October 2, 2025 • 31 mins
Tune in here to this Thursday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks the show off by talking about the ongoing CATS security controversy and the upcoming city press conference addressing safety concerns on Charlotte’s public transit. Joined by WBT News Director Mark Garrison, Brett dives into the shocking lack of training required for unarmed security guards hired to protect light rail and bus riders. With only a two-day Zoom class under their belts and no training in using non-lethal tools like pepper spray, these guards are being tasked with frontline safety — and taxpayers are footing the $18 million bill.
Brett and Mark question why armed guards aren’t deployed on each train, especially when the budget clearly allows for it. They also criticize the city’s bizarre decision to separate ticket enforcement from security, potentially putting undertrained staff in dangerous situations.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi, Oh, let's go oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh,
Let's go to.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett Jenson
here with you on this Thursday night edition of Breaking
with Brett Jenson. As we go up until seven o'clock tonight,
telephone numbers is always seven oh four, five, seven oh eleven, ten,
and that's also the WBT text line driven by Liberty
Buick GMC. All Right, so we've got a lot that
we're gonna get into tonight, quite a few things, but
(00:53):
we're gonna start off tonight with Mark Garrison joining us.
And because the City of Charlotte is having their press
conference tomorrow about the Cats situation and cat safety, because
all they've done since August twenty second, the night that
Arena Zaruska was built, So I should say, all they've
done since August twenty third is pretty much we the bed.
(01:15):
Everything they've done and everything they said has been completely
wrong thus far from city leadership, including Cats leadership Bret Caagel,
as well as the leaders of the private security firm PSS.
So with that being said, Mark Garrison joins us now
so we can preview the press conference tomorrow but also
take a deeper look into things that you're not hearing
(01:38):
about or really didn't hear about with the Dave Bull
at the State Auditor release. So Mark, you were telling
me earlier, that's why I asked you to come on,
so you know, to go so we can go in
a little bit of greater detail about this that it
really doesn't take much to be a security officer to
protect the people that are riding the light rails or
the buses.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, that's exactly right. In North Carolina, there is a
governing board that licenses security guards and they fall into
several categories, including unarmed security guards. And of course, what
we learned this week from Dave Bollock is that Katz
is spending millions of dollars to hire these unarmed security guards,
(02:20):
and they cut way back on the security guards that
carry actual guns. So I got to looking into, Okay,
well what kind of training do these unarmed security guards get?
And I was stunned. They only it's a two day
class and it might even be on zoom. And when
(02:41):
you look at okay, well, what do they cover legal
issues surrounding being a security guard? Some strategies in case
there is an active shooter, how to write a report
on situations you have encountered, and then just more legal
issues and how to deal with the public. Now, Brett,
(03:05):
does that sound to you like any kind of training
on how to handle a routy drunk with a knife
on light rail?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, and I will say this, that may be exhibit
A as to why they're not allowing these people to carry guns,
because they're not having any training and they may hurt
themselves or somebody else as opposed to actually taking care
of the criminals. So because they're getting only you know,
two days worth of training, and remind you, I mean
in two days max. That means max sixteen hours, like
(03:34):
maybe eight hours a day max. So it might only
be ten hours five hours a day. Who knows.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
But and here's the other thing. Katz finally answered a
couple of my questions yesterday. I said, Okay, these unarmed
security guys, the state auditor has criticized them, saying they
really provide no security security at all. So Catz wrote
me back and said, well, they can carry certain non
lethal items in case they need to use it, but
(04:03):
they wouldn't specify what that is. I assume it's pepper spray.
But consider this, they're not given any training at all
and how to handle pepper spray. And you might say, well,
just get it out and spray it. But if you're
in a difficult situation on a train with somebody who
you know may be extremely large coming at you, it's
(04:24):
not like you just pop it out.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And spray it.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
You may need some instruction on the best use of it.
They don't even get any training on that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And another thing I want to know is these security people.
Are we talking sixty five year olds at weigh two
hundred and fifty pounds or are we talking about people
that are, you know, not necessarily fit. I'm not talking
about like, you know, twenty three years old and chiseled
like a rock, but at least in decent enough shape
to be able to handle themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, I think that is an excellent question, and I
can answer that in a couple of ways. One, if
you look at the local malls, they use the un
arm security and in some cases they use senior citizens,
which has never made any sense to me. But as
far as the light rail is concerned, when I wrote
it for several hours, I did encounter a couple of
(05:11):
the unarmed security guys. To be candid, they were very young.
One of them was quite overweight, and in the case
when I was riding the train, neither one of them
had mace or pepper spray or anything.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I just I don't understand why they seem to act
like they're trying to solve you know, quantum physics here.
It's really not that difficult. No, I mean, it really
is not that difficult, you know. And so Mark, they've
got the big press comes tomorrow morning coming out starting
at eleven am. It was supposed to be Wednesday at
(05:48):
eleven am. They've pushed it back to Friday at eleven am.
Would you anticipate tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Well, that's a really good question. I suspect that because
of the report from the state auditor this week that
was highly critical of what they're doing and how they're
spending their money security wise on light rail and buses.
I suspect there will be a lot of questions about that,
At least I hope there will be, because the city
needs to answer why that, if they have eighteen million
(06:18):
dollars they're spending on security, why they can't put armed
guards on each train. There aren't that many trains, and
even the state auditor said he doesn't buy the idea.
You know, Katz has long said we just can't put
security on every train. Well, he said, that's beloney. They
can and they have the budget to do it. So
(06:40):
I think that's one big question that's got to be asked.
Why do you keep saying you can't put security on
every train when clearly you've got the money to do
it well.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And I always like to remind people this because I
ask these specific questions. How many light rail trains are there?
