Audit highlights Charlotte transit safety concerns | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Nick Craig.

    A rapid response report from the North Carolina State Auditor's Office (OSA) is raising serious concerns about safety on the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) more than a month after the murder of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska.

    Zarutska was traveling on the Charlotte light rail operated by CATS on Aug. 22 when, allegedly, Decarlos Brown Jr. fatally stabbed her. Brown has a lengthy criminal record and reportedly didn't purchase a ticket to ride the light rail the night he stabbed Zarutska.

    The report found that CATS has fewer armed officers, unfilled security positions, and contracts are awarded under questionable procurement practices, all while riders face crime rates three times the national average.

    Security spending at CATS has skyrocketed from $5.9 million in 2022 to $18.4 million in 2025, even as the number of armed guards has dropped by more than 40%. Staffing fell from about 68 armed officers in 2018 to just 39 in 2025. This level doesn't allow CATS to place an armed officer or guard on all 48 train cars at once, according to the OSA report.

    Although the city contract permits up to 219 armed and unarmed personnel, auditors found that Professional Security Services had only 186 actually assigned to CATS at the time of Iryna Zarutska's stabbing.

    State Auditor Dave Boliek highlighted the shift: under the 2018-2023 contract, G4S Secure Solutions staffed roughly 108 officers, including between 68 and 88 armed personnel. The current 2025 contract with Professional Security Services provides just 39 armed guards.

    "The safety of the citizens of Charlotte needs to be first and foremost when security decisions are being made. Our report shows there has been a clear shift away from armed security in the CATS's private security contracts," said State Auditor Dave Boliek.

    In 2022 the City of Charlotte issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in an attempt to find a new contractor for security services for CATS's. Part of the RFP requested security services from businesses that were registered and certified with the City's Charlotte Business Inclusion (CBI) program.

    According to the auditor's report, the CBI program "seeks to enhance competition and participation of Minority, Women, and Small Business Enterprises (MWSBEs) in city contracting."

    The City of Charlotte's website highlights that part of the CIB goals includes: "to be a national model in the business inclusion space. To accomplish this, all city departments have increasingly examined their procurements and set specific MWSBE participation goals on a contract-by-contract basis."


    "Further, limiting any part of a contract providing citizens with security to only firms that meet a DEI checkbox raises questions as to whether politics has taken priority over public safety. As we continue our investigation, we will be examining the decisions that went into designing, soliciting, and approving these security contracts," said Boliek.

    House Speaker Destin Hall called the situation "unacceptable" and noted the House will begin taking action based on the findings.

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