A few days ago I saw what I thought was an ordinary traffic stop. Police SUV with the lights on had pulled a car over. Turns out it was a CN Railway Police vehicle. This neighborhood was in the vicinity of CN rails. Years ago, my father-in-law at the time was a GTW railroad cop. I never heard him mention doing any traffic stops. Normal practice?
[Most] Railroad police have the same protection and enforcement powers as any law enforcement agency.
I imagine the officer saw suspicious activity on railroad property and gave chase. Maybe the driver thought better and decided to pull over. It would have been easy for CN Police to have called for assistance from other agencies to give chase if needed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Police
Amtrak has just over 500 officers. Of course their territory is pretty extensive!
Pinkertons got their start in the railroad police business back when Abe Lincoln was a lawyer on the Illinois Central.
Interesting,
Ed
In California, which is certainly not Canada, or a province thereof, ALL police (sworn officers of the law) can write traffic tickets.
For example: There are BART police. They are real cops, just like railroad police. They can, and do, make traffic stops and write tickets. And, curiously, BART gets a few bucks of the fine, even though the violation may have been on Oakland city streets, and not BART property.
And, by the way, county sheriffs can write traffic tickets in non-county jurisdictions. Like cities.
Perhaps that concept has been exported from the Golden State to far places.
As likely as a traffic stop is that the person could have been trespassing and decided to depart upon the arrival of the police vehicle. They likely assumed the cops would pay no attention, EXCEPT for a RR cop, that's one of the main attractants. That might have been a surprise to someone not expecting anyone to care that they drive past a No Trespass sign, for example. Like other police, they have the autority mentioned, which includes pursuit off their actual territtory of jurisdiction of suspects, as well as similar followup work.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I called and talk to my eldest brother-in-law who is a retired Columbus Police Officer.
Railroad Police is a private police force with no jurisdiction away from railroad property he or she can pursue and detain a suspect until a City,State or County LEO arrives. The burden of proof will be upon the Railroad police to prove any wrong doing and normal police procedures must be followed by the local LEO while investigating the complaint..
Also railroad police can not issue traffic violations on public streets or roads.
If you are being harass by a Railroad police officer on public property then call your local police and let them settle the matter since you have civil liberties. Neither officer can tell you to delete photos.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
gmpullman [Most] Railroad police have the same protection and enforcement powers as any law enforcement agency.
Concur. While there may be some state-to-state differences, in most situations railroad police are fully certified law enforcement officers. In Virginia (where I was a police officer for 30+ years), the N&W - later NS - Police had to be trained to mandated state levels. We trained them in our Police Academy, including the required in-service classes mandated by the Commonwealth. I was Academy Director for five years. Railroad Police are almost always very distinct from "security guards" in that respect.
One should be very cautious about statements that they have no authority off of railroad property. Ignoring Railroad Police or thinking that one doesn't have to stop for them will not be well received later on by the judge.
Bill
Beach BillOne should be very cautious about statements that they have no authority off of railroad property. Ignoring Railroad Police or thinking that one doesn't have to stop for them will not be well received later on by the judge. Bill
Bill,I think my brother in law would know since he had worked with CR,NS and CSX police as far as trespassers and theft reports..The railroad cops detains the subjects until a LEO arrives and carts them off to the slammer-only to be back on the streets before the ink on the report is dry. Nine times out of ten a trespasser is release at the scene with no more then a written warning from the RR police or a verbal warning from the local LEO...As My brother -in-law said the city and county jails is always near capacity and there's bigger fish to land.
Larry,
Ohio may be different than other states, as they all vary somewhat in how RR police are inked into law. I know the Eds and Bill are reflecting their local circumstances.
I vaguelyb recall reading that this is generally the case in all the states, with the local variations. The exception was said to be Wyoming, where the UP threw its weight around to the extent that the legislature refused to extend the same rights and responsibilities to the UP RR police, but this applied across the board because the law couldn't be written simply to exclude the UP from these provisions of the law. But someone more familiar than I with UP and Wyoming law can maybe confirm the details?
mlehman Larry, Ohio may be different than other states, as they all vary somewhat in how RR police are inked into law. I know the Eds and Bill are reflecting their local circumstances.