And there are ten in operation? And each train has
two cars, and you cannot pass from one car to
the other car through the cars like you can a subway. Right,
So there are ten trains with two car each, So
(07:08):
that means there are twenty cars, which means you would
only need twenty officers or twenty security people at any
given time. That's it, twenty and then that same person
who can ask and check for the tickets at the
exact same time. I don't understand what don't I truly
do not understand what this situation is or what the
problem is. I truly know this.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Is another big issue. Katz has decided that they will
not allow the security guards to be the ones to
ask for a ticket. Instead, they're going to hire young
women at least that was my observation when I rode
the train. Young women to be ticket checkers. Well, to me,
that is a recipe for real trouble. You need to
(07:52):
have some guy who is or some big security guard
I think who can defend him, because a couple of
times when I rode the train, a person who was
asked for their ticket that did not have one and
who was told you're going to have to get off
the train, they weren't happy about it. Well, if they
start throwing punches, some young woman can't handle that. So again,
(08:15):
to me, I don't understand why they're separating security from
the ticket checking process. That again, that makes zero sense to.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Me, makes absolutely no sense at all. But Mark, I
got to be honest with you. We wouldn't be here
if things they did made sense.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
There wouldn't be anything to report right.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well right, but especially specifically about the cats situation. And yeah,
somebody said, well, you know, they hired security and they're
doing it now. I like a hardcore liberal Democrat sitting
next to me on Monday at the Judiciary hearings like
where they're doing stuff now. I said, yeah, they're only
about fifteen years too late.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, And I mean honestly, what they're doing is like
hiring Barney Fife.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, without the one without the bullets. I didn't even
have his bullet. It's in his pocket. Yeah, they don't
even have the bullet in the pocket. They don't even
have that. Well, like I said, I will be at
the press conference tomorrow that starts good, you know, at
eleven am. I will be there with bells on and
we'll have lots of reports on it throughout the day.
(09:20):
So you guys make sure you stick around and listen
to Mark Garrison in the morning with all the news
and like I said, I will be out there reporting
on it and we'll have all the information then obviously
tomorrow night we'll talk about it in great, great detail
with a lot of audio. For better or for worse,
Mark Garrison, always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us tonight.
Oh glad to there you go. Everyone. That is Mark Garrison,
the news director over there in the morning anchor with
(09:41):
WBT News. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here
on this Thursday night. Once again, thanks to Mark Garrison,
the WBT news director, for joining us to talk about
the cat situation and the security system and the people
(10:02):
that they've hired, and how the security went from a
five point eight million dollar contract to an eighteen plus
million dollar contract and yet what are we getting for
it in the city of short we are we just well,
you're getting a presence for eighteen million dollars. You're getting
a presence. People see it, okay, but can they actually
(10:22):
prevent something? Forty percent of the security have less guns
than they did with the five million dollar contract, So
think about that. Uh, let's go to the phones and
we bring in Mike. Thanks for holding Mike. I appreciate it. Bud,
Hey Bred, how are you just fine? Sir? Thanks for colling.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Love your show.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I'm an old accountant and I'm old to begin with.
But if you take eighteen million dollars, divide it by
twelve months, you've got a million and a half a month.
Divide that million and a half by thirty days in
a month, you got fifty thousand dollars a day. If
you take twenty car train cars, it's twenty five hundred
(11:10):
dollars per train car. Divide that by three shifts, which
is eight hundred and thirty three dollars per shift per car.
Are they paying somebody one hundred bucks an hour? I
doubt it. Somebody's making a boatload of money, either politicians
getting it back and graft or the company that's been
(11:32):
hired to manage this. But we're getting squat for eight
hundred bucks a day per car.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, I'm gonna make it worse for you because the
trains don't run twenty four hours a day. They're on
a set schedule. They usually stop running around ten o'clock
at night.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, it's so one thousand dollars per shift. I'd love
to make three hundred bucks an hour. Maybe maybe an old,
skinny white guy can go out there and make three
hundred bucks an hour.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, I mean, if they were paying that, I might
even sign up to check check tickets. Yeah, I might
even check tickets if I if you're gonna pay me
that much. So yeah, it's it's right, you know, it's.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
We can't afford to make ticket takers or cannot give
people security. Where's the money going?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, and that's that's that's the problem that people are wondering,
like where's everything happening? Like what is going on?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And so feel free if you had to prescott for
a tomorrow to do the math. Maybe it's I'm driving,
so I may off, maybe off a little bit, but
figure out the math and I bring it up to
So when are we getting for one thousand dollars one
thousand dollars a day per car?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right? Let's see here. Well, actually, I guess it does
run twenty four hours. I didn't think it did. I'll
be dark. I'm just trying to look up the schedule
WHI we're talking, and it used to not run twenty
four hours. But maybe it does actually run twenty four
hours a day now, huh. Interesting. I'll have to double
check that, make sure my stuffs right. But it's showing
that it looks like it's running twenty four hours a day.
(12:57):
But I know it used to not run twenty four
hours a day. I know that.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And they want more and more money, but they let
people write for free. You never get away with that
in Chicago, New York or any of the big cities.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Ohsolutely. That was the thing that's the kicker right there,
because here's what's gonna happen. And Mike, I appreciate the
phone call and thanks for listening, buddy. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Thanks Brett.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Here's what's going to happen, what they're going to say tomorrow.
I can go ahead and tell you what they're going
to say tomorrow. No other city in the country has
security on all their trains. Now, the subway in New York,
they might have one max two cops per subway, and
(13:42):
they usually have like fifteen cars, you know, twenty cars
whatever it is, right, and you'll have cops that will
walk up and down the subway while the subway is
going like that's their patrol, the actual subway car, and
they might be in car number three, but a crime
might be happening in car number ten, but they're just
showing their presence. And they might have one or two
(14:03):
per subway's that's fine, I understand. If you're not gonna
have security on every single train, light rail, in every car,
I get. I mean, it's only twenty We're not talking
like one hundred and fifty. It's only twenty. But so
what they're gonna say is, no other transit system in
the country has security on every single car. And they're
(14:26):
one hundred percent right, one hundred percent right. But you
know what they all do though. They check for fares.
