The guy who helped transform the Metro Transit Police into a full-time agency will leave at the end of this month, a retirement that comes after 10 years at the agency, five as chief. Chief Dave Indrehus's departure Jan. 27 ends a long run in law enforcement in the metro area. He first put on a badge in 1969 for the Minneapolis Police Department, serving 30 years in a career that went from downtown patrol officer to the rank of inspector, overseeing the Third Precinct, which covers south Minneapolis.

He moved to the Metro Transit police in 2002 as a deputy chief. Back then the force was mostly a part-time agency, with about 175 officers from various departments in the metro area putting on a Transit Police badge for a shift. Indrehus was part of the push behind making the force a full-time occupation for more officers, citing the lessons of 9/11, the 35W bridge collapse along with the expansion of light-rail and commuter rail. Today the force counts 69 full-time officers along with 45 part-time, he said.

"There was a lot of growing pains," he said Monday. "The bridge collapse taught us that we could no longer function as a part-time agency," he said, "because it times of crisis everybody needed their cops."

The Metro Transit police force responds to calls throughout the metro area, with responsibility for up to 800 buses on the road during rush hour across a 60-mile wide region, he said. "I can have officers responding simultaneously to Big Lake, Lower Afton Road and Sun-Ray shopping center," he said.

His replacement has not yet been named. Indrehus said he's not yet sure how he'll spend his retirement.