This is a shocker because Homewood is about as idyllic a suburb as can be found anywhere. Looks like they knew this guy was coming. This is from the Chicago Tribune today.
CN police kill man near tracks in HomewoodMarch 24, 2009 6:00 AM | 3 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Canadian National Railway police killed a man matching the description of a parole jumper sought by Michigan authorities in a shootout near CN tracks in south suburban Homewood Monday night.
Shortly after 9 p.m., two officers responded to a call of a suspicious person hiding in bushes on Elm Road at Harwood Avenue–along the east side of the CN tracks near the commuter rail station–said CN spokesman Patrick Waldron.
“As they arrived at the scene, officers identified themselves and ordered the man to come out toward them,” Waldron said. “The man refused and ran south along the tracks toward the commuter parking lot.”
One of the officers pulled a marked CN squad car in front of him in the parking lot and ordered him to stop, Waldron said.
The man stopped, and as a CN police officer got out of the squad car, “the man pulled out a gun and fired at least one shot at the officer. The police officer returned fire striking the [offender],” Waldron said.
The 48-year-old man, identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s
I can’t express my feelings regarding this incident on this forum as it would violate the rules regarding non-railroad related content or expressions…so I won’t.
Lest anyone doubt that railroad police are real police, this ought to remove that doubt (except maybe in Wyoming ?). Plus this acknowledgement of same from the article: “CN police have jurisdiction over the incident because the man was found near its tracks, Homewood authorities said.” [emphasis added - PDN.] “Jurisdiction” is a special word in this context, with deep legal meaning - it means “in charge of, has authority over, control of, or is responsible for”, etc.
Also shows that these RR police know what they’re about: 2 officers - not merely 1 - responded, attempted to defuse and handle the encounter, and when that didn’t work, at least 1 of them showed that he knows how to handle his weapon. Unfortunate, but probably necessary, for the safety of the traveling public at the nearby commuter station.
That was my thoughts. If there was a platform nearby better to stop him there than have him go for a hostage or random shootings of civillians waiting to go to work/wherever.
Can someone give us a little insight on railroad police - how are they trained, are they a contract company as opposed to railroad workers, and are they all armed just as city/county/state officers or in some juridictions do they have to call the city/county/state officers to handle a more involved situation?
I have heard and read that RR police are often former municipal law enforcement (maybe “municipal” isn’t exactly the right word, but I mean former city/town police, sheriffs dept., etc.).
This might be bias on my part, but if an individual fires a shot at ANYBODY and the target responds with deadly force, the coroner should record the death as a suicide. IMHO, anyone who fires at a law enforcer in uniform and/or with a clearly marked vehicle is trying to get himself killed.
Generally they are commissioned police officers with jurisdiction in any state the railroad does business. They have levels of training generally as high as the local or state police, but have different expertise, they may know more about hazmat or drug interdiction. Railroad police typically have their own K9 units, uniformed officers and plain clothes officers.
Here’s the little bit that I can contribute - I expect that there are numerous variations on the answers - by state (Wyoming ?), by railroad, by the rank and seniority of the person, etc., but very generally - and subject to amplification/ correction/ supplementation by those who are more closely involved than me:
Training - varies a lot. Most states require basic firearms training at minimum;
Contract company (“rent-a-cop”) - I haven’t seen that yet - they’ve all been railroad employees that I’ve met;
All armed - in uniform, yes; in plainclothes or public appearances - not that often;
Authority/ powers - just the same as a municipal or state police officer. They can handle as much by themselves as they choose; but nothing stops them from calling on other police agencies as a “mutual aid” or back-up if needed.
I get what you’re saying, but thats not actually what suicide means. Suicide is a category of ‘manner of death’ (which is different from ‘cause of death’). In this case, the manner of death is homicide because the SR’s death was caused by the action of another person. Another important distinction that is often lost on people: Homicide does not mean the same thing as Murder. While all murders are homicides, not all homicides are murders.
To the question of training for RR police, I don’t know how things operate in the US, but in Canada, RR Police are held to the same standard as all other police officers and agencies. Up here, CN only hires police officers with at least five years of previous police experience. I would imagine their hiring practices in the US are the same.
BNSF calls it their “Resource Protection Solutions Team” and “Police Solutions Team”. Check out all the internal links in the text for duties, responsibilities, hiring standards, training, and K-9 units, the link below for the Brochure, and the links in the menu at the upper left for Canine Police, and especially for Railroad Special Agents to answer most of your questions at:
I’m very impressed by the effort that BNSF has put into this page, and their police force. If you think about it, it’s unique - every other police department has to worry only about their local jurisdiction, but this railroad has to coordinate with the laws and officials of 28 states plus the Federal government and 2 Canadian provinces as well ! Here’s an excerpt:
“Our community is best described as being 34,000 miles long and 100 feet wide, crisscrossing hundreds of local and state jurisdictions along the way.”
The railroad also has 40,000 employees to be involved with.
I betcha that copper was glad he put in his range time.
Obviously the parole jumper didn’t want to go back to prison. His possession of a firearm while on parole is a felony. He had a decision to make, and he chose wrong.
Makes me wonder if he had less respect because they were railroad police. Your thoughts?
I think the general concensus among the public will be less respect, just because he’s railroad police, even though he acted appropiately. Railroad police are full-fledged police, BTW. They are no less than the guys you see on the road. Few people in the public seem to know this.