New Metro Transit chief: Perception of safety is 'biggest challenge' ahead
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The Metro Transit Police Department has a new chief – and he’s a familiar name. Joseph Dotseth was announced Monday as the new permanent leader. He’s been the interim head since the fall of 2024 after the last chief resigned only more than a year into his tenure.
Dotseth has nearly 25 years of law enforcement service, all with the Metro Transit Police and he’s worked in nearly every role with the department.
He spoke with Minnesota Now about his priorities stepping into the role.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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For those who may not know, what role does Metro Transit Police play and what ground do you cover?
It's probably one of the biggest challenges that we face is really telling our story and what the Transit Police does.
The Transit Police has such a vital role in not just keeping the transit system safe and secure, but how we partner with all the departments in the region. It's a really significant impact that our officers and our department has.
What is at the top of your list of priorities as you step into this role permanently?
I think some of the top priorities that I have right now is continuing the momentum. We've accomplished a lot over the last 18 months.
One of the topics we hear a lot about is, what does crime look like on the system? Thanks to our “Safety & Security Action Plan”, our multi-layered approach to safety and security on the system, we're making significant impacts. Serious crime is down on the system. Last month, I went to the Metropolitan Council and gave a presentation. Serious crime is down 15 percent. Our officers’ proactive activity on the systems is up 107 percent.
So really, some priorities are continuing that momentum. Then, really focusing on establishing more beats. We went back to our beat model of policing and having our officers out — on the Hamline-Midway beat, downtown Minneapolis, downtown St. Paul, at the airport. Having our officers out on the system working these beats is a priority. That will continue.
And then really focusing on officer wellness because I definitely know that wherever we work, we want our workplace to be somewhere that you're proud of. So, we're focusing on officer wellness. I'm really happy to report that our officer retention rate is at 91 percent right now. So, we're not seeing staff leaving.
These stats just came in recently, too. Our first-year retention rates — a couple years ago, not doing so great, but now we're up to about 95 percent for year-one retention rate.
Last fall, a reportfrom The Minnesota Star Tribune said that although reported crime on transit is down compared to 2023, the majority of riders still feel unsafe. Ridership has also still not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. What do you think is going on?
It’s probably the biggest challenge that we face, not just at the police department but with Metro Transit itself — that perception of safety. We can go out, we can share stats, we can say that things are going down. Even when we talk about our total reported offenses, half of our total reported offenses, when you see these stats that come out, are because we drive those numbers. Our officers are out there being proactive, issuing citations.
So, we're definitely out there doing our part, but if you're not on the system and you're not experiencing that firsthand, you're not going to experience that. So, we just have to really do a much better job of telling our story.
I just urge people to give us a chance, to come back. Take a short ride if you need to. If you encounter something that you need help with, you can text for safety, you can let one of the operators know, and you will have somebody respond and deal with what's going on.
Officer-initiated calls have more than doubled since the start of 2024. How do you measure or use this metric and why are we seeing this increase?
When you see those increased numbers, that means our officers are out taking action on something before it happens.
So, they're calling stuff out into dispatch. They're using our computer-aided dispatch center. They're just using all their tools in a much more effective way.
And again, bringing back these beat officers, they're so impactful to the transit system because they're out there engaging in problems and taking proactive approaches to things before incidents occur.