Like, for instance, Metro Transit Police here in DC-VA-MD have full enforcement ability within 150 feet of any Metro bus stop, which means they pretty much cover the exact same jurisdiction as Metro police, Capitol Police, Park Police, and whatever other local police you can think of, despite being transit police.
https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/safety/special_agents/index.htm
From the above link:
Railroad police are certified state law enforcement officers with investigative and arrest powers both on and off railroad property in most states. They also have interstate law enforcement authority pursuant to federal law.
Jeff
I do know any "sting" operation done by the RR police requires local LEOs to be present. I do know they can not search your car or camera bags without permission from the person or by getting a court order.
Local and Federal LEOs have strict procedures they must follow. A private police force is not above those procedures and yes,railroad police are considered a private police force since their main goal is to protect the railroad,shipments and its employees.
I know that when the SP was still a railroad I used to railfan in Houston a lot. The SP RR cops were sort of jerks and always gave me a hard time, I never stepped on RR property and there was really nothing they could do in spite of their threats and waving pistols and such. Once I was walking back and forth on Hardy St taking shots of the many diesels being serviced and the cop ran at me screaming I was trespassing and he was going to arrest me and pulled his pistol on me. I told him I was on city property and he had no authority to arrest me and I wasn't doing anything wrong. He got very agitated and ran back and called HPD. The HPD car arrived pretty quick and pulled up to me and asked what was what. I told hm and he said the SPcop couldn't arrest me or do ANYTHING to me as long as I didn't step on to RR property. If I did, well...that would be another story! He was concerned about the pistol being stuck in my face and asked if I wanted to press charges or not. Nope, just want some choochoo pictures! He suggested I find a better place to take pictures because the guy was obviously charged up and might get carried away next time and pull the trigger. So he went over and explained the situation to the SPcop. Normal actions by the SP cops in Houston from my 35 years of railfanning there. The MKT RRcops were just as bad. I never had any issues around the Mop or HB&T. Actually several times the Mop cop told me about stuff he'd seen in the yard I might be interested in and escorted me to that location and talked with me while I got pictures then escorted me back to the public street.
I grew up in Baltimore in the 1950s-60s and spent a lot of time around the B&O and Pennsy locations. They were always friendly and helpful and cab rides in GG-1s were easy to get. I've always heard how unfriendly PRR crews and cops were but I never experienced any of that even in the high crime areas. Once they figured out what you were doing they even pointed things out.
I know in this Post 9-11 world things have gotten crazy but Houston was pretty much a Post 9-11 place before the buildings fell.
My 2¢,
Roger Huber
[Edited by admin to remove vulgarities]
Crimes involving crossing state lines, like say drug smuggling, are covered by federal law and law enforcement (FBI, DEA etc.) Pretty much all other 'police' activities are done at the state, county or local level and will be ruled by the laws existing in that area. So yes, if a state legislature passes a law saying railroad police or some other police force in their state are considered to be law enforcement officers just like any other police force, they can certainly do that.
I work for the state of Minnesota in St.Paul. Our state office buildings are protected by Capitol Security. They aren't security guards, they're a regular police force. The University of Minnesota over in Minneapolis also have their own police force. In fact, there are some laws that as I understand it that limit was the Minneapolis police can do on campus, since it's not part of their jurisdiction.
For what it's worth, there's a Minnesota state law that says the conductor of a train has the same power to arrest as the sheriff of the county the train is in, regardless if the crime is on the train or outside.
Federal law under Section 1704 of the U.S. Crime Control Act of 1990, provides that: "A railroad police officer who is certified or commissioned as a police officer under the laws of any one state shall, in accordance with the regulations issued by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, be authorized to enforce the laws of any other state in which the rail carrier owns property."
As to where they can exercise that authority, the federal law says that this police authority is to "the extent of the authority of a police officer certified or commissioned under the laws of that jurisdiction". While a railroad police officer may have general peace officer authority in some states such as Kansas, they are limited to the railroad's property in other states.