“I have never heard from them again, even to this day,” Nations said Monday.

At a time in which Stenger has said he doubled the number of county officers patrolling the transit system, there is no accountability in place to determine what police officers are actually doing. When violence spiked this year, Stenger blamed Nations for not signing the contract with the county.

But in the meantime, the County Council passed a budget ordinance to spend $4 million directly to the police department from the county’s transportation funds — passed by taxpayers to fund transit services.

Wagener said in a statement sent by a county spokesman that he got involved in the contract discussions at the request of Belmar. “Crime on MetroLink had become a concern, and Chief Belmar determined that his department must have control over its officers,” the statement said.

Since Friday morning, Belmar has so far declined a request to discuss the allegations about his officers detailed in public complaints as well as Metro memos, emails and videos. Speaking to reporters at an unrelated press conference Monday, he defended both his own leadership and the MetroLink security work of county officers and called for a stop to the “finger-pointing” and “infighting.”