Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Who Has the Guts to Standup for America?

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
"They may be a sworn officer, real police is a very loose term, but they work for a private company not a government entity. Their power off the railroad property in my state is limited except for investigative power of a crime that was commited on railroad property (i.e. they cannot make a traffic stop on a public street and issue a traffic citation with possibly the exception of a grade crossing violation which usually is on railroad property). Of the cases where I have knowledge the special agents always had the local police with them when they made an arrest off railroad property. The jurisdiction of the railroad police is generally the railroad property." A railroad cop's status really depends on the state they are operating in. In Arizona, for example, I believe that peace officers not only must be sworn, but ALEOAC certified (which means they went through an academy.) ALEOAC certification gives a peace officer the right to enforce the law anywhere in the state of Arizona... except for the Indian reservations. In effect, this means a BNSF cop can make an arrest on "public property" if he sees a violation of state law occurring. It's different in Alabama; there is no question that an NS or CSX police officer can make arrests on railroad property, but they must have juristictional agreements with local counties or municipalities to do law enforcement off railroad property. (As a certified deputy, I recently had to be "resworn" to do traffic control and security for an Auburn football game- my law enforcement authority was limited to that county juristiction for a very limited time.) To add misery to heartache, there is provision for private citizens to make arrests. Private citizens are also not bound by constitutional guarantees concerning evidence. This is how store employees (known as "loss prevention agents") tackle shoplifters leaving a store; it's also how bounty hunters get to kick down doors and enter houses without a search warrant. And this was in effect before 9/11... It is always easy to blame the government for stopping you from doing fooli***hings. It's not so easy to realize that the Constitution regulates the actions of your government... not your fellow citizens. Be nice to each other and pass the popcorn. Erik
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag