The police presence on light rail trains at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is expected to continue into next year.

Metro Transit and the Metropolitan Airport Commission believe safety on the trains is a top priority and are voting on a joint agreement to continue having officers on the trains between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

Like many airline employees, Nancy Walz parks at Terminal 2 and rides the light rail to Terminal 1.

But she’s noticed something different.

“It has gotten so much better, and I can’t thank those police officers enough,” said Walz, a flight attendant.

Walz previously told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS months ago that she felt unsafe riding the light rail but says she’s seeing improvements.

“It’s cleaner, I don’t walk into a cloud of drug smoke, there’s no needles laying everywhere, there’s no urine everywhere, I’m not being spit on, I’m not being groped,” Walz said, adding, “they’ve gone a long way.”

The airport and Metro Transit police added officers on trains between Terminals 1 and 2 in February.

Since then, Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales says they’ve seen a 75% drop in calls for service here.

“It has drastically improved month over month to where we currently are,” said Chief Morales in an interview with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

From 4 a.m. until noon, airport police will patrol the trains, and Metro Transit officers will pick it up from there.

Morales noted police from Bloomington and the TSA are also helping out.

“We have to reimagine policing as it stands right now because we’re all under-resourced,” Morales said.

The plan is to keep uniformed officers on trains at the airport until February 2024.

“We want a uniformed presence out here to make everyone feel comfortable,” Morales said.

Walz thought it was so bad before she was afraid to come to work, but no feels safer on the train.

“I do hope it keeps up,” Walz said.

A vote to extend this partnership between Metro Transit and the Metropolitan Airports Commission is set for next week. Metro Transit Police says they plan to be creative with their patrols at the airport until they’re fully staffed.