Jessica Tezoquipa, News editor

On Nov. 12, Metro Transit released a statement that they will be increasing Metro Transit police presence on the Blue Line and Green Line light rails as well as Community Service Officers, Transit Riders Investment Program (TRIP) Agents and security officers. These officers and agents will be “highly visible” during the busiest hours and late hours.

This increase in official presence comes as a part of the 40-plus actions in Metro Transit’s Safety & Security Action Plan. This action plan centers around three areas of work, which are improving conditions on the system, training and supporting employees, and engaging customers and partners. Other actions that Metro Transit has taken include expanding the Transit Rider Investment Program, in which TRIP agents inspect fares and assist riders; improving station conditions by cleaning and renovating them; and having de-escalation training for staff. 

According to Metro Transit, crime has gone down 21%, and officer-initiated calls for service, a measure of how active police officers are, are up 129% compared to last year. Despite this, surveys show that safety is a big concern among Metro Transit riders. According to The Star Tribune, public transit systems have struggled with low ridership since the pandemic, but Metro Transit has struggled more than other systems. 

“The TRIP agents started out with just counting the number of people in each car and not checking proof of payment. Then after about a month, they started checking proof of payment and then having security kick people off if they did not pay—I don’t mind the trip agents in blue; I don’t like the security agents, though. They are not even good at their job and are rude to people who don’t speak English or don’t have a means of paying,” stated Augsburg Student Ruby Oswood. 

Another student, Elliot Hilden,  commented that “I don’t think that rider fares should be the biggest priority for Metro Transit at this time. While I think having any official Metro Transit presence is helpful, I would much prefer agents that are specifically going onto trains to stop the random people harassing others or straight up doing drugs on the train. I also personally haven’t even really seen the increase in TRIP agents, especially on my later train rides, which is the time that I would hope to see more officials. I don’t feel unsafe on the train because some random teen didn’t have time to buy a ticket before hopping on the train home. I feel unsafe when I am on the train at 11 p.m. and a random man is yelling at me from twenty feet away.”

The Metro Transit Police Department is at their highest staffing level since 2021 with 116 police officers and 26 community service officers and according to Metro Transit, by the end of the year they will have 100 TRIP agents and 200 supplemental security officers. Metro Transit has contracted with Inter-Con Security, a private security company, to have security officers stationed at busy boarding stations up to 24 hours a day.