British Transport Police Officer

www.starnow.co.uk/christopherw33618

 

The British Transport Police (BTP) (Welsh: Heddlu Trafnidiaeth Prydeinig) is a special police force[4] that polices railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain, for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services.[5] 95% of the Force's funding comes from Britain's privatised train companies. British Transport Police officers do not have jurisdiction in Northern Ireland unless working under mutual aid arrangements for the Police Service of Northern Ireland in which case any duties performed on a railway will be merely incidental to working as a constable in Northern Ireland.

 

Contents

 

1 Jurisdiction

2 Structure

2.1 Divisions

2.1.1 B Division

2.1.2 C Division

2.1.3 D Division

2.2 Former divisions

3 History

3.1 Foundation

3.1.1 "Policeman" v. "Constable"

3.2 Navigators

3.3 Historical crime

3.4 Reorganisation

3.5 Inter-war years

3.6 World War II

3.7 Post war

4 How the BTP is funded

5 Attestation

5.1 in England and Wales

5.2 in Scotland

6 Communications and Control rooms

7 Powers and status of officers

7.1 General powers

7.2 Outside natural jurisdiction

7.2.1 On the request of constable

7.2.2 On the request of a Chief Constable (Mutual Aid)

7.2.3 Spontaneous requirement outside natural jurisdiction

7.2.4 Channel Tunnel

7.2.5 Cross-border powers

7.3 Status

8 Accident investigation

9 Crime on the railway

9.1 Route crime

9.2 Performance

10 Special Constabulary

11 Police Community Support Officers (PCSO)

12 Proposed merger

13 See also

14 References

15 External links

 

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:

 

The London Underground system

The Docklands Light Railway

High Speed 1

The Sunderland line of the Tyne and Wear Metro (between Fellgate and South Hylton)

The Midland Metro

Croydon Tramlink

The Glasgow Subway (since early 2007)

The Emirates Air Line

 

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, British Transport Police in conjunction with the French National Police - Police aux Frontières - police the international services operated by Eurostar.[6]

 

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.

 

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.

Structure

BTP officers patrolling with dogs in Waterloo Station

 

As of 2009, BTP has 2,871 Police Constables,[3] 218 Special Constables, 326 Police Community Support Officers, and 1334 police staff throughout England, Wales, and Scotland.[7] In terms of regular officer numbers this means BTP is the 19th largest police force in England & Wales and Scotland in comparison to the 45 territorial police forces of Great Britain.[7] Since June 2009 the Chief Constable has been Andy Trotter OBE, QPM and is due to be succeeded by Paul Crowther OBE later in 2014.[8]

 

BTP has appeared on UK television in Railcops.[9]

Divisions

 

From 1 April 2014 the divisional structure changed from the previous seven division structure to a four division structure - according to BTP this new structure will 'deliver a more efficient Force, generating savings to reinvest in more police officers across the railway network'.[10] A Division refers to the Force Headquarters (FHQ) and houses the command team, major investigations, forensic support and other centralised departments.

B Division

 

Divisional Commander: Chief Superintedent Paul Brogden.[10]

 

This division covers London and the South East and southern areas of England. This division is further divided into the following sub-divisions:

 

East - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Richard Moffatt.[11]

Transport for London - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Matt Wratten.[12]

South - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Jason Bunyard.[13]

 

C Division

 

Divisional Commander: Chief Superintendent Peter Holden.[10]

 

This division covers the North East, North West, the Midlands, South West areas of England and Wales. This division is further divided into the following sub-divisions:

 

Pennine - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Eddie Wylie.[14]

Midland - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Allan Gregory.[15]

Wales - Sub-divisional Commander: Superintendent Andy Morgan.[16]

 

D Division

 

Divisional Commander: Chief Superintendent Ellie Bird.[10]

 

This division covers Scotland. There are no sub-divisions within D Division.[17]

Former divisions

 

Prior to April 2014, BTP was divided into seven geographical divisions:

 

Scotland (Area HQ in Glasgow)

North Eastern (Area HQ in Leeds)

North Western (Area HQ in Manchester)

London North (Area HQ in London - Caledonian Road)

London Underground (Area HQ in London - Broadway)

London South (Area HQ in London - Bridge Street)

Wales & Western (Area HQ in Birmingham)

 

Prior to 2007, there was an additional Midland Division however this was absorbed into the North Eastern Division.

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 "A History of Policing the Railway"[18] 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[19] to "an Act of 1838...which according to J.R. Whitbread in 'The Railway Policeman[20] 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[21] 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,[22] which was subsequently amended by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003.[23]

"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) 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. Although some were simultaneously County Constables."[24]

Navigators

 

A huge workforce was required to build the ever expanding railway system. These armies of rough workers - navigators, or "navvies" for short - 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 Franz Muller, who robbed and killed a fellow passenger on a North London Railway train 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:

 

The Great Western Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The Southern Railway

 

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

Two parked BTP vehicles in York

 

In 1947 the Transport Act created the British Transport Commission (BTC) 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 Commission Police ceased to cover British Waterways property[25] and exactly a year later when the BTC was abolished the name of the force was amended to the British Transport Police. 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.

 

In May 2011, the Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond announced that British Transport Police would create an armed capability of its own with the added benefit of additional resilience and capacity of the overall UK police armed capability.[26] The BTP are deployed on armed patrols using Glock 17 pistols, LMT AR-15 CQB carbines as well as tasers.[27]

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.[28] Around 95% of BTP's funding comes from the train operating companies.[29] 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.[30] The police authority decides objectives. The industry membership represent 5 out of 13 members.

 

There is also substantial counter-terrorism funding from the Home Office.

 

The police authority has agreed its budget for 2011/2012 at £250.2M.

Attestation

See also: Police Oath

 

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

 

I...of the British Transport Police do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence, and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully and according to law.

 

[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 or her office.[31]

 

Communications and Control rooms

 

As of March 2009, BTP operates two 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.[32][33]

Force Control Room – Birmingham: Based in Birmingham – alongside the First Contact Centre – and responsible for the East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, the North West of England, the North East of England, the South West of England and Scotland.

Force Control Room – London: Responsible for the Greater London area (including the London Underground and Mainline) and the Home Counties.

 

Powers and status of officers

General powers

 

Under s.31 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, 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)[34]

on network, (a railway line, or installations associated with a railway line)[34]

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)[34]

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).[35]

 

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.[36] It is an offence to assault or impersonate a BTP constable.[37]

Outside natural jurisdiction

 

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[38] 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:

 

a Home Office police force,

the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), or

the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC)

 

to assist him/her in the execution of their duties in relation to a particular incident, investigation or operation, a BTP constable also has the powers of the requesting officer for the purposes of that incident, investigation or operation.[39] 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.[39] 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.[39]

Done