Metro Transit continues its long-term effort to address crime and public safety on its buses and trains in the Twin Cities, as leaders shared with Metropolitan Council members that crime is up and the number of officers remains low.
In a presentation with the Met Council Committee of the Whole on Wednesday, Metro Transit Police Interim Chief Rick Grates shared calls for service: are up 15% compared to 2021 and 25% compared to 2020.
Among the specifics, Grates noted that calls for narcotics were up 182% and weapons were up 145% from 2021 to 2022.
“We are seeing more firearms, and we are seeing ghost guns on the system–things that you’ve been hearing about on the national news and all that–they’re quite concerning,” Grates told the panel.
He also noted that the number of officers available to respond to calls on buses, trains, and at transit stations is way down, from 138 full-time officers on the force in June 2019 to 106 full-time officers in June 2022.
“That downward trend is there with the staffing that we talked about, but those calls for service remain high,” said Grates. “Those officers that are out there working are doing more with less resources, so I really want to commend them.”
Grates and other Metro Transit leaders report these figures quarterly to the Committee of the Whole as part of the long-term Safety and Security Action Plan.
You can view his entire presentation here.