That's what they do do They have turnstiles or gates
and whatever. It's not the honor system, which we know
there is no honor. Honor does not exist. It doesn't
(14:48):
Well I'm honorable, my son's honorable, my father's honorable. Really
maybe so maybe ninety five percent of the time, maybe
even maybe even nine twenty seven percent of the time.
But there are times when they're not honorable. Period. So
(15:10):
for every nine people that might be honorable, guess what,
there's at least one or two that are not. And
that's the system. That's the thing. Yes, they may not
have security on all their train cars or anywhere else
in the country, but they check for they check for tickets.
They absolutely check for tickets. And I think it's Minnesota
(15:32):
that's actually having a major major financial crisis with their
light rail and their transit system because nobody checks for tickets.
And TV station did a big thing about it, like
they're like millions in the hole, millions in the hole
because no one's checking for tickets and everyone just rides
the bus and the light rail for free whenever they want,
and the bus drivers or the light rail conductors are
(15:54):
told not to say anything, just like here and people
just riding it all day, all day, every especially when
it's cold or rainy outside. Where else better to go
if you're homeless than to just go hang out in
the light rail and ride the rails all day? No
better place? Right, cold and rainy, snowy, icy rain. Hey,
(16:15):
let's just go and hang out at the light rail
and ride the rails all day from point A to
point B. Let's start all the way down there at
forty five in South Boulevard and take it all the
way up to UNCC and then all the way back
down again. There you go. That'll kill a couple hours. So, yeah,
(16:35):
you may not be able to have security, which I
will never be able to understand, because security would not
have saved Arena Zarutska. She was in the back of
the car, she didn't make a sound when she got stabbed, nothing,
and she was wearing a black T shirt so people
couldn't see the blood until started pulling on the floor
(16:56):
and massive, massive amounts. But you know what would have
prevented Arena Zaruzka from dying someone on there actually checking
tickets and preventing him from getting on the light rail
when he didn't have a ticket. That would have saved
Arena Zarutzska, and that would help the Charlotte get more money.
All right, Speaking of Arena Zaruska, we'll talk about that
(17:20):
because the bill is it going to go into a
law tomorrow. Welcome back to Brandon with Brett Jensen again
(17:41):
on this really really nice perfect early fall early early
fall day. I think what temperature I got up in
the high seventies to day, mid seventies, something like that.
A little breezy, little breezy, but good that it's in
October and I can still wear shorts out. That's why
(18:03):
we love the Carolina's ladies and gentlemen. That's why we
love the Carolinas. All right. So Arena Zarutska bill, House
Bill three oh seven. It was presented and given to
Josh Stein ten days ago. Josh Stein is the governor
of North Carolina. He's a Democrat, and the bill also
(18:29):
includes provisions with the death penalty. Now in North Carolina,
you need for the North Carolina General Assembly. Okay, you
got the North Carolin Jenalisment, you got the House side,
and you got the Senate side. In the Senate side,
they have a super majority. Okay, so let's say Governor
Stein veto's a bill, the Senate has enough votes to
(18:52):
override his veto. On the House side, the representative side,
they're one vote short of having super majority. On the
Republican side, and so on some of the bigger things
like making shares cooperate with Ice or other things like that,
they have to convince at least one Democrat to go
(19:15):
across the aisle and vote for things. And fortunately on
some of the bills that's happened, the common sense bills,
and we know that the hardcore left has very little
common sense, even though they're the ones that told you
to follow the science and data on twenty twenty. So
(19:39):
the bill, the Arena's the risk of bill, the crime Bill,
and all that other stuffing involving that and being tougher
and making it harder for people who are serial offenders
to get out because of just incompetent, moronic ACTIVI magistrates
(20:03):
and there are a lot of them out there. Remember,
you only have to have a I think a GED,
I don't even know. I'm not even positive. You have
to have a GED to be honest with you to
become a magistrate. To sit there and control how much
money someone has to spend, if any, to get out
(20:23):
of jail for crimes that they have committed and been
accused of committing and charged with. And how many times
over the years in the three and a half years
that I've had this show, have I highlighted just the
stupidity of so many magistrates, specifically in Mechlenberg County. A lot, right,
(20:49):
A lot so. But this bill also includes provisions about
the death penalty because the reason is, and I have
to discussed this, but in case you haven't heard, and
I never assume anyone's ever heard any show, so I
will reiterate it briefly. North Carolina hasn't put anyone to
(21:10):
death in nineteen years. The death penalty is still on
the books, but only sort a kind of because the
company that makes all those chemicals to put people down
to kill people, you know, in the injection right, lethal injections,
(21:32):
those people that company said whoa, whoa, whoa. They sued
all the states in America that were using their chemicals
to euthanize people, and so South Carolina finally came up
with the law and said, all right, fine, you'll have
your choice by like by this or by this or
(21:53):
by this that does not include lethal injection anymore because
of the lawsuit from the company that owns the chemicals.
And one of the ways that someone could be executed
is by firing squad. And they give the inmate the
choice of how would you like to die? And I'm
just gonna throw examples and I'm not saying these are
(22:15):
what's being used, but I know the firing squad is
one of them. And the man said, I'm going to
choose firing squad to make a point. Well, I know
for a fact because I talked to doctors. If you're
hitting the heart with a bullet, you die instantaneously. You
do not feel it. You die instantaneously. Okay, so don't
worry about that as long as you hit someone with
(22:37):
a bullet. And what they do, doctor comes up, looks
for the heart, and then they put a target basically
over the heart the size of an iPhone over the
person's heart, and you know, and the hood and all
that stuff. Right. So in North Carolina, part of this
Arena's Arriska bill, they said, hey, we want to introduce
the death penalty. Maybe they talked about hanging. I think Youah,
(23:00):
I think, and I should probably look this up, but
I think Utah was the last state to actually hang someone.
