Tax-funded $44M Statue of Liberty security team slammed by auditors

Auditors have slammed a $44 million taxpayer-funded deal with the private firm securing the Statue of Liberty, saying guards watched sports games on their cell phones rather than keeping visitors safe. Federal inspectors say Universal Protection Services and its 110 guards violated their contract by not doing enough to stop guns, explosives, or terrorists, from reaching the beloved monument in New York Harbor. 

They also accuse the National Park Service of not keeping tabs on the firm and its weak security protocols that led to an ‘increased risk to public safety and to the safety of the site itself.’ The report does not highlight any major breaches in the four-and-a-half-year deal, which was signed in September 2021. But guards famously let some 500 protesters reach the island by public ferry last November, where they unfurled banners and sang protest songs against Israel’s assault on Gaza for 20 minutes. At the time, park security admitted they’d been caught out.

The audit highlights failures at a national treasure and 305-foot tall symbol of American democracy that has been a prime target for terrorists since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Universal Protection Services and the park service did not answer DailyMail.com’s requests for comment. The US Department of the Interior’s inspectors assessed the site in 2021-2022 and released their findings last month.

They saw two guards at a security screening watching sports games on their phones when they were supposed to be watching x-ray machines for weapons, drugs, explosives and other contraband. The contract prohibits guards from using cell phones, but there was no evidence any staffer had ever been disciplined for doing so, said the troubling 52-page report. Some employees failed to return their Department of the Interior ID cards after leaving their jobs.

In all, 17 cards had gone missing, meaning ex-staffers or imposters could have reached the site without being checked. The ID cards are classed as ‘sensitive assets’ that must be safeguarded, per the contract. The company also failed to keep tabs on staff working hours. Guards signed in with a pen on a timesheet, as the required electronic system was not set up.

As a result, many timesheets had been lost or contained errors. As many as 42 percent of timesheets were not filled correctly — calling into question $938,000 in salary payments. In another example of dodgy accounting, one employee invoiced the government for $32,236, but never followed the rules about filling in a timesheet.

Worse still, auditors said, the firm could not show evidence of employee drug tests or training sessions. Adam Andrzejewski, CEO and founder of the transparency watchdog OpenTheBooks, said Universal Protection Services had let down taxpayers with a ‘shoddy’ service. Without ‘substantive changes, all $43.9 million is likely to be spent ineffectively,’ Andrzejewski said.

‘The company is not guaranteed to stay on for their full four-year contract with the National Park Service, and perhaps they shouldn’t.’ The firm is part of Allied Universal, which employs some 800,000 staff across more than 90 countries. It says it works hard at ‘keeping people safe so our customers and communities can thrive.’

The Statue of Liberty was given by France to the United States as a gift, and was completed and assembled in 1886. The colossal copper statue was designated as a National Monument in 1924, and has been under the protection of the National Park Service since 1933.

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