Metro Transit Police Captain Jim Franklin has a unique and effective blend of professional experience across the disciplines of law enforcement, transportation, and emergency management. Franklin is currently responsible for operations at the East Command Division of the Metro Transit Police Department located in St. Paul, Minnesota, overseeing the daily deployment of 35 full-time and dozens of part-time officers. He also serves as a designated emergency manager for the Twin Cities’ regional planning agency, the Metropolitan Council (of which Metro Transit is an operating division).
Franklin possesses a Master’s degree in public administration from Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is also a certified State of Minnesota Emergency Manager. In addition, he is past president of the Metropolitan Emergency Managers Association (MEMA) and an adjunct instructor for the National Transit Institute.
Further, Franklin is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Leadership in Police Organizations course.
Franklin has a wealth of experience in transit organizational emergency management planning as well as strategic planning through his authoring, directing and management of various emergency preparedness plans and security contingency plans. He has acted as the Metro Transit Police liaison for both federal and state safety oversight agencies. His expert knowledge of procurement process has resulted in the receipt of federal homeland security funding through the Transit Security Grant Program.
Over the past 18 months, in addition to his daily divisional command obligations, Franklin has been assigned to serve as the primary law enforcement representative for the new 11-mile Metro Green Line which connects Minneapolis and St. Paul via light rail. In this capacity, Franklin has served on the safety and security review committee (SSRC) responsible for examining and certifying that safety and security design elements are incorporated into the build-out of the line. He has presented this material before the light-rail project management office, Metropolitan Council transportation committee, and FTA oversight committees.
He planned, orchestrated and conducted a multi-agency, multi-discipline post-blast mass casualty critical incident response full-scale exercise in March of this year. This full-scale drill near TCF stadium on the University of Minnesota campus incorporated more than 200 public safety participants including: two fire departments, five police departments, two EMS providers, two different divisions of emergency management and more than 120 volunteer role-players. In further preparation for the Green Line opening weekend events, Franklin has facilitated numerous public safety outreach initiatives and training sessions for first responders along the new LRT corridor. This effort has included planning, writing and conducting two tabletop exercises.
He has also been tasked with planning and commanding the law enforcement effort associated with the Green Line light rail opening day events that are expected to draw tens of thousands of people. This effort has involved writing an incident action plan, establishing officer assignments, roles, and responsibilities as well as establishing command and control for more than 300 law enforcement personnel from partner agencies assigned to and involved in this endeavor.
“I enjoy the fact that our operational jurisdiction encompasses multiple public safety agencies that we partner with to provide law enforcement service that safe guards the metropolitan region’s largest mass transit system. The relationships that we have formed are invaluable to our operation as well as personally gratifying. We are a major player in the public safety community as a result of our regional operational area, the partnerships that we have formed, and the value that we bring to the table.”
“I started out at MTPD as a part-time officer while I worked for a municipal PD. Truthfully, I fell in love with transit policing! When I had the opportunity to transfer full-time, I didn’t think twice. A major experience that has helped me get to where I am today has been the leaders that I have worked for that took the time to mentor me both in law enforcement and in transit operations.”