And it wasn't as long as you think, like it
wasn't that long ago, like you know, way before Isaac
was born. But I mean it may have actually happened
once in my it happened in my lifetime, or maybe
it was just before I was even born, but it
wasn't like we're not talking like nineteen twenty, is my point.
(23:25):
So maybe hanging, maybe the electric chair, maybe the gas chamber,
maybe firing squad so that is put inside now inside
the actual the Arena's Ruska bill, right, And so with
that being said, the bill was voted on, and I
(23:47):
want to say, like eighty one people voted on it,
which means nine Democrats voted for this. Now Woson Bradley.
Of course, she also voted against making sheriffs have to
cooperate with Ice, and she voted against writing that veto,
and thankfully a Democrat from Marckhamber County joined forces with
the Republicans and overrode Governor Stein's veto. I'm making sureris
(24:10):
have to cooperate with Ice. Wes Bradley didn't want to
have to do that. She didn't think that was a
good idea. So anyways, the bill. Once the bill is
voted upon and passed, it goes to Governor Stein, and
Governor Stein has ten days to do one of three things,
either veto it, to sign it, or to do nothing.
(24:36):
And if you do nothing, it automatically goes into law.
After ten days, Governor Stein has not vetoed anything, and
tomorrow House Bill three oh seven at the end of
the day, I believe, at the end of the day
says tomorrow's day ten. It goes into law if he
does not veto it. And by not signing it, that's
(24:57):
also just a little sign of protest. What about the
breaking with Brad Jenson? All right, so the arenas of
(25:18):
risk of bill How's built three oh seven. If it's
not signed or vetoed by tomorrow by Governor Stein, it
goes into effect, which includes provisions new provisions for the
death penalty to kickstart that bad boy up once again. Right,
Like I said, technically it's still on the books, but
(25:40):
they have to figure out new ways to go back,
I should say, to the old school ways of actually
doing it, because you can't use unless you find a
new company that makes the chemicals or whatever, whatever whatever.
So with that being said, Sheriff McFadden put out a
statement today, actually as I was parking into the parking lot,
(26:05):
and it says, in response to Arena's law, House Bill
three oh seven, Sheriff McFadden calls on lawmakers to address
systemic challenges. Okay, that's the headline, all right, So I'm
gonna skip through a couple of things. Okay, here we go.
(26:26):
The bill raises expectations but provides no support to meet them,
leaving local sheriffs to absorb the strain. Detention centers are
not optimal treatment settings. Consequently, many sheriffs across the state
may need to expand or enhance their mental health services
to effectively coordinate with local hospitals or manage patients in crisis.
(26:51):
While well intentioned, House Bill three oh seven creates several
unintended challenges for law enforcement agencies, one of the most
immediate and being a spike in overtime costs, especially tied
to increased hospital transports and extended holding times, which drain
already limited budgets. And I know what some people would say, Well,
(27:16):
if you had the federal dollars coming in from the
federal inmates. You wouldn't be strained financially because you used
to have that, and you wanted more money from the Feds.
And I get it. I understand why he did it,
but the Fed said take a hike, and so now
he's losing millions and millions and millions of dollars from
federal funds from holding federal inmates. I'll continue. There have
(27:39):
been too many individuals who lies were tragically lost and
who deserve the highest level of justice served. Sheriff mcfan
believes it is essential to tackle the factors contributing to
these losses from every angle. This includes not only focusing
on repeat offenders when they arrive at the Mecklinburg County
(27:59):
Court or detention center, but also intervening early to address
concerns such as mental health treatment, access, crisis response, prior charges,
and community based support. This is critical in meeting the
needs of both residents and unhoused population. First of all,
it's homeless. It's not unhoused. It's homeless. That word unhoused
(28:22):
will be the bane of my existence as long as
I am breathing. So here's the problem that people always
say we need more money, more money, more money. Let's
throw more money at it. How that tripling the cost
of the security bill for cats? How'd that work out?
(28:46):
More money? You went from five and a half five
point eight to eighteen million. How'd that work out? Let's
throw more money at CMS, more money at CMS. Congratulations,
it's five years after the fact and you're still below
COVID levels. Pre COVID level. You took a nose dive.
You took a nose dive, which, by the way, your
own school board is that fault for I keep wondering
(29:09):
if any parent was ever going to sue the school
board for their child not being as learned as it
should be because they were sent home because of the
Mecklimberg County school Board. Again, Alisa Dashu Aliset Dashue will
go down as the worst chairperson in the history of
(29:29):
CMS school boards. In the history period. Everything she did,
every major decision she had was wrong everyone, every single one,
and a lot of her cronies that were on the
school board, Jennifer Day, Lahara Sawyer, a lot of them.
(29:49):
But Elise will go down as the worst school board
chair in the history of CMS. So but hey, let's
throw money at it. Let's we need more mental health,
mental health, mental health. The dude that is charged with
the Verna's murder was already being held and had been
(30:14):
held for mental health checks. How'd that work out? So
it's not like and they said, well, borderline schizophrenic. Yeah.
Remember when they got charged for all the nine to
one one calls and all the fake nine one one
calls and all that came out. It came from Presbyteria.
Oh sorry, I said, Presbyteria came from Novante. He was
already in the hospital. He was making the calls from
(30:35):
the hospital. Why because he was being held because they
thought that he was insane or having a quote unquote episode.
So no, it would not have changed the situation. More
funding and more mental health would not have changed anything.
Into Carlos Brown, the man that killed or excuse me,
(30:58):
allegedly by the way, a Heart Court Democrat told me
that on Monday, sitting next to me, allegedly killed Arena.
I said, I'm sorry, I've got a pair of eyes.
I can see a video. I don't know about you.
