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British Transport Police
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The British Transport Police (BTP) is a Special Police Force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services. British Transport Police officers do not have any jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, where policing of the railways is the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Jurisdiction
As well as having jurisdiction of the system operated by Network Rail consequential to being a former part of British Railways, the BTP are also responsible for policing:
This amounts to around 10,000 miles of track and more than 3,000 railway stations and depots.
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Encyclopedia
The British Transport Police (BTP) is a Special Police Force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services. British Transport Police officers do not have any jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, where policing of the railways is the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Jurisdiction
As well as having jurisdiction of the system operated by Network Rail consequential to being a former part of British Railways, the BTP are also responsible for policing:
This amounts to around 10,000 miles of track and more than 3,000 railway stations and depots. There are more than 1 billion passenger journeys annually on the mainline alone.
In addition, the British Transport Police in conjunction with the French Police aux Frontières, police the international services operated by Eurostar.
It is not responsible for policing the rest of the Tyne and Wear Metro or the Manchester Metrolink or any other railway with which it does not have a service agreement; it can act as a constabulary for a transport system in Great Britain with which it commences a service agreement. It does not police any heritage railways.
In certain cirumstances a BTP constable can act as a police constable outside of their normal railway jurisdiction as described in the "Powers and status of officers" section.
Establishment
The BTP has 2,927 Police Officers (incl. 16 on secondment), 224 Special Constables, 295 Police Community Support Officers, and 1289 police staff throughout England, Wales, and Scotland (2009). Since May 2001, the Chief Constable has been Ian Johnston CBE, QPM, and the Deputy Chief Constable is Andy Trotter OBE, QPM.
The force is divided into seven areas:
| Area | Area Commander | Area HQ Location | | Scottish | Chief Superintendent Martyn Ripley | Glasgow | | North Eastern | Chief Superintendent Terry Nicholson | Leeds | | North Western | Chief Superintendent Peter Holden | Manchester | | London North | Chief Superintendent Mark Newton | London (Caledonian Road) | | London South | Chief Superintendent Steve Morgan | London (London Bridge Street) | | London Underground | Chief Superintendent Miles Flood | London (Broadway) | | Wales & Western | Chief Superintendent Peter Davies | Birmingham | | |
BTP has appeared on UK television in Railcops. Despite the specialist role of the force it is larger than, inter alia, the following Territorial Forces:
Within England & Wales,
Within Scotland,
History
Foundation
The first railway employees described as "police" can be traced back to 30 June 1826. A regulation of the Stockton and Darlington Railway refers to the police establishment of "One Superintendent, four officers and numerous gate-keepers". This is the first mention of Railway Police anywhere and was three years before the Metropolitan Police Act was passed. They were not, however, described as "constables" and the description may refer to men controlling the trains not enforcing the law. Specific reference to "constables" rather than mere "policemen" is made by the BTP website article which states "The London, Birmingham and Liverpool Railway Companion of 1838 reports 'Each Constable, besides being in the employ of the company, is sworn as a County Constable". Further reference is made by the BTP in the page to "an Act of 1838 ... which according to J.R. WHITBREAD in 'The Railway Policeman' (Harrap, 1961) was the first legislation to provide for any form of policing of the railway whilst under construction, i.e. to protect the public from the navvies more or less." .
The modern British Transport Police was formed by the British Transport Commission Act 1949 which combined the already-existing police forces inherited from the pre-nationalisation railways by British Railways, those forces having been previously formed by powers available under Common Law to parishes, landowners and other bodies to appoint constables to patrol land and/or property under their control. This is distinct from the establishment of a police force by statute, as applicable to the Metropolitan Police in 1829; BTP did not have jurisdiction on a statutory basis until the enactment of the Transport Police (Jurisdiction) Act 1994, which was subsequently amended by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003.
"Policeman" v. "Constable"
Some early 19th century references to "railway police" or "policemen" do not concern constables but instead describe the men responsible for the signalling and control of the movement of trains (it is still common colloquial practice within railway staff for their modern equivalents in signal boxes and signalling centres to be called "Bobbies"). These personnel carried out their duties mostly in the open beside the track and were often dressed in a similar manner (e.g. a top hat and frock coat) to early police constables but were not directly concerned with law enforcement. Historical references (including those originating from the BTP itself) to when the first group of true "constables" was organised to patrol a railway should be treated with caution. This warning is repeated by the Metropolitan Police (MP) in their web page dealing with MP records of service which on the matter of records of other forces held by the Public Record Office (now the National Archives) states :- The occasional references to 'Police Department' in the railway staff records relate to signalmen, etc
Navigators
A huge workforce was required to build the ever expanding railway system. These armies of rough workers brought fear into rural Victorian England. The Special Constables Act 1838 was passed which required railway and other companies to bear the cost of constables keeping the peace near construction works.
Historical crime
The continually expanding network of railways gave criminals new opportunities to move around the country and commit crime. The railways were pioneers of the electric telegraph and its use often involved the arrest of criminals arriving or departing by train. On 1 January 1845 a Railway Police Sergeant became the first person to arrest a murderer following the use of an electric telegraph.
