Do most transit police come from other police departments or do they have there own acadamies. With all the atttention that is on police these days not much has been reported in Trains Mag about transit police other then mainline railroad. Like how big do u have to be to require transit police who has them and there history so on and so forth. Seems to be rail based cities that have them Dont know if Atlanta has them or not but Montreal I think has them north of me.
In Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority does not have its own police force but the Chicago Police Department does have a Mass Transit Detail which is specifically assigned to patrol the CTA.
Most large railroads, including Amtrak, have their own police departments. In Boston MBTA has its own police department.
In the Minneapolis St Paul area we do have our own Transit Police who have jusisdiction on the Twin Cities two light rail lines and transit buses and respond to all crimes committed aboard trains, buses and stations including murder which happened recently here when a light rail passenger was stabbed to death by an assailant. They also have jurisdiction aboard Northstar Commuter trains operating between Minneapolis and Big Lake Minnesota and are seen working on these trains. Part of their job is fare enforcement on these commuter trains.
Cannot speak to transit specically, but most common carrier railroad police come in from other agencies and then get additional AAR training through AAR’s programs. An awful lot of the ATSF Special Agents were big city cops/ detectives that were looking for something less stressful. (I can specifically remember two LA, a Ft Worth and one Chicago cop that I worked with plus several ex-Military MP’s with pretty impressive pedigrees)
Here is information about the New York MTA police.
In many states, transportation police, are eligible to obtain a police commission from the state which grants full police power to those obtaining the commission. Transportation police are not ‘security’ personnel like those in stores, apartment buildings and other locations that rely on ‘hired security’.
The Maryland Transit Administration Police Force was established in 1971 “by state legislation, as a fully commissioned, full-service police force, which has full police authority throughout the state of Maryland”. They do note that they “are not a traditional municipal law-enforcement agency.”
http://mta.maryland.gov/mta-police-force
Note that this is different from the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, which handles the roadways, BWIA, and the port.
A perhaps interesting point: A couple of months ago, we had a thread on ‘inspector generals’ for Amtrak and other authorities. The BART police department has an oversight agency:
Your first post trackrat8888? Well, welcome aboard my friend! We have a lot of fun here, and sure do learn from each other!
Everyone say “hello” to the new fellow!
I have always known that railroads has police departments since the 1800s, Its seems somewhat new that the light rail aka streetcar companies that became public transit agencies have there own police force. I thought since the 1970s since the days of the Taking of Pelham 123 that the New York Subway system had its own police department. But I was wrong-
"The department was formed in 1998 with the consolidation of the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad Police Departments. Since 9/11, the department has expanded in size and has ramped up dramatically its counter-terrorism capabilities, adding canine teams and emergency services officers.
On June 1, 2005 the 25-member MTA Staten Island Railway Police Department – which was responsible for policing Staten Island Railway – merged with the MTA Police. This was the most recent step in consolidating MTA agency law enforcement, and increased the total workforce of the department to 716, including civilians." From the website.
The Guardian Angels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_Angels in NYC and other cities started patrolling the subway systems after the Bernard Goetz situation were he shot unarmed youth. Seems that the public authourities were reacting to the bad PR that was fired up by the likes of the New York Daily News and other Tab Rags that subways were not safe and in turn started Transit Police. Cleveland, Buffalo NY and I think Rochester NY have transit police that sometimes seem have more staff then bus drivers. Having Fed funding helps and having mulitiple agencies means more fed grants for mulitiple agencies. Are we safer?)))No. I believe that having concealed carry permits and the proper training to go along with it would make anyone think twice before doing the devils bidding.[}:)]
BTW the Guardian Angels in NYC were founded by Curtis Sliwa
I usually hate quoting Wikipedia, but in this case I think it has interesting detail:
"Since both the IRT and the competing BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) lines were privately financed and built, they had no police, but only their own private security personnel. The new IND (Independent) lines, however, which began operating in 1932, were owned by New York City and run by the Board of Transportation. These lines originally had “station supervisors” employed to police them, their names having been taken from the NYC Police Department’s hiring list.