I can see a video allegedly. God bless the Dems,
the radical left. Okay, that's going to do it for
us Tonight again. Tomorrow, I've got the press conference with
(31:20):
the city talking about cats and safety and the eighteen
million dollar contract and not getting anything for it. I'll
be at that press conference, and I promise you I
have a lot of questions that I will be asking,
so we'll make sure you stick around for that tomorrow night.
All right, everyone, my name is Brett Jensen, and you
have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
Hi, Oh, let's go oh, Let's go oh, Let's go oh,
Let's go to.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT Brett Jenson
here with you on this Thursday night edition of Breaking
with Brett Jenson. As we go up until seven o'clock tonight,
telephone numbers is always seven oh four, five, seven oh eleven, ten,
and that's also the WBT text line driven by Liberty
Buick GMC. All Right, so we've got a lot that
we're gonna get into tonight, quite a few things, but
(00:53):
we're gonna start off tonight with Mark Garrison joining us.
And because the City of Charlotte is having their press
conference tomorrow about the Cats situation and cat safety, because
all they've done since August twenty second, the night that
Arena Zaruska was built, So I should say, all they've
done since August twenty third is pretty much we the bed.
(01:15):
Everything they've done and everything they said has been completely
wrong thus far from city leadership, including Cats leadership Bret Caagel,
as well as the leaders of the private security firm PSS.
So with that being said, Mark Garrison joins us now
so we can preview the press conference tomorrow but also
take a deeper look into things that you're not hearing
(01:38):
about or really didn't hear about with the Dave Bull
at the State Auditor release. So Mark, you were telling
me earlier, that's why I asked you to come on,
so you know, to go so we can go in
a little bit of greater detail about this that it
really doesn't take much to be a security officer to
protect the people that are riding the light rails or
the buses.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, that's exactly right. In North Carolina, there is a
governing board that licenses security guards and they fall into
several categories, including unarmed security guards. And of course, what
we learned this week from Dave Bollock is that Katz
is spending millions of dollars to hire these unarmed security guards,
(02:20):
and they cut way back on the security guards that
carry actual guns. So I got to looking into, Okay,
well what kind of training do these unarmed security guards get?
And I was stunned. They only it's a two day
class and it might even be on zoom. And when
(02:41):
you look at okay, well, what do they cover legal
issues surrounding being a security guard? Some strategies in case
there is an active shooter, how to write a report
on situations you have encountered, and then just more legal
issues and how to deal with the public. Now, Brett,
(03:05):
does that sound to you like any kind of training
on how to handle a routy drunk with a knife
on light rail?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, and I will say this, that may be exhibit
A as to why they're not allowing these people to carry guns,
because they're not having any training and they may hurt
themselves or somebody else as opposed to actually taking care
of the criminals. So because they're getting only you know,
two days worth of training, and remind you, I mean
in two days max. That means max sixteen hours, like
(03:34):
maybe eight hours a day max. So it might only
be ten hours five hours a day. Who knows.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
But and here's the other thing. Katz finally answered a
couple of my questions yesterday. I said, Okay, these unarmed
security guys, the state auditor has criticized them, saying they
really provide no security security at all. So Catz wrote
me back and said, well, they can carry certain non
lethal items in case they need to use it, but
(04:03):
they wouldn't specify what that is. I assume it's pepper spray.
But consider this, they're not given any training at all
and how to handle pepper spray. And you might say, well,
just get it out and spray it. But if you're
in a difficult situation on a train with somebody who
you know may be extremely large coming at you, it's
(04:24):
not like you just pop it out.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And spray it.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
You may need some instruction on the best use of it.
They don't even get any training on that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And another thing I want to know is these security people.
Are we talking sixty five year olds at weigh two
hundred and fifty pounds or are we talking about people
that are, you know, not necessarily fit. I'm not talking
about like, you know, twenty three years old and chiseled
like a rock, but at least in decent enough shape
to be able to handle themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, I think that is an excellent question, and I
can answer that in a couple of ways. One, if
you look at the local malls, they use the un
arm security and in some cases they use senior citizens,
which has never made any sense to me. But as
far as the light rail is concerned, when I wrote
it for several hours, I did encounter a couple of
(05:11):
the unarmed security guys. To be candid, they were very young.
One of them was quite overweight, and in the case
when I was riding the train, neither one of them
had mace or pepper spray or anything.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I just I don't understand why they seem to act
like they're trying to solve you know, quantum physics here.
It's really not that difficult. No, I mean, it really
is not that difficult, you know. And so Mark, they've
got the big press comes tomorrow morning coming out starting
at eleven am. It was supposed to be Wednesday at
(05:48):
eleven am. They've pushed it back to Friday at eleven am.
Would you anticipate tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Well, that's a really good question. I suspect that because
of the report from the state auditor this week that
was highly critical of what they're doing and how they're
spending their money security wise on light rail and buses.
I suspect there will be a lot of questions about that,
At least I hope there will be, because the city
needs to answer why that, if they have eighteen million
(06:18):
dollars they're spending on security, why they can't put armed
guards on each train. There aren't that many trains, and
even the state auditor said he doesn't buy the idea.
You know, Katz has long said we just can't put
security on every train. Well, he said, that's beloney. They
can and they have the budget to do it. So
(06:40):
I think that's one big question that's got to be asked.
Why do you keep saying you can't put security on
every train when clearly you've got the money to do
it well.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And I always like to remind people this because I
ask these specific questions. How many light rail trains are there?