In 1838 the Royal Mail was conveyed by rail for the first time. The first mail thefts were reported shortly afterwards. In 1848 the Eastern Counties Railway lost 76 pieces of luggage in just one day, and by the following year thefts from the largest six railways amounted to over £100,000 a year.
The first railway murder was committed by a German, who robbed and killed a fellow passenger on a train in North London in 1864.
The first arrest abroad by the British Police was made in 1874 when a Metropolitan Police Inspector accompanied by a Railway Police Inspector went to the United States to arrest an embezzler.
Reorganisation
From 1900 several railway companies re-organised their police forces. The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway virtually reformed their police force from scratch in that year, followed by the Great Eastern Railway, the North Eastern Railway and Midland Railway in 1910, the Caledonian Railway in 1917 and lastly the Great Western Railway in 1918.
Inter-war years
The Railways Act 1921 amalgamated over one hundred separate railway systems (of which about 20 had organised police forces) into four groups:-
Each had its own police force controlled by a Chief of Police. These four forces were organised in the same way; each split into a number of Divisions headed by a Superintendent, divided into a number of Divisions Posts led by an Inspector. Detectives worked with their uniformed colleagues at most locations. Many ' non-police' duties were retained however, with officers acting as crossing keepers or locking and sealing wagons.
World War II
During the war the strength of the railway police doubled. With many men conscripted, special constables and women police were again employed.
Post war
In 1947 the Transport Act created the British Transport Commission which unified the railway system. On 1 January 1949 the British Transport Commission Police were created, formed from the four old railway police forces, canal police and several minor dock forces.
In 1957 the Maxwell-Johnson enquiry found that policing requirements for the railway could not be met by civil forces and that it was essential that a specialist police force be retained. On 1 January 1962 the British Transport Police ceased to cover British Waterways property.
In 1984 London Buses decided not to use the British Transport Police. The British Transport Docks Board followed in 1985.
The force played a central role in the response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Three of the incidents were at London Underground stations: Edgware Road (Circle Line), Russell Square and Aldgate stations.
On 15 July 2006, a Dog Section Training School was opened at the Force Training establishment near Tadworth, Surrey.
How the BTP is funded
The British Transport Police is largely funded by the train operating companies, Network Rail, and the London Underground - part of Transport for London. Other operators with whom the BTP has a service agreement also contribute appropriately. This funding arrangement does not give the companies power to set objectives for the BTP but there are industry representatives serving as members of the police authority. The police authority does, of course, decide objectives. The industry membership represent 5 out of 13 members.
The police authority has agreed its budget for 2007/08 at £187.8M – a 9.9% rise.
Attestation
Constables of the BTP are required by s.24 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 to make one of the following attestations depending on the jurisdiction in which they have been appointed:-
in England and Wales
Police Act 1996, Schedule 4 as amended.
The attestation can be made in Welsh.
in Scotland
- Constables are required to take the oath referred to (but not defined) in s.16 Police (Scotland) Act 1967. which is in simpler form merely declaring faithfully to execute the duties of his office.
Communications and Control rooms
As of November 2008, BTP operates three control rooms and one Call Handling Centre:
- First Contact Centre: Based in Birmingham and responsible for handling all routine telephone traffic. This facility was created further to criticism by HMIC.
- Force Control Room - London: Responsible for the Greater London area (including the London Underground and Mainline) and the Home Counties.
- Force Control Room - Birmingham: Based in Birmingham - alongside the First Contact Centre - and responsible for the East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, the North East of England, the South West of England and Scotland
- Manchester: Responsible for the North West of England
By March 2009 the number of Control Rooms will be reduced to just two: Force Control Room Birmingham and Force Control Room London; the First Contact Centre will continue unchanged.
Powers and status of officers
General powers
British Transport Police officers have "all the power and privileges of a constable" when:
- on track, (any land or other property comprising the permanent way of any railway, taken together with the ballast, sleepers and metals laid thereon, whether or not the land or other property is also used for other purposes, any level crossings, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, culverts, retaining walls, or other structures used or to be used for the support of, or otherwise in connection with, track; and any walls, fences or other structures bounding the railway or bounding any adjacent or adjoining property)
- on network, (a railway line, or installations associated with a railway line)
- in a station, (any land or other property which consists of premises used as, or for the purposes of, or otherwise in connection with, a railway passenger station or railway passenger terminal (including any approaches, forecourt, cycle store or car park), whether or not the land or other property is, or the premises are, also used for other purposes)
- in a light maintenance depot,
- on other land used for purposes of or in relation to a railway,
- on other land in which a person who provides railway services has a freehold or leasehold interest, and
- throughout Great Britain for a purpose connected to a railway or to anything occurring on or in relation to a railway.
"Railway" means a system of transport employing parallel rails which provide support and guidance for vehicles carried on flanged wheels, and form a track which either is of a gauge of at least 350 millimetres or crosses a carriageway (whether or not on the same level).
A BTP constable may enter
- track,
- a network,
- a station,
- a light maintenance depot, and
- a railway vehicle.
without a warrant, using reasonable force if necessary, and whether or not an offence has been committed. It is an offence to assault or impersonate a BTP constable.
