Over the past three years, Metro Transit’s police force has been trying to reach beyond bus and train stops — and they’ve gotten the officers to do it.

In those three years, their authorized full-time force has spiked from 68 to 110 — a 62 percent increase — and their pool of part-time officers to draw from during busy periods jumped from 62 to 95.

That includes bomb-sniffing K-9 units, a bike squad that’s doubled in size to 20 officers, and a new building in the works to tune of $10 million to $14 million. Another 45 officers could be added by 2020, provided other transit lines go into effect.

Chief John Harrington, hired in 2012 to revamp the agency, has overseen the largest expansion in its history. His stated goal: to change its image from a department that would simply show up to take a report when someone was mugged to one that’s “community-based.”

In other words, familiarizing officers with riders and residents alike, and building long-term relationships blocks from the stops.

“The image when I came in was a department waiting for something to happen on a bus or on a train,” Harrington said. “We recognize that if you’re a block off walking to the bus and you get mugged, you’re one of our customers.”

Customers have noticed, he said. One of his most touted statistics: since he’s taken over, calls to the agency have tripled, from 300 a month to 915 in May.

Critics question how much the public was aware as the changes occured, and they wonder what justifies an increase so large, so suddenly.

Over the period of the police expansion, 11 miles of light rail have been added to dozens of miles of existing heavy and light tracks, in addition to hundreds of miles of bus routes.

“Major government decisions ought to be made with as much public input and notice as possible,” said Don Gemberling, spokesman for the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information, an advocacy group for transparency.

A CHANGE OF PHILOSOPHY

The impetus for the expansion began not just with the opening of the Green Line, but with a 2012 report on the Metro Transit police force by the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute, a Woodbury-based nonprofit consulting firm dedicated to strengthening policing practices.

The report noted that even in the decade before 2012, calls for service had more than doubled, and “expectations to be all things to all people have substantially increased with those demands.” It was unclear, even to many of the dozens of officers interviewed, exactly what their mission was.

“One police officer told the story of how a human resources staff member referred to him as a ‘fare inspector’ when being hired as a police officer,” the report noted.

Additionally, there was often confusion over if and when local police departments would take over an investigation.

The study sparked a change in philosophy, spearheaded by Harrington.

As a former St. Paul police chief and state legislator who had worked as a part-time transit officer in the 1980s, the new chief knew his department had an “identity crisis,” with riders questioning whether they were “real cops.”

The issues in question were evident during a Green Line ride-along this week.

“Are you po-po, or just metro?” one teenage girl asked an officer as he was checking her ticket.

“We’re all police,” officer David Daughtery — a new hire — replied, nodding at the law enforcement insignia on his uniform. “See my shoulder?”

Officer Leonard Mitchell, Daughtery’s training officer who was standing several feet away, laughed and shook his head.

“Every day,” he said. “But it’s getting better.”

While yes, transit officers largely respond to “quality of life” crimes — drunks and drug use, panhandling, loitering — and enforce fares, with the staff expansion the department is tackling more serious crimes.

In 2010, Minneapolis police typically handled all robberies at train or bus facilities. By 2012, transit cops handled those robberies themselves. Aggravated assaults also are largely handled by transit.

Major, high-profile crimes are still typically handled by local police; it helps to have a full crime lab when you’re investigating a homicide.

And additional “memorandums of understanding” were drafted with local departments, allowing them the right to choose whether they want to head an investigation.

But the force expansion, Harrington says, has less to do with the types of crimes police handle and more to do with making cops accessible — and familiar.

In several “pilot” areas, entire neighborhoods — rather than just transit routes — are now considered part of the beat.

Foot patrols have been added to parts of downtown Minneapolis; North Minneapolis along Broadway Avenue; Washington Avenue near the University of Minnesota — and, most recently, Payne and Arcade avenues in St. Paul.

During the school year, transit cops now have 12 officers on the Minneapolis public school detail, working with administrators and students as they get home on public buses. The same program is being explored in St. Paul, with a pilot program at Johnson High School next year.

