Metro Transit police chief leaves under dark cloud

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A month after the Metro Transit police chief was placed on leave, he’s off the job. Ernest Morales ended up serving only about a year and a half as chief, and he leaves under a dark cloud.

What do we know

To us, Metro Transit and the Metropolitan Council have confirmed only that Chief Morales is out, nothing more. And people with more pull are hitting a wall as well.

Sen. Scott Dibble, (DFL)-Minneapolis, heads the transportation committee that delivered new funding for the Met Council last year, and he says he’s also in the dark.

"Literally no one has picked up the phone and called me to tell me what's happening," Sen. Dibble said.

How would other agencies handle this?

An internal investigation into multiple complaints against Metro Transit police chief Ernesto Morales has stayed internal, even blocked from the view of state Senate transportation committee chair Scott Dibble.

"I just try to imagine what would the situation be if the police chief of Minneapolis or any suburban community was under a cloud, was under a cloud of suspicion and investigation and ultimately was being let go," Dibble said. "The leaders of that community would be communicating a lot with the public about what exactly was happening."

Former Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales

Chief Morales' record

The Met Council picked Morales as chief during a nationwide search in 2022, shortly after endorsing a new safety and security plan. And they saw improvement after he arrived in February 2023.

Crime was down 14% in the first half of this year, with 9% more people riding buses and light rail.

Transit police documented almost 400 instances of smoking, drug, and alcohol-related offenses from April through June as they cracked down on those issues.

But the chief brought in from New York won’t be around to push forward.

What's next? Will progress stall?

He was replaced on an interim basis by Capt. Joseph Dotseth.

The Met Council hasn’t said yet how they’d choose the next permanent leader, but there’s some concern that transit police leadership will have to focus on that process just as the safety and security plan starts seeing success.

"I think stalling progress that we've made on safety, on our transit system is definitely a danger," Dibble said. "And I hope that doesn't happen."

Met Council representatives told us Tuesday they can’t really comment on Morales because of data privacy, so we made a public records request to get details on their internal investigation.