And there are ten in operation? And each train has
two cars, and you cannot pass from one car to
the other car through the cars like you can a subway. Right,
So there are ten trains with two car each, So
(07:08):
that means there are twenty cars, which means you would
only need twenty officers or twenty security people at any
given time. That's it, twenty and then that same person
who can ask and check for the tickets at the
exact same time. I don't understand what don't I truly
do not understand what this situation is or what the
problem is. I truly know this.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Is another big issue. Katz has decided that they will
not allow the security guards to be the ones to
ask for a ticket. Instead, they're going to hire young
women at least that was my observation when I rode
the train. Young women to be ticket checkers. Well, to me,
that is a recipe for real trouble. You need to
(07:52):
have some guy who is or some big security guard
I think who can defend him, because a couple of
times when I rode the train, a person who was
asked for their ticket that did not have one and
who was told you're going to have to get off
the train, they weren't happy about it. Well, if they
start throwing punches, some young woman can't handle that. So again,
(08:15):
to me, I don't understand why they're separating security from
the ticket checking process. That again, that makes zero sense to.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Me, makes absolutely no sense at all. But Mark, I
got to be honest with you. We wouldn't be here
if things they did made sense.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
There wouldn't be anything to report right.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well right, but especially specifically about the cats situation. And yeah,
somebody said, well, you know, they hired security and they're
doing it now. I like a hardcore liberal Democrat sitting
next to me on Monday at the Judiciary hearings like
where they're doing stuff now. I said, yeah, they're only
about fifteen years too late.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, And I mean honestly, what they're doing is like
hiring Barney Fife.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, without the one without the bullets. I didn't even
have his bullet. It's in his pocket. Yeah, they don't
even have the bullet in the pocket. They don't even
have that. Well, like I said, I will be at
the press conference tomorrow that starts good, you know, at
eleven am. I will be there with bells on and
we'll have lots of reports on it throughout the day.
(09:20):
So you guys make sure you stick around and listen
to Mark Garrison in the morning with all the news
and like I said, I will be out there reporting
on it and we'll have all the information then obviously
tomorrow night we'll talk about it in great, great detail
with a lot of audio. For better or for worse,
Mark Garrison, always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us tonight.
Oh glad to there you go. Everyone. That is Mark Garrison,
the news director over there in the morning anchor with
(09:41):
WBT News. Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jensen here
on this Thursday night. Once again, thanks to Mark Garrison,
the WBT news director, for joining us to talk about
the cat situation and the security system and the people
(10:02):
that they've hired, and how the security went from a
five point eight million dollar contract to an eighteen plus
million dollar contract and yet what are we getting for
it in the city of short we are we just well,
you're getting a presence for eighteen million dollars. You're getting
a presence. People see it, okay, but can they actually
(10:22):
prevent something? Forty percent of the security have less guns
than they did with the five million dollar contract, So
think about that. Uh, let's go to the phones and
we bring in Mike. Thanks for holding Mike. I appreciate it. Bud,
Hey Bred, how are you just fine? Sir? Thanks for colling.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Love your show.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I'm an old accountant and I'm old to begin with.
But if you take eighteen million dollars, divide it by
twelve months, you've got a million and a half a month.
Divide that million and a half by thirty days in
a month, you got fifty thousand dollars a day. If
you take twenty car train cars, it's twenty five hundred
(11:10):
dollars per train car. Divide that by three shifts, which
is eight hundred and thirty three dollars per shift per car.
Are they paying somebody one hundred bucks an hour? I
doubt it. Somebody's making a boatload of money, either politicians
getting it back and graft or the company that's been
(11:32):
hired to manage this. But we're getting squat for eight
hundred bucks a day per car.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, I'm gonna make it worse for you because the
trains don't run twenty four hours a day. They're on
a set schedule. They usually stop running around ten o'clock
at night.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, it's so one thousand dollars per shift. I'd love
to make three hundred bucks an hour. Maybe maybe an old,
skinny white guy can go out there and make three
hundred bucks an hour.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, I mean, if they were paying that, I might
even sign up to check check tickets. Yeah, I might
even check tickets if I if you're gonna pay me
that much. So yeah, it's it's right, you know, it's.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
We can't afford to make ticket takers or cannot give
people security. Where's the money going?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, and that's that's that's the problem that people are wondering,
like where's everything happening? Like what is going on?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
And so feel free if you had to prescott for
a tomorrow to do the math. Maybe it's I'm driving,
so I may off, maybe off a little bit, but
figure out the math and I bring it up to
So when are we getting for one thousand dollars one
thousand dollars a day per car?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right? Let's see here. Well, actually, I guess it does
run twenty four hours. I didn't think it did. I'll
be dark. I'm just trying to look up the schedule
WHI we're talking, and it used to not run twenty
four hours. But maybe it does actually run twenty four
hours a day now, huh. Interesting. I'll have to double
check that, make sure my stuffs right. But it's showing
that it looks like it's running twenty four hours a day.
(12:57):
But I know it used to not run twenty four
hours a day. I know that.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
And they want more and more money, but they let
people write for free. You never get away with that
in Chicago, New York or any of the big cities.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Ohsolutely. That was the thing that's the kicker right there,
because here's what's gonna happen. And Mike, I appreciate the
phone call and thanks for listening, buddy. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Thanks Brett.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Here's what's going to happen, what they're going to say tomorrow.
I can go ahead and tell you what they're going
to say tomorrow. No other city in the country has
security on all their trains. Now, the subway in New York,
they might have one max two cops per subway, and
(13:42):
they usually have like fifteen cars, you know, twenty cars
whatever it is, right, and you'll have cops that will
walk up and down the subway while the subway is
going like that's their patrol, the actual subway car, and
they might be in car number three, but a crime
might be happening in car number ten, but they're just
showing their presence. And they might have one or two
(14:03):
per subway's that's fine, I understand. If you're not gonna
have security on every single train, light rail, in every car,
I get. I mean, it's only twenty We're not talking
like one hundred and fifty. It's only twenty. But so
what they're gonna say is, no other transit system in
the country has security on every single car. And they're
(14:26):
one hundred percent right, one hundred percent right. But you
know what they all do though. They check for fares.
That's what they do do They have turnstiles or gates
and whatever. It's not the honor system, which we know
there is no honor. Honor does not exist. It doesn't
(14:48):
Well I'm honorable, my son's honorable, my father's honorable. Really
maybe so maybe ninety five percent of the time, maybe
even maybe even nine twenty seven percent of the time.