“When (kids) have a fight at the school, we want to know about it. … Finding out about it after they’ve already gotten on the buses is a little too late,” Harrington said.

The diversity rate of the department has also skyrocketed: 50 employees are minorities, up from 12 in 2011; and 27 are female, up from 7 in the same timeframe.

The point, Harrington says, is to have officers become familiar faces for business owners, students, residents, and — most important — frequent riders.

“I bet I talk to 100 people I know personally, I see every day,” Officer Mitchell said.

During an hour-long ride, he spoke with a good half-dozen at length.

But some, seeing all those additional officers, wonder how they got there.

COST FACTOR NOT INSIGNIFICANT

The Institute’s review of the department was presented in the fall of 2012 to the Metropolitan Council. Harrington spoke energetically about many issues, but one topic was not brought up: the need for a surge of force size.

During the presentation of the review, Metro Transit general manager Brian Lamb promised quarterly updates on the department’s evolution to the transportation committee. According to the council’s agenda records, two such reviews occurred the following February and April, an additional report was made to the full council in September, then nothing until October 2014.

“I made the pitch not to committees, but to the general manager and regional administrators,” Harrington said.

Initially the force increase was discussed in the context of the Green Line expansion — but council members on both committees soon pushed for additional police coverage in other areas important to them.

“You need to establish more corner locations,” 2013 transportation committee member James Brimeyer said, adding with a chuckle, “Brian (Lamb) will find the money.”

“Thank you. He’s done very well for me so far,” Harrington replied.

Council members also pushed for a transition from part-time to full-time officers — both for the benefits of officers being employed full-time and a more stable department.

“I will say that the cost factor on that is not insignificant, though,” Harrington warned during his first transportation committee meeting. In the second meeting before full council, Harrington briefly noted the force had grown from 90 to 185 officers. No questions were asked.

Details on full-time force size weren’t publicly broached until the October 2014 meeting, when that force had already reached 98 — a 44 percent increase from 2012.

Presentations during the transportation committee’s 2014 annual operational budget meetings showed overall labor costs for all of Metro Transit, with nothing specific to the police department. The 2015 budget presentation made brief mention that a quarter of the agency’s labor increases were due to police staffing, with no exact staffing numbers. There were no questions. Public notice descriptions of the meetings were simply labeled “Police update.”

“A big change, a significant shift, and it’s all done behind essentially slightly open doors, with little or no meaningful public notice,” Gemberling said.

Something like a major philosophy change leading to a large jump in staffing levels, Gemberling said, “is not just a regular agenda item.”

‘IS IT NECESSARY?’

Last month, Harrington gave a fourth presentation to the transportation committee, delivering crime statistics, staff size, and again outlining his philosophy for community policing.

“It was great. We don’t usually see that,” current transportation committee chair Lona Schreiber said about the staff numbers. She added that to her recollection, details about the major shift in staffing size were not discussed before the transportation committee.

“That level of detail doesn’t usually come before the transportation committee,” Schreiber said.

Committee member Edward Reynoso, political director for International Brotherhood of Teamsters, again told Harrington in the June meeting he’d “love to see some more growth … in full-time positions,” rather than part-time jobs.

Annette Meeks, who oversaw Metro Transit on the committee for eight years under Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said, “the first thing that comes to mind is anytime any state agency proposes an increase of that large in size and scope, it should have significant oversight. Why do it, and why is it necessary right now, at this time?”

Meeks also wondered how the addition of 11 miles of light rail would justify such an increase in full-time officers.

“Ridership has not gone up that significantly to warrant that. We have a pretty safe transit system,” she said.

“There are quite a few layers of policing there that jump into help, and is that all necessary? And frankly, is there a cheaper alternative?”

In a written statement, Metropolitan Council Chair Adam Duininck, who chaired the transportation committee in 2013 and 2014, said: “Working to ensure the safety of riders is an absolute responsibility and a fundamental function of the Metropolitan Council, which is why we have increased and are increasing the size of MTPD.”

