Metro Transit police chief guarantees security enhancements

Metro Transit officers are promising to sort out crime and different security issues on the Twin Cities’ public transit system. The variety of individuals driving buses and trains continues to slowly tick upward after a steep drop initially of the pandemic. However studies of vandalism, drug use, and assaults are up sharply.

Lisa Tabor is a daily, if occasional consumer of the area’s public transit system. She takes the sunshine rail about as soon as each month or so to journey from her dwelling in Minneapolis to MSP airport for enterprise journeys. 

As she awaited the Blue Line prepare round midday Thursday at Goal Area Station, Tabor stated she usually sees fellow riders who seem like homeless, however they typically hold to themselves. Regardless of a major rise in crime in recent times, Tabor stated she’s by no means felt unsafe on the prepare, which she sometimes rides early within the morning or round noon. 

“I haven’t actually seen any crime apart from one particular person [where] I witnessed the police interacting with them as a result of they failed to purchase a ticket, and it was fairly a respectful interplay. I used to be very happy,” Tabor stated.

Metro Transit statistics present that crime rose 66 % within the first three months of 2023 in contrast with the identical time final yr. Vandalism stays a serious drawback, as do assault, theft, and weapons offenses. On the similar time, ridership is almost half of what it was in 2019.

Tabor caught her afternoon prepare simply after Metro Transit leaders wrapped up a information convention the place they promised to resolve these issues and make different riders’ experiences as optimistic as Tabor’s have been. 

The company’s Police Chief Ernest Morales, who got here to the Twin Cities from New York in February, stated the hassle begins with an elevated presence of officers and safety personnel. 

“We’re going to look to implement the code of conduct,” Morales stated. “Once we see a violation going down, we’re going to instantly implement it. However it needs to be primarily based on observations, and inside the regulation.”

He stated that features continued assist for Metro Transit’s Homeless Motion Group, which directs individuals to shelters and different companies.

The transportation invoice that Gov. Tim Walz signed final week permits non-police officers to difficulty administrative citations to riders who don’t purchase tickets. Beforehand, solely police might implement fares via misdemeanor citations that had been hardly ever prosecuted. Morales stated he hopes to rent 26 transit security ambassadors. 

In March, the Metropolitan Council, which oversees the transit system, accepted a two-year, $6 million contract with Allied Common Safety to offer a presence at a half dozen bother spots. These embody Lake Road Station in Minneapolis, the place two males assaulted a transgender lady in February, and Central Station in downtown St. Paul, the location of a double murder in December.  

State lawmakers additionally directed $2 million for nonprofits to offer social service outreach on buses and trains for the following yr. Hortense Hollie with A Mom’s Love stated that’s one thing her group has already began. Hollie stated misbehavior in public areas is usually the results of deeper issues, together with poverty.

“You’re appearing out as a result of there’s one thing that you simply want,” Hollie stated. “And once we get these referrals, we return them to our workplace, they get a name inside 24 to 48 hours to set them up with companies, empowerment teams, no matter service they could want if it’s remedy, a job, something like that. In order that’s our presence on the bus, it’s the gentle contact, the group contact.” 

Metro Transit plans to rent different group teams to complement the work of A Mom’s Love. Chief Morales stated he’s hopeful that a greater expertise for everybody will encourage extra individuals to return to the area’s buses and trains, resulting in a virtuous cycle of security in numbers.