On November 17, 1933, six men were sworn in as New York State Railway Police [note: these were of course not the only Railway Police…]. They were unarmed but were still responsible for the safety of the passengers on the IND Line as well as guarding property. Two years later, 20 “station supervisors, class B” were added for police duty. Responsible for assisting in the opening and closing of doors and announcing destinations, these 26 “specials” were soon given powers of arrest, but only on the IND line. And thus the New York City Transit Police Department was born.
In 1937, 160 more men were added to this police force. Additionally, 3 lieutenants, 1 captain, and 1 inspector from the NYPD were assigned as supervisors. When the privately run IRT and BMT lines were taken over by New York City in 1940, the small patrol force on the IND line nearly doubled in size. Now part of the Civil Service system, more Transit supervisors were needed. In 1942, the first promotional exam was given for the title of “special patrolman grade 2” – or what is now known as a sergeant.
The Code of Criminal Procedure was changed in 1947 granting transit patrolmen peace officer status and by 1950
Thank U for the Info!
Another example for you is the Sacramento Regional Transit District (Sacramento CA). RT, as it is called, has a Police Services Unit that is composed of fully-commissioned police officers and sheriff deputies from the Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento County Sheriff Department, respectively. This unit provides services to both the bus and light rail operations in both fixed facilites (stations & buildings and rights of way) and on buses and trains. They also are an integral part of the region’s emergency preparedness and response system.
The officers (including K-9) are trained through their respective academies and are assigned by their agencies to serve at/with RT. Their patrol vehicles are marked the same as Sacramento Police Department, except for the distinctive RT logo in the center of the badge on the car doors. Their operations are fully integrated with their respective law enforcement agenices, and the officers/deputies have full police powers.
They are a tremendously dedicated and professional group and have a unique and great knowledge and understanding of bus and rail operations. This is a definite advantage to RT when they are patrolling and enforcing not only local and state laws, but RT regulations as well. Also, they are great law enforcement ambassadors to the public, as they are highly visible throughout the RT system and communities that RT serves.
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Our local Metrolink hires a security firm for policing. A big problem is people riding without buying a ticket. When it was built, they did not install turnstiles where you had to pay before getting on the platform. So people try to sneak on without a ticket and are not always caught. They try to have security look at tickets when you walk on the platform and they also do spot inspections on trains. If they find violators, they will call local police department to come and arrest them, either St. Louis City or St. Louis County, depending on where they found the violation. Security holds the violator until they reach the next platform where the person is handed off to whatever police jurisdiction the violation occured in. I’ve seen cops waiting on the platform, boarding the train and taking the perp into custody.
But I’m sure there are many who do escape getting caught. Some platforms do not always have security and spot checks are not done on every train.
[quote user=“Wizlish”]
trackrat888
I thought since the 1970s since the days of the Taking of Pelham 123 that the New York Subway system had its own police department. But I was wrong-
I usually hate quoting Wikipedia, but in this case I think it has interesting detail:
"Since both the IRT and the competing BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) lines were privately financed and built, they had no police, but only their own private security personnel. The new IND (Independent) lines, however, which began operating in 1932, were owned by New York City and run by the Board of Transportation. These lines originally had “station supervisors” employed to police them, their names having been taken from the NYC Police Department’s hiring list.
On November 17, 1933, six men were sworn in as New York State Railway Police [note: these were of course not the only Railway Police…]. They were unarmed but were still responsible for the safety of the passengers on the IND Line as well as guarding property. Two years later, 20 “station supervisors, class B” were added for police duty. Responsible for assisting in the opening and closing of doors and announcing destinations, these 26 “specials” were soon given powers of arrest, but only on the IND line. And thus the New York City Transit Police Department was born.
In 1937, 160 more men were added to this police force. Additionally, 3 lieutenants, 1 captain, and 1 inspector from the NYPD were assigned as supervisors. When the privately run IRT and BMT lines were taken over by New York City in 1940, the small patrol force on the IND line nearly doubled in size. Now part of the Civil Service system, more Transit supervisors were needed. In 1942, the first promotional exam was given
Great Idea. Lots of gun toting amatures taking action on a crowded transit train. What could possibly go wrong there?
CATS (Charlotte Area Transit) has uniform fare inspectors and is also patrolled by Charlotte Mecklenberg PD. Both agencies deal with criminals and fare evaders.