The police department’s operating budget increased from $9.2 million in 2012 to $14.9 million in 2015. Personnel costs alone jumped from $8.6 million in 2012 to $13.9 million in 2015.

When asked what she thought of Harrington’s presentation last month, current chair Schreiber said, “I felt comfortable with his presentation, because the services has expanded. I think the coverage need is greater. You’ve got more passengers and more activity.”

Ridership has increased over the past year, after a lull. Metro Transit ridership largely flat-lined in 2012 and 2013 — with increases of 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively — but increased by 3.9 percent in 2014. Month-to-month averages during the first quarter of this year have increased an additional 9 percent over last year — largely due to a 150 percent increase in light-rail ridership.

Nobody on the committee expressed concerns about the surge in police staff during Harrington’s June presentation. To Schreiber’s recollection, nobody ever had during any meeting. A review of video of the multiple meetings showed she was correct.

OTHER METROS HAVE MORE TRANSIT OFFICERS

Still, when measured against metropolitan areas of comparable size, Metro Transit’s force size is relatively low — and much cheaper.

The police force for the Dallas transit system — not including Fort Worth or Arlington — consists of 335 personnel, including 228 commissioned officers, 57 fare enforcement officers, and about 50 dispatchers, administrative and support staff.

Those officers cover a metro area of about three million people including a bus system and 90 miles of light rail.

The annual cost last year: $33.6 million.

Out west in the Seattle tri-county metropolitan area, multiple agencies — consisting of about 337 personnel — cover the roughly three-million-strong region’s hundreds of miles of buses, 16 miles of light rail and 74 miles of heavy commuter rail.

In addition to 104 commissioned officers from a local sheriff department and four support staff, private security firm Securitas provides 229 agents who take on fare evasion in addition to other security tasks.

Total cost for all contracts: $34.4 million.

‘A MODERN POLICE AGENCY’

As for crime, Harrington notes it’s currently low on the transit system.

Numbers supplied by Metro Transit show that after a years-long system-wide uptick in both major and quality-of-life crimes, last year there was a significant drop in both.

After increasing steadily from 291 in 2010, major crimes — such as aggravated assault and robbery — peaked at 656 in 2013, but sunk to 370 last year. Less serious crimes — such as public intoxication and disorderly conduct — dropped from 6,660 to 5,105 last year as well. This occurred as Metro Transit police assumed the primary investigative role in more serious cases, and ridership increased.

“I don’t know that it can get much safer than that, but we’re going to try,” Harrington told the transportation committee.

If crime is low, why the added officers?

“If a line isn’t safe and you don’t feel safe, folks won’t ride. That’s fundamental to any business operation. … Having a visible police presence is part of that mix,” Harrington said.

The Green Line requires more staff than the Blue Line, Harrington added. It’s a 24-hour operation, almost completely urban, bracketed by two downtowns.

“When you get south of Lake Street (on the Blue Line) and you’re heading toward the airport, you kinda sail along. That becomes much more of a suburban line,” Harrington said.

But Green Line aside — the expansion accounted for a total of 22 full-time hires — the fact remains that much of the reason behind the police force’s expansion lies in the expansion of its philosophy and duties.

And additional transit lines — including the Southwest light rail line, subsequent Bottineau line to Brooklyn Park, and additional rapid bus routes — could add up to 45 more full-time officers.

A new office at Metro Transit’s Haywood campus, just west of downtown Minneapolis, is currently estimated to cost between $10 million and $14 million, with construction starting as early as next year.

Harrington said he’d also like to add “a more permanent beat” on St. Paul’s East Side, both for the Sunray Shopping Center and the Payne Avenue corridor.

In a 2012 edition of the Minnesota Police Journal, Harrington penned a cover story about the department and his plans, noting then that he’d like to increase the force to 90 full-time officers.

“What began in the 1980s as a part-time force of plainclothes officers working to provide security aboard buses has morphed into a rapidly expanding modern police agency,” he said.

Tad Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461 or follow him at twitter.com/SPnoir.