They need however to move between railway sites and often have a presence in city centres. Consequently, BTP officers can be called upon to intervene in incidents outside their natural jurisdiction. ACPO estimate that some such 8,000 incidents occur every year. As a result of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 BTP officers can act as police constables outside their normal jurisdiction in the following circumstances:
On the request of constable
If requested by a constable of:
to assist him in the execution of his duties in relation to a particular incident, investigation or operation, a BTP constable can "take on" the powers of the requesting officer for the purposes of that incident, investigation or operation. If a constable from a territorial police force makes the request, then the powers of the BTP constable extend only to the requesting constable's police area. If a constable from the MDP or CNC makes the request, then the powers of the BTP officer are the same as those of the requesting constable.
On the request of a Chief Constable
If requested by the Chief Constable of one of the forces mentioned above, a BTP constable takes on all the powers and privileges of members of the requesting force. This power is used for planned operations, such as the 2005 G8 summit at Gleneagles.
When urgently needed
A BTP constable can spontaneously take on the same powers and privileges of a constable of a territorial police force when:
- in relation to people whom they suspect on reasonable grounds of having committed, being in the course of committing or being about to commit an offence, or
- if they believe on reasonable grounds that they need those powers and privileges in order to save life or to prevent or minimise personal injury.
However for BTP officers to use this 'urgently needed' power two conditions must be met:
- that the BTP officer is in uniform or has documentary evidence that they are members of the BTP; and
- the BTP officer believes on reasonable grounds that a power of a constable which they would not have apart from this subsection ought to be exercised and that, if it cannot be exercised until they secure the attendance of or a request from a local constable (as above), the purpose for which they believe it ought to be exercised will be frustrated or seriously prejudiced.
Status
BTP uniforms are similar and the rank system identical to other British police forces. Officers often wear distinctive black jerseys with a black and white chequered pattern on the yoke; officers in Scotland have adopted the same uniform as the Scottish forces.
A BTP constable does not lose the ability to exercise his powers when off duty except for those functions which require the wearing of a uniform.
On 1 July 2004 a Police Authority for the British Transport Police was created. BTP Officers became employees of the Police Authority, prior to that, they were employees of the Strategic Rail Authority.
Accident investigation
Until the 1990s the principal investigators of railway accidents were the Inspecting Officers of HM Railway Inspectorate, and BTP involvement was minimal. With major accidents after the 1988 Clapham Junction rail crash being investigated by more adversarial public inquiries, the BTP took on a more proactive role in crash investigations. Further reforms led to the creation by the Department for Transport of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch who take the lead role in investigations of accidents.
Crime on the railway
Operation Shield is an initiative by BTP to reduce the number of knives carried by passengers on the rail network. This initiative came about after knife crime began to rise and also because of the murder of a passenger on a Virgin Trains service travelling from Glasgow
Route crime
Route Crime collectively describes crimes and offences of trespass and vandalism which occur on railway lines and can affect the running of train services. It is a minor but significant cause of death on British railways. The overwhelming majority - 95% in 2005 - of deaths are suicides with the rest being attributed to trespass.
Graffiti costs rail firms over £5m a year in direct costs alone The BTP maintains a graffiti database which holds over 1900 graffiti tags, each unique to an individual vandal. In 2005 BTP sent 569 suspects to court (an increase of 16% on 2004 figures). Surveys show that fear of crime is exacerbated by graffiti.
The BTP deals with hundreds of instances of theft each day including stolen property and the theft of metals such as copper from railway safety equipment In the North West Area BTP has joined forces with Lancashire Constabulary and Network Rail to combat thefts of metals from railway lines in an initiative called Operation Tremor. The BTP established Operation Drum in 2006 as a national response to the increase in metal theft offences and also chairs the relevant Association of Chief Police Officers working group.
It is estimated that:
- 17 million offences of criminal trespass on the railways are committed annually by adults
- 10 million offences of criminal trespass on the railways committed annually by children
Performance
BTP achieved all its operational targets for the last reporting period.
Special Constabulary
British Transport Police first recruited Special Constables in a trial based in the North West Area in 1995, and this was expanded to the whole of Great Britain.
Many Specials are recruited from the wider railway community and those working for Train Operating Companies are encouraged by their employers.
Under the terms of the Railway and Transport Safety Act 2003 and the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, BTP special constables have identical jurisdiction and powers to BTP regular constables; primary jurisdiction on any railway in Great Britain and a conditional jurisdiction in any other police force area. British Transport Police Special Constables do not wear the 'SC' insignia (a crown with the letters SC underneath) on their epaulettes unlike their counterparts in the majority of Home Office police forces.
Proposed merger
Although the British Transport Police is not under the control of the Home Office, and as such was not included as part of the proposed mergers of the Home Office forces of England and Wales in early 2006, both Ken Livingstone and Sir Ian Blair have stated publicly that they want a single police force in Greater London. As part of this, they wish to have the functions of the BTP within Greater London absorbed by the Metropolitan Police. However, following a review of the BTP by the Department for Transport, no changes to the form and function of the force will be implemented, and any merger will not happen.
See also
External links
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