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.

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

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 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

Commuter Crime Unit, New South Wales Police Force^[2]
Police Transport Command New South Wales Police Force as of 2013.
Transit Officers, RailCorp^[3] Closed down as of October 2013.

Queensland

Railway Squad, Queensland Police^[4]
Authorised Officers, Queensland Rail^[5]
TransLink Senior Network Officers, TransLink^[6]
Customer Service Officers, G:link^[7]

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

Western Australia

Police Rail Unit, Western Australia Police (operating in Perth)
Transit Officers, Public Transport Authority of Western Australia

Canada

The South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service (commonly known as the Metro Vancouver Transit Police) is the only full transit police force in Canada, a necessity since Metro Vancouver's TransLink public transit system spans 22 separate municipalities and 16 police jurisdictions.

Most other large Canadian cities use security officers appointed as special constables or peace officers. These officers assist local jurisdiction's police officers in investigations of illegal activity on the transit system. Some transit security forces using special constables include:

China, People's Republic of

Cities in China which have rapid transit systems all have their transit police force associated to the local public security bureau. There isn't any non-governmental police force nor any police institutes under the 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

former German Democratic Republic: Transportpolizei
Federal Republic of Germany: Bahnpolizei (merged into Federal Police)

Hong Kong

Railway District, Hong Kong Police Force

India

Railway Protection Force
Government Railway Police

Italy

Railway Police (Polizia Ferroviaria), Polizia di Stato

Latvia

Port Police (Ostas Policija)

Netherlands

Railway police

Railway Police Service (Unit insfrastructuur, dienst spoor), Dutch National Police (Landelijke Politie eenheid)

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 en 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 hi 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

Public Transport Security Command, Singapore Police Force

Sweden

Swedish Police Authority, Stockholm metro police (Swedish: Tunnelbanepolisen)^[11]

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

References

Public transport

Bus service	Bus list Bus rapid transit Charabanc Express bus Guided bus Intercity bus driver Open top bus Public light bus Rail replacement bus Shuttle bus Transit bus Trolleybus

Rail	Cable car Commuter rail Funicular Heavy rail Heritage railway Heritage streetcar High-speed rail Horsecar Inter-city rail Interurban Light rail Medium-capacity rail transport system Monorail Rapid transit Regional rail Rubber-tyred metro Street running Tram Tram-train

Vehicles for hire	Auto rickshaw Boda-boda Cycle rickshaw Gondola Hackney carriage Limousine Motorcycle taxi Paratransit Personal rapid transit Pulled rickshaw Share taxi Taxicab

Carpooling	Car jockey Flexible carpooling Real-time ridesharing Slugging Vanpool

Ship	Cable ferry Ferry Hovercraft Hydrofoil Ocean liner Water taxi

Other transport	Aerial tramway Airline Airliner Bicycle-sharing Carsharing Elevator Escalator Gondola lift Horse-drawn vehicle Maglev Moving walkway People mover Trackless train

Locations	Airport Bus bulb Bus garage (bus depot) Bus lane Bus stand Bus station Bus stop Bus terminus Bus turnout (bus bay) Circle route Cross-city route Dry dock Hangar Harbor Interchange station Kassel kerb Layover Metro station Park and ride Port Queue jump Radial route Taxicab stand Train station Tram stop Transit mall Transport hub Transport network

Ticketing and fares	Automated fare collection Bus advertising Contract of carriage Dead mileage Exit fare Fare avoidance Fare evasion Farebox recovery ratio Free public transport Free travel pass Integrated ticketing Manual fare collection Money train Paid area Proof-of-payment Reduced fare program Smart cards Ticket machine Transfer Transit pass

Facilities	Checked baggage First class Sleeper Standing passenger Travel class

Scheduling	Bus bunching Clock-face scheduling Headway On-time performance Public transport timetable Short turn

Other topics	Airport security Boarding Crush load Destination sign Hail and ride Network length Non-revenue track Prohibited activities Rail subsidies Request stop Passenger load factor Security Transit district Transit map Transit police Transit-oriented development (TOD) Transportation authority

Types of law enforcement agencies

Police	Airport police Auxiliary police Campus police Cantonal police Capitol police Cathedral constable Company police Conservation officer County police Fire police Highway patrol Hospital police Metropolitan police Military police Municipal police Park police Postal police Private police Railroad police Regional police Religious police Riot police Secret police Security police Special police State police Transit police Water police

Related	Anti-corruption agency Border guard City guard Coast guard Criminal investigation agency Customs service Gendarmerie Prison officer Protective security units Sheriff

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