Such action would have been above their pay grade. Now, to be absolutely clear here, I have not directly contacted the security company, nor the bus service that contracted it. I am saying this based on economics. It’s unlikely that the bus service made a contract with the highest bidder. Further, since the security company probably didn’t make the highest bid, it’s unlikely that the guards are highly trained.

Now, moving forward with those two assumptions, a bad situation would have probably ended up much worse. More likely than not, those security guards probably did not have proper restraint training – training given to all police officers so that they don’t hurt themselves, and hopefully don’t hurt the individuals they are attempting to restrain and take into custody. It’s frustrating, but unfortunately, the guards acted appropriately. If they’d stepped in, odds are that there would have been more injuries (and potential lawsuits.)

A news report on the incident states that the King County Metro is reviewing its security guard policy. One could read that to mean revisiting the security contract with the intention of upgrading service to guards that are properly trained to handle similar circumstances. If that is what the Metro does, Seattle residents can probably look forward to higher fares – the extra money for better security service will have to come from somewhere.

In the end, this is a lesson for the public, if they choose to pay attention. If one hasn’t heard a joke deriding mall guards or rent-a-cops, it’s because one has been buried under a rock somewhere. Hollywood devoted an entire movie to the concept that they are less than competent. That said, why in the world would the by-standers in that tunnel think that those guards would have done anything to help that teen? While the jokes are about incompetence, the reality is that these guards bluntly aren’t paid (or trained) enough to put themselves in harm’s way. We shouldn’t be asking why those guards did nothing. The better question is why didn’t a single by-stander step forward once it became clear that the guards would not act? And please don’t insult anyone’s intelligence by claiming that there wasn’t enough time….