Armed guards at mine site

An out-of-state safekeeping company providing armed guards for a future mining site in northern Wisconsin is reputation down for now after it was revealed that the firm isn’t licensed to provide private security inside Wisconsin.

A spokesman for mining firm Gogebic Taconite LLC said Wednesday that his firm had asked Bulletproof Securities to withdraw its guards from the proposed mine area until it obtains a license to operate in the state. knowledgeable by a Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday that the security firm was unlicensed, the district attorney for Iron County also said he would look into the matter.

The decision by Gogebic to pull back the guards was a change from the mining company’s stance of just a day before, when spokesman Bob Seitz said Gogebic was keeping Bulletproofs paramilitary-style guards at the site despite criticism from mine opponents. The Bulletproof guards had been operating at the mine site since July 4 without the proper state license, Seitz acknowledged.

Bulletproof Securities President Tom Parrella said Wednesday that his firm, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., holds a number of federal and out-of-state licenses for its experienced staff and has applied for the Wisconsin license. Parrella said Wednesday that Bulletproof had been hired with little notice and had not expected the public attention that has focused on the firm’s role in the proposed mine site in Iron County.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, which licenses security firms, said in an email that Bulletproof “has indicated its intention to submit a license application” to the agency and that the state would provide an update “if any new licenses are issued.”

Under the state’s private security guard law, DSPS may issue temporary permits to security firms that have applied for a state license but not yet received one. The temporary permit provision, however, prohibits security guards from carrying weapons such as the assault rifles carried by Bulletproof guards under these 30-day licenses.

According to the law, providing security without a license can be punished with a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500 and three to six months of incarceration. In addition, DSPS can bar a firm from providing security services in the state for one year for failing to comply with the law.

But Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske, an independent, said he would contact Gogebic and Bulletproof and look into the question of whether the law had been violated. He said he would take into account the fact that the security services were being voluntarily suspended.