Metro Transit Light Rail Safety in Question — and other top public safety news
Murder and Mayhem on our Light Rail
Last Friday evening a 33-year-old man was shot and killed on the Metro Transit light rail at University and Hamline in St. Paul — few details of the event have been released, and no arrests have been made.
Then on Sunday at midday on the Franklin Ave light rail platform in Minneapolis, a woman was stabbed in the leg by an unknown Native American male. The injuries were apparently not life-threatening, and the assault wasn’t reported by the legacy media, but was reported by the online group CrimeWatchMN. No arrests have been made.
These two crimes of violence occurred just more than a week after another woman was shot on a light rail train at University and Western in St. Paul on November 21st. Few details are available and there is no indication any arrests have been made.
All of this comes in the months following the quiet departure of the former Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales in September after he had been placed on leave for an undisclosed internal investigation.
The violence also comes shortly after Metro Transit reported that “Reported Crime” was down in 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023.
People are tired of being looked in the eye and lied to. People sense the decay on our Metro Transit light rail – they see the crime, they feel it, they smell it — and no cherry-picked data changes what they sense.
The problem is this isn’t a new development. Here’s a random Trip Advisor post from 2018 that describes a rider’s experience, and the utter failure of public safety officials to respond properly.
“I had heard many rumors about the Light Rail in downtown Minneapolis, but decided to give it a whirl when heading back home from a trip. I along with a few others took the rail from the airport to the Target Field. It was past midnight and we were shocked at how mismanaged things were. When we got on we look around and there were four homeless people just in our car alone. The car smelled of urine and the seats were filthy! After finding seats and setting our luggage down, one guy came up to us wanting money and was angry when we told him we didn’t have any. He wouldn’t leave us alone till my boyfriend basically told him to get lost. Finally, the city police showed up and we thought they would get them off. Instead the police just joked around with them and didn’t even ask if they had tickets to ride. I was a paying customer and was not happy to this kind of enforcement. The police did nothing and jumped back off. After the police left one man proceeded in pulling his pants down and urinating all over. I knew at this point that saving money taking the Light Rail versus other forms of transportation was not worth it. I would advise everyone out there to not travel the Light Rail alone!!! I have taking the train in Chicago after midnight and felt safer there than I did here in my home state! Clean it up Minnesota!!”
These concerns were validated two years ago with federal data that showed the Metro Transit light rail to be the most dangerous in the country. And yet, here we are.
Failing to address the violence, drug use, and chaos that is in plain sight on the system is self-defeating, and makes efforts to expand the system appear disconnected from reality.
Our Northern Border Vulnerability
Alpha News reported this week on information from The Center Square, indicating an alarming number Known or Suspected Terrorists (KSTs) attempting to enter the United States through our northern border with Canada.
According to the reporting, a record number (1,903) of KSTs have been apprehended attempting to illegally enter the country during the Biden Administration, 2021-2024. Of that number, a staggering 64% (1,216) were apprehended at the northern border with Canada.
This trend has continued in Biden’s final year despite efforts and reports indicating the Biden Administration was addressing border security. In this past fiscal year, 2023-2024, 44 KSTs were apprehended at our northern border while eight were apprehended at our southwest border.
This reporting is consistent with the vulnerabilities we have been emphasizing in our reporting at Center of the American Experiment. There are few issues of more import to the public safety in the United States than shoring up the vulnerabilities created by a porous border during the Biden Administration.
Red Lake Tribal Police Officer Killed On-Duty
Red Lake Tribal Police Officer Jesse Branch, 35, and Tribal Band member Alan Lussier Jr, 37, died in a two-car crash just East of the Red Lake community on Hwy 1.
Circumstances of the crash are under investigation by the Minnesota State Patrol.
Law enforcement from across the region are expected to attend Officer Branch’s funeral scheduled for Saturday. These occasions serve to cement the bond between officers from all departments, and backgrounds.