CHICAGO (AP) – A newspaper investigation has found that private security guards in Illinois often aren’t as closely monitored as police officers, who in recent years have faced scrutiny over excessive force.
The Chicago Tribune analyzed state and police records, court documents and media reports to find that security guards deliberately fired a gun in a work-related situation 40 times from April 2011 to June 2018. Eleven people died in these shootings.
Illinois law says security companies must report such shootings to state regulators, though some small forces are exempt.
The newspaper found 11 shootings since 2011 that weren’t reported as required but that none of the companies were disciplined for failing to report.
The newspaper also found no record in the past seven years of the state disciplining a guard for playing a role in a shooting.
