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(KOMO) — Soaring crime rates and a lack of police are giving private security officers a larger role in many communities and also making them bigger targets.
Guards have been killed and wounded in a series of recent confrontations in the area, and many said the dangers have increased alongside the demand.
In Seattle, security officers are posted outside many of the storefronts to keep an eye on the property as well as the people who come in.
Ceci Hooks works the bus and light rail lines downtown and said some shifts can turn dangerous.
“You can be trying to wake someone up from sleeping on the trains and then boom right there, they are in your face,” Hooks said.
The verbal insults can come almost daily but people also try to get physical.
“I’ve had someone throw stuff at me and I’m just doing my job,” Hooks said.
Last summer, Denise Smith was beaten to death while trying to stop a man from entering a high-rise office building in Tacoma. Last week, a security guard was shot in the leg outside a Safeway on Rainier Ave S after kicking out several people for shoplifting.
Hooks said there are other instances the public rarely hears about.
“Some of the officers that were able to have batons, they’ve had their batons taken from them and beaten with their own equipment,” Hooks said.
More businesses in Seattle are hiring private security to offset staffing shortages in the police department. SEIU6, the union representing security officers, organized a rally on Friday to push for better pay and working conditions.
“We need more compensation and fair pay to make this job worth being disrespected every day,” said Cameron Lecksiwilai, one of the security officers who spoke at the rally.
There are more than 4,000 security officers who protect sites around King County and they will be entering a new round of contract bargaining with their companies next week.
