A first-month accounting of the private patrol on South Nevada Avenue lists at least seven arrests, 169 engagements and 81 calls for police backup. It does not identify who made the arrests. Officials say conditions along the corridor may be changing, but concerns extend beyond its boundaries.
First-Month Numbers From the Fidelis Patrol
Fidelis Security patrols the stretch of South Nevada Avenue between Cheyenne Boulevard and Dorchester Park daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. A report submitted to the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority and reviewed by FOX21 News Colorado lists public drug use, unauthorized camping, illegal dumping, prohibited fires and public urination among the issues guards encountered.
Steve Noblett, a Fidelis representative and retired Colorado Springs Police Department lieutenant, said patrols appear to be changing behavior in the district. He also described activity shifting to underpasses, creek corridors and wooded areas, where people may be less visible to the guards, according to the report. Residents and business owners have reported improved conditions since patrols began, the report said.
A Program Born From a Contentious Funding Fight
The patrol followed months of debate over how to pay for it. Jariah Walker, a representative for the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, initially asked the city council for $458,000 in retail marijuana sales tax revenue to help fund private security guards along the avenue, according to The Gazette. The outlet reported that the original proposal called for six Fidelis Security officers plus a private security drone, with an estimated annual cost of $757,000, covering businesses between Interstate 25 and East Cheyenne Road as well as Dorchester Park. The Gazette also reported that private guards cannot make arrests; Walker said they can provide some enforcement of the sit-lie ordinance and encourage people to move along.
Coverage of the final contract amount has varied. The Gazette later reported that the council approved an additional $458,000 in retail marijuana tax revenue on a final 7-2 vote, while KOAA reported a $700,000 security contract approved on first reading, with $450,000 of that total coming from the city's 5% retail marijuana special sales tax. CitizenPortal, meanwhile, described a $458,000 supplemental appropriation approved by the council on July 28. The exact scope and breakdown of the final funding package has not been independently verified beyond these differing accounts.
What is consistent across reporting is the staffing model: a one-year contract between the Urban Renewal Authority and Fidelis Security Solutions calling for six unarmed guards patrolling the corridor seven days a week in three shifts covering 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to The Gazette's August coverage. Earlier FOX21 reporting described the arrangement as a supplement to local public safety services rather than a replacement for primary police enforcement.
Officials Temper Expectations on Homelessness
Walker acknowledged that transient activity and homelessness remain broader societal challenges that a single corridor initiative cannot resolve. “All we can do is try to keep this area as tight as possible, and then work with some of the arterial areas,” Walker said, according to FOX21's report.
That caution lines up with citywide figures. Colorado Springs police fielded 1,692 homeless camp cleanup requests in 2025 and offered outreach services to 1,024 homeless people that year, of whom 646 declined any assistance, according to Colorado Politics. That outlet also reported that the city combined its Homeless Outreach Team and Downtown Area Response Team into a new Peak Station Unit, now staffed with 14 officers and two sergeants, patrolling areas that include South Nevada Avenue alongside the private guards.
Earlier records put the corridor in context
The city’s 2025-2030 Homelessness Response Action Plan says residents requested cleanup of 2,421 camps in 2023, a 72% increase from 2022. The 2023 figure and the 2025 police figures above describe different periods and records, so they do not by themselves establish a year-to-year trend. The 2025 figures report camp-cleanup requests and outreach offered; 646 of the 1,024 people offered services declined assistance, according to the Colorado Politics account above. A separate operation in March 2023 targeted trespassers and campers along the Greenway Trail and Fountain Creek, south of the South Nevada Avenue exit, FOX21 reported. That earlier deployment documents activity in nearby creek corridors but does not establish a connection to the Fidelis patrols.
Earlier FOX21 reporting found that police calls for property and disorder crimes along the corridor had dropped since August, while calls tied to violent crime had ticked up slightly. Authorities say they plan to keep monitoring the Fidelis initiative and collaborate with city agencies and police to adjust outreach and enforcement tactics as conditions along the corridor continue to evolve.
