The Metropolitan Council has named two finalists in the search for the next Metro Transit police chief: Minneapolis Police Inspector Eddie Frizell and acting Metro Transit Police Chief A.J. Olson.

They will be interviewed during a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Central Library in downtown Minneapolis. The candidate chosen will fill the post left by former Chief John Harrington, who departed earlier this year to lead the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Frizell, a police officer in Minneapolis since 1993, is the inspector of the First Precinct downtown. He is a colonel in the U.S. Army and has been deployed overseas several times, including to Bosnia, Iraq and Kuwait, during his nearly 30-year military career. Frizell is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the U.S. Army War College.

Olson has almost 38 years of law enforcement experience and has worked for Metro Transit since 2005. He has served 12 years as deputy chief and has been acting chief of the Metro Transit Police since Harrington left. Olson has degrees from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., and Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. He also has a graduate certificate from the University of Virginia.

The public can submit questions for the candidates by voice mail at 651-602-1500, by e-mail to public.info@metc.state.mn.us or by U.S. mail to the Met Council, 390 N. Robert St., St. Paul, MN 55101.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768