Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III on paid leave

Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III was placed on paid leave Friday, Metropolitan Council spokesperson Terri Dresen said Saturday.

Dresen declined to share more details, including the reason for the leave.

Since March 2023, Morales has overseen safety for the public transportation system, which has faced serious challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just last week, Metro Transit reported that crime aboard buses and light-rail trains declined 17.5% last spring, two years after the agency implemented a safety and security plan. Morales touted those results in a video on social media Friday.

“This overall decrease in crime across the system comes as ridership continues to steadily increase,” Morales said, thanking officers and community partners for their work.

In late June, Morales was among nearly three dozen people who applied to be the police chief in Austin, Texas, according to the Austin Chronicle. He did not get that job.

Morales was chosen to lead the Metro Transit Police Department in January 2023, and was sworn in two months later.

“Policing is all about community,” he told the Star Tribune then. “We are a public service agency. We serve the people of the city.”

Before coming to Minnesota, Morales was first deputy commissioner with the Mount Vernon, N.Y., police. But he spent most of his career with the New York City Police Department.