But there are times when they're not honorable. Period. So
(15:10):
for every nine people that might be honorable, guess what,
there's at least one or two that are not. And
that's the system. That's the thing. Yes, they may not
have security on all their train cars or anywhere else
in the country, but they check for they check for tickets.
They absolutely check for tickets. And I think it's Minnesota
(15:32):
that's actually having a major major financial crisis with their
light rail and their transit system because nobody checks for tickets.
And TV station did a big thing about it, like
they're like millions in the hole, millions in the hole
because no one's checking for tickets and everyone just rides
the bus and the light rail for free whenever they want,
and the bus drivers or the light rail conductors are
(15:54):
told not to say anything, just like here and people
just riding it all day, all day, every especially when
it's cold or rainy outside. Where else better to go
if you're homeless than to just go hang out in
the light rail and ride the rails all day? No
better place? Right, cold and rainy, snowy, icy rain. Hey,
(16:15):
let's just go and hang out at the light rail
and ride the rails all day from point A to
point B. Let's start all the way down there at
forty five in South Boulevard and take it all the
way up to UNCC and then all the way back
down again. There you go. That'll kill a couple hours. So, yeah,
(16:35):
you may not be able to have security, which I
will never be able to understand, because security would not
have saved Arena Zarutska. She was in the back of
the car, she didn't make a sound when she got stabbed, nothing,
and she was wearing a black T shirt so people
couldn't see the blood until started pulling on the floor
(16:56):
and massive, massive amounts. But you know what would have
prevented Arena Zaruzka from dying someone on there actually checking
tickets and preventing him from getting on the light rail
when he didn't have a ticket. That would have saved
Arena Zarutzska, and that would help the Charlotte get more money.
All right, Speaking of Arena Zaruska, we'll talk about that
(17:20):
because the bill is it going to go into a
law tomorrow. Welcome back to Brandon with Brett Jensen again
(17:41):
on this really really nice perfect early fall early early
fall day. I think what temperature I got up in
the high seventies to day, mid seventies, something like that.
A little breezy, little breezy, but good that it's in
October and I can still wear shorts out. That's why
(18:03):
we love the Carolina's ladies and gentlemen. That's why we
love the Carolinas. All right. So Arena Zarutska bill, House
Bill three oh seven. It was presented and given to
Josh Stein ten days ago. Josh Stein is the governor
of North Carolina. He's a Democrat, and the bill also
(18:29):
includes provisions with the death penalty. Now in North Carolina,
you need for the North Carolina General Assembly. Okay, you
got the North Carolin Jenalisment, you got the House side,
and you got the Senate side. In the Senate side,
they have a super majority. Okay, so let's say Governor
Stein veto's a bill, the Senate has enough votes to
(18:52):
override his veto. On the House side, the representative side,
they're one vote short of having super majority. On the
Republican side, and so on some of the bigger things
like making shares cooperate with Ice or other things like that,
they have to convince at least one Democrat to go
(19:15):
across the aisle and vote for things. And fortunately on
some of the bills that's happened, the common sense bills,
and we know that the hardcore left has very little
common sense, even though they're the ones that told you
to follow the science and data on twenty twenty. So
(19:39):
the bill, the Arena's the risk of bill, the crime Bill,
and all that other stuffing involving that and being tougher
and making it harder for people who are serial offenders
to get out because of just incompetent, moronic ACTIVI magistrates
(20:03):
and there are a lot of them out there. Remember,
you only have to have a I think a GED,
I don't even know. I'm not even positive. You have
to have a GED to be honest with you to
become a magistrate. To sit there and control how much
money someone has to spend, if any, to get out
(20:23):
of jail for crimes that they have committed and been
accused of committing and charged with. And how many times
over the years in the three and a half years
that I've had this show, have I highlighted just the
stupidity of so many magistrates, specifically in Mechlenberg County. A lot, right,
(20:49):
A lot so. But this bill also includes provisions about
the death penalty because the reason is, and I have
to discussed this, but in case you haven't heard, and
I never assume anyone's ever heard any show, so I
will reiterate it briefly. North Carolina hasn't put anyone to
(21:10):
death in nineteen years. The death penalty is still on
the books, but only sort a kind of because the
company that makes all those chemicals to put people down
to kill people, you know, in the injection right, lethal injections,
(21:32):
those people that company said whoa, whoa, whoa. They sued
all the states in America that were using their chemicals
to euthanize people, and so South Carolina finally came up
with the law and said, all right, fine, you'll have
your choice by like by this or by this or
(21:53):
by this that does not include lethal injection anymore because
of the lawsuit from the company that owns the chemicals.
And one of the ways that someone could be executed
is by firing squad. And they give the inmate the
choice of how would you like to die? And I'm
just gonna throw examples and I'm not saying these are
(22:15):
what's being used, but I know the firing squad is
one of them. And the man said, I'm going to
choose firing squad to make a point. Well, I know
for a fact because I talked to doctors. If you're
hitting the heart with a bullet, you die instantaneously. You
do not feel it. You die instantaneously. Okay, so don't
worry about that as long as you hit someone with
(22:37):
a bullet. And what they do, doctor comes up, looks
for the heart, and then they put a target basically
over the heart the size of an iPhone over the
person's heart, and you know, and the hood and all
that stuff. Right. So in North Carolina, part of this
Arena's Arriska bill, they said, hey, we want to introduce
the death penalty. Maybe they talked about hanging. I think Youah,
(23:00):
I think, and I should probably look this up, but
I think Utah was the last state to actually hang someone.
And it wasn't as long as you think, like it
wasn't that long ago, like you know, way before Isaac
was born. But I mean it may have actually happened
once in my it happened in my lifetime, or maybe
it was just before I was even born, but it
wasn't like we're not talking like nineteen twenty, is my point.
