When the American Public Transportation Association handed out its 2026 Gold Award for safe, effective, and clean light rail service, the winner was Metro Transit, the Minneapolis-St. Paul system that has spent four years overhauling how it keeps riders safe. Eight hundred miles away, in a corporate office on South De Lacey Avenue, the news landed as a point of pride.
Inter-Con Security, the Pasadena-headquartered firm that provides supplemental security officers across Metro Transit’s light rail stations, issued a statement July 1 calling the award “well-deserved recognition” of the transit agency’s work. Inter-Con is one of several layers of security personnel deployed under Metro Transit’s Safety & Security Action Plan, a framework the Metropolitan Council endorsed in 2022 that includes more than 40 action items aimed at improving conditions, supporting transit employees, and strengthening engagement with riders and community partners.
The APTA award, presented at the association’s Rail Conference in Baltimore during the last week of June, recognizes rail transportation systems that have achieved significant safety and security outcomes through innovative programs and initiatives. Metro Transit won in the Light Rail/Streetcar category.
“We could not be more pleased to see Metro Transit receive this well-deserved recognition,” Henry Hernandez, Inter-Con’s president and CEO, said in the company’s statement. “This award reflects the dedication of everyone involved in building a safer, more welcoming transit system. Inter-Con is honored to play a role in supporting Metro Transit’s vision, and we share in this achievement alongside them.”
Inter-Con’s contract with Metro Transit began in November 2025 — roughly seven months before the award was announced. Under a three-year agreement, Inter-Con stations security officers at more than two dozen boarding locations, some around the clock. The officers, identifiable by black uniforms with a company patch, are trained in de-escalation and monitor conditions at platforms and stations. Some Inter-Con employees also serve as Transit Rider Investment Program agents, who ride light rail and bus rapid transit lines to inspect fares and assist passengers, according to Metro Transit.
The security officers are one element of a broader buildup. Metro Transit has expanded its force of police officers, Community Service Officers, and TRIP agents in recent years, reaching 121 police officers, 49 community service officers, and more than 130 TRIP agents by mid-2026, according to CBS Minnesota. Serious crime on the system was down 21 percent as of late 2025, Metro Transit reported at the time, and officer-initiated calls for service had risen 129 percent. Those efforts have also contributed to improvements in customer satisfaction and perceptions of safety, while reducing customer complaints and property damage, according to the Inter-Con statement.
Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras, the first woman to permanently hold the position, said in announcing the award that the recognition validates ongoing work but is not a finish line. “While our work continues, we are proud to see our efforts to create a consistently clean, safe, and welcoming experience on transit being acknowledged as industry leading,” Kandaras said, according to the Inter-Con statement. “This award doesn’t signify that our work is over but instead provides motivation to continue the positive momentum as our system continues to evolve and grow.”
Inter-Con was founded in 1973 by retired Los Angeles Police Department Detective Lt. Enrique “Hank” Hernandez, who built the company from a single contract with NASA into a global operation. Now in its third generation of family leadership, the firm describes itself as the largest minority-owned and operated security company in the world. It is 100 percent Hispanic-owned, a certified Minority Business Enterprise, and reports employing more than 40,000 people across North and South America and Africa, according to company statements. Its headquarters remain in Pasadena.
The company holds transit security contracts across the country, including a seven-year agreement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a $66 million contract with San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System, and a five-year contract with Capital Metro in Austin, Texas, according to Inter-Con press releases.
The award adds to a year of recognition for the firm. In September 2025, Inter-Con was named the Outstanding Contract Security Company at the industry’s OSPA awards, according to the company.
Kandaras, in a separate statement last year, described the philosophy behind the layers of presence on the Minneapolis system: “Nothing is more important to us than providing a consistently safe, clean, and welcoming experience on transit.”
The stacks of uniforms — black and blue and plainclothes — keep growing. For Inter-Con, watching a client win gold is the business case made visible
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