, the county funded 52 security officers.
Per the contract, Inter-Con will deploy up to 170 armed and unarmed security officers across county facilities including its office buildings, public libraries, homeless shelters and health clinics. Seven of those staff will be “Dedicated to video monitoring and dispatch”, according to a copy of the contract obtained by WW.
The security contract comes as county employees are calling for better safety measures at government-owned facilities and as fentanyl use on the streets bleeds into public places, including the county-owned libraries. A Dec. 2023 report by the Multnomah County auditor found that librarians were facing increasingly threatening behavior by patrons and were also having to respond to drug use and mental health outbursts.
The county has long had contracts with various security companies to patrol county facilities, but the county over the past three years has grown its security apparatus as both drug use and mental health outbursts have become more acute in public spaces, like the county’s libraries.
County spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti says there are two major differences between the Inter-Con contract and previous security contracts. First, Inter-Con is setting up a “Central Monitoring Station”, according to the contract, in the Multnomah Building on the inner east side, that’s staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The center security staff “shall be responsible for monitoring video terminals, alarm terminals, managing communication and reporting systems, and dispatching security patrols and services to incidents,” according to the contract.
And second, the security guards will have a higher level of training than previous security guards.
“The new contract requires higher minimum standards for education, experience and training. All officers must complete all mandatory State of Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards & Training and administrative requirements for formal licensing,” Sullivan-Springhetti says. “Officers are also required to take de-escalation procedures, safe driving and trauma-informed practices.”
The county weighed nine contenders for the contract and ultimately chose Inter-Con.
Sullivan-Springhtti say the additional training is needed to “meet the evolving safety and security challenges across our worksites effectively.”