(23:25):
So maybe hanging, maybe the electric chair, maybe the gas chamber,
maybe firing squad so that is put inside now inside
the actual the Arena's Ruska bill, right, And so with
that being said, the bill was voted on, and I
(23:47):
want to say, like eighty one people voted on it,
which means nine Democrats voted for this. Now Woson Bradley.
Of course, she also voted against making sheriffs have to
cooperate with Ice, and she voted against writing that veto,
and thankfully a Democrat from Marckhamber County joined forces with
the Republicans and overrode Governor Stein's veto. I'm making sureris
(24:10):
have to cooperate with Ice. Wes Bradley didn't want to
have to do that. She didn't think that was a
good idea. So anyways, the bill. Once the bill is
voted upon and passed, it goes to Governor Stein, and
Governor Stein has ten days to do one of three things,
either veto it, to sign it, or to do nothing.
(24:36):
And if you do nothing, it automatically goes into law.
After ten days, Governor Stein has not vetoed anything, and
tomorrow House Bill three oh seven at the end of
the day, I believe, at the end of the day
says tomorrow's day ten. It goes into law if he
does not veto it. And by not signing it, that's
(24:57):
also just a little sign of protest. What about the
breaking with Brad Jenson? All right, so the arenas of
(25:18):
risk of bill How's built three oh seven. If it's
not signed or vetoed by tomorrow by Governor Stein, it
goes into effect, which includes provisions new provisions for the
death penalty to kickstart that bad boy up once again. Right,
Like I said, technically it's still on the books, but
(25:40):
they have to figure out new ways to go back,
I should say, to the old school ways of actually
doing it, because you can't use unless you find a
new company that makes the chemicals or whatever, whatever whatever.
So with that being said, Sheriff McFadden put out a
statement today, actually as I was parking into the parking lot,
(26:05):
and it says, in response to Arena's law, House Bill
three oh seven, Sheriff McFadden calls on lawmakers to address
systemic challenges. Okay, that's the headline, all right, So I'm
gonna skip through a couple of things. Okay, here we go.
(26:26):
The bill raises expectations but provides no support to meet them,
leaving local sheriffs to absorb the strain. Detention centers are
not optimal treatment settings. Consequently, many sheriffs across the state
may need to expand or enhance their mental health services
to effectively coordinate with local hospitals or manage patients in crisis.
(26:51):
While well intentioned, House Bill three oh seven creates several
unintended challenges for law enforcement agencies, one of the most
immediate and being a spike in overtime costs, especially tied
to increased hospital transports and extended holding times, which drain
already limited budgets. And I know what some people would say, Well,
(27:16):
if you had the federal dollars coming in from the
federal inmates. You wouldn't be strained financially because you used
to have that, and you wanted more money from the Feds.
And I get it. I understand why he did it,
but the Fed said take a hike, and so now
he's losing millions and millions and millions of dollars from
federal funds from holding federal inmates. I'll continue. There have
(27:39):
been too many individuals who lies were tragically lost and
who deserve the highest level of justice served. Sheriff mcfan
believes it is essential to tackle the factors contributing to
these losses from every angle. This includes not only focusing
on repeat offenders when they arrive at the Mecklinburg County
(27:59):
Court or detention center, but also intervening early to address
concerns such as mental health treatment, access, crisis response, prior charges,
and community based support. This is critical in meeting the
needs of both residents and unhoused population. First of all,
it's homeless. It's not unhoused. It's homeless. That word unhoused
(28:22):
will be the bane of my existence as long as
I am breathing. So here's the problem that people always
say we need more money, more money, more money. Let's
throw more money at it. How that tripling the cost
of the security bill for cats? How'd that work out?
(28:46):
More money? You went from five and a half five
point eight to eighteen million. How'd that work out? Let's
throw more money at CMS, more money at CMS. Congratulations,
it's five years after the fact and you're still below
COVID levels. Pre COVID level. You took a nose dive.
You took a nose dive, which, by the way, your
own school board is that fault for I keep wondering
(29:09):
if any parent was ever going to sue the school
board for their child not being as learned as it
should be because they were sent home because of the
Mecklimberg County school Board. Again, Alisa Dashu Aliset Dashue will
go down as the worst chairperson in the history of
(29:29):
CMS school boards. In the history period. Everything she did,
every major decision she had was wrong everyone, every single one,
and a lot of her cronies that were on the
school board, Jennifer Day, Lahara Sawyer, a lot of them.
(29:49):
But Elise will go down as the worst school board
chair in the history of CMS. So but hey, let's
throw money at it. Let's we need more mental health,
mental health, mental health. The dude that is charged with
the Verna's murder was already being held and had been
(30:14):
held for mental health checks. How'd that work out? So
it's not like and they said, well, borderline schizophrenic. Yeah.
Remember when they got charged for all the nine to
one one calls and all the fake nine one one
calls and all that came out. It came from Presbyteria.
Oh sorry, I said, Presbyteria came from Novante. He was
already in the hospital. He was making the calls from
(30:35):
the hospital. Why because he was being held because they
thought that he was insane or having a quote unquote episode.
So no, it would not have changed the situation. More
funding and more mental health would not have changed anything.
Into Carlos Brown, the man that killed or excuse me,
(30:58):
allegedly by the way, a Heart Court Democrat told me
that on Monday, sitting next to me, allegedly killed Arena.
I said, I'm sorry, I've got a pair of eyes.
I can see a video. I don't know about you.
I can see a video allegedly. God bless the Dems,
the radical left. Okay, that's going to do it for
us Tonight again. Tomorrow, I've got the press conference with
(31:20):
the city talking about cats and safety and the eighteen
million dollar contract and not getting anything for it. I'll
be at that press conference, and I promise you I
have a lot of questions that I will be asking,
so we'll make sure you stick around for that tomorrow night.
All right, everyone, my name is Brett Jensen, and you
have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jenson.
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CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.