Transit police

Transit police are a specialized police agency or unit employed by a common carrier, which could be a transit district, railroad, bus line, other transport carrier, or the state. Their mandate is to prevent and investigate crimes committed against the carrier or by or against passengers or other customers of the carrier, or those committed on the carrier's property.

New Jersey Transit Police K-9 and Lieutenant at Hoboken Terminal

A transit police force may consist of officers employed directly by a transit system, such as the Amtrak Police, or it may exist as a specialized unit of a local police force, such as the Transit Police Services Bureau of the Orange County, California Sheriff's Department, which serves the Orange County Transportation Authority or South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service[1] which serves the transit system of southern British Columbia, Canada.

Where the term "transit police" is used for the police working for a railroad/railway, it usually refers to a railroad providing urban mass transit (such as a city elevated system or subway) as opposed to long-distance rail carriage. Police who work either for a private non-passenger railroad or long-haul rail carrier are usually referred to as "railroad police" or "railway police". In Britain, most of the rail system, including the London Underground, is policed by a national transport police agency, the British Transport Police. Some transit police forces have full policing powers, such as BART Police, SEPTA Transit Police, Metro Transit Police Department, Utah Transit Authority Police Department or MBTA Transit Police, while in other areas, they have limited powers and are classed as special police or special constables with limited powers.

Some of the crimes transit police and railroad police investigate include trespassing on the right-of-way of a railroad, assaults against passengers, tagging of graffiti on railroad rolling stock and buses or bus stops, pickpocketing, ticket fraud, robbery and theft of personal belongings, baggage or freight, and drug dealing at transit stations. They may also engage in random ticket checking hoping to catch and fine ticketless travelers. These controls are usually more frequent in transit systems using an honor-based fare collecting approach.

Jurisdiction and authority

In federal states like the United States, Canada, or Australia, federal and state statutes determine the jurisdiction and authority of all police departments, including transit police. Most transit police services have the same police authority as any other national, state and local police agencies, such as the MARTA (Atlanta)Transit Police, British Transport Police, New Jersey Transit Police Department, BART Police, Maryland Transit Administration Police, DART Police, SEPTA Transit Police, Utah Transit Authority Police Department, and the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service have rather extensive jurisdictions, including traffic enforcement, with arrest powers on and off property. Transit and railroad police tend to have better results in finding perpetrators of crimes they investigate than public police forces, possibly due to specialization and smaller case loads.

List of specialised transit/transport police agencies and departments

Australia

New South Wales

Queensland

South Australia

  • Transit Services Branch, South Australia Police (all public transport in Adelaide).[8] Private security also maintain a presence, especially during peak hours or events.

Victoria

  • Transit Safety Division, Victoria Police members and Protective Services Officers (predominantly operate in Melbourne)[9]
  • Authorised Officers employed by Public Transport operator companies and by Public Transport Victoria (PTV).

Western Australia

Canada

Police forces

Special constables

Other large Canadian transit networks use security officers appointed as special constables or peace officers. As special constables, they typically have full police powers when working on transit property to enforce the Criminal Code of Canada, as well as respective Byelaws. Whilst they carry some police equipment, such as a protective vest, baton, handcuffs and pepper spray, they do not carry a firearm. These officers assist local jurisdiction's police officers in investigations of illegal activity on the transit system.

People's Republic of China

Cities in China which have rapid transit systems all have their transit police force associated to the local public security bureau. There are no non-governmental police forces, or police institutes under transit authority. National Rail used to have a police force under the Ministry of Railways, but such authority is transferred to local police now.

However, the structure of institutions can be vary from city to city. For example, cities like Tianjin and Chengdu might have a joint public transportation force of division level, operates on all the taxis, bus routes, coaches, rapid transit and ferry lines as well as transportation hubs inside city limit; while Chongqing and Xi'an[10] have tighter transit cop brigades focused exclusively on protecting the mass transit lines. Again, all these agencies are supervised by the PSBs of higher level.

France
  • Police Régionale des Transports (Police Nationale) (Operates on Suburban trains, and Paris Métro)
  • Service National de Police Ferroviaire (Police Nationale-Direction Centrale de la Police aux Frontières) (Operates on main lines trains)
  • Service Interdépartemental de Sécurité dans les Transports en Commun (SISTC)(Police Nationale- Direction Centrale de la Sécurité Publique)
  • Surveillance Générale (Suge, operates on SNCF railways. This private service, which dépends to SNCF, has restricted police powers)
  • Groupe de Protection et de Sécurisation des Réseaux (GPSR, operates on RATP railways. This private service, which dépends to RATP, has restricted police powers)
  • Police des Transports de l'Agglo Orléans Val de Loire (Bus, Tramway, SNCF)

Germany

Hong Kong

India

The Indian Railway Protection Force Service (IRPFS) is a security force, established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957 ; enacted by the Indian Parliament for "the better protection and security of railway property".

It has the power to search, arrest, investigate and prosecute, though the ultimate power rests in the hands of the Government Railway Police. The force is under the authority of the Indian Ministry of Railways.

The Government Railway Police (IAST: Sarakārī Rēlvē Pulīs), abbreviated as GRP, is the police force of the Indian Railways. It was established by the Railways Act, 1989, of the Parliament of India. Its duties correspond to those of the District Police in the areas under their jurisdiction, such as patrolling, but only on railway property. It is the parent agency of the Railway Protection Force, and aids and provides assistance to it, whose primary duties are to protect and secure all railway property.

The GRP's responsibility is to observe law and order on all railway property. Officers are recruited from the Indian Police Service. The force is under joint-control of the Indian Ministry of Railways and the police departments of the various state police departments of India

  • State Highway Police

Italy

Latvia
  • Port Police (Ostas Policija)

Netherlands

Railway police

Transit enforcement
  • In The Netherlands, all public transport companies providing public service have their own enforcement officers, these officers often have the BOA status (special investigation officer) and limited police powers (use of force, arrest and use of handcuffs) the main task of these officers is fare enforcement and securing the safety of the public and employees within the transport vehicles.
  • The city of Amsterdam, is the only municipality in the Netherlands which operates its own transit enforcement department. The "Veiligheidsteam openbaar vervoer" (Safety team public transport) cooperates with the Amsterdam police in maintaining public order within the public transport, stations an hubs within the city limits, prevent or stop crimes, public assistance, issuing transit information and spotting suspicious behavior. Their uniforms are similar to that of police officers (police style hat, yellow high-visibility jacket and trousers with side striping; the only difference with the uniform of a police officer is that the trouser and hat color are dark grey whereas the police uses navy blue. These enforcement officers are employed by the city, whereas the police officers are employed by the national police. Enforcement officers are equipped with handcuffs and a short police baton and have limited police powers like the use of force, making arrests, detaining people and issuing fines. The city of Amsterdam is currently looking into the possibility to equip the officers with a can of pepperspray; this will probably be in mid 2014.

Russian Federation

Main Directorate of the Transport of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. (Главное Управление на Транспорте Министерства Внутренних Дел.)

Singapore

Sweden

Taiwan
  • National Police Agency, Railway Police: Railway Police Bureau, MRT Police Taipei City Police Department Rapid Transit Division, Kaohsiung City Police Department Rapid Transit Division

United Kingdom

United States
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See also

References
  1. "Under Construction gvtaps.bc.ca". www.gvtaps.bc.ca.
  2. Wales, corporateName=NSW Police Force; jurisdiction=New South. "Transport Safety - NSW Police Force". www.police.nsw.gov.au.
  3. sector=Government, corporateName=Sydney Trains; contact=Communications Directorate (2019-02-22). "Keeping you safe and secure - Sydney Trains". Sydney Trains.
  4. http://www.police.qld.gov.au/Resources/Internet/join/documents/LR_Railway_Squad160709.pdf
  5. "Security initiatives". www.queenslandrail.com.au.
  6. "Revenue protection - TransLink". translink.com.au.
  7. http://ridetheg.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Glink-Customer-Service-Charter-2014-06-05.pdf
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2011-08-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2011-08-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "西安市公安局地铁分局挂牌成立". 陕西省人民政府. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  11. "RPF renamed as Indian Railway Protection Force Service". Deccan Herald. December 31, 2019.
  12. "Shri Piyush Goyal launches new Establishment Manual for RPF Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry announces a new state of the art commando training centre to be established in Jagadhri, Haryana". pib.gov.in. 19 February 2020.
  13. "Tätt samarbete i Stockholms undre värld" (in Swedish). Swedish Police Union. 2007-06-18. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  14. section 5, Belfast Harbour Act 1847.
  15. "Port of Felixstowe :: Page Not Found". www.portoffelixstowe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  16. section 3(d), Falmouth Docks Act 1959.
  17. "Safer Transport Teams | the Met | The Met". www.met.police.uk. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
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