Steve Featherkile said:
Dave Taylor said:
Thank you Steve and Shawn for the open debate on the RR police. My good friend Andy Saiez ( the guy that I built the water tank for) is a retired SF “Special Agent” (it’s what they called them then).
We had a similar discussion several years ago, I’ll try to remember how it basically played out. The RR police were Sworn LEOs for the state (Andy was a former police officer before signing on with SF). In the outer reaches of SoCal he patrolled some very desolate areas that the local police never went to unless called out on a crime call. Providing security for the RR where there wasn’t any local police, and rather unlikely that there would ever be any. As an example, Long holiday break for a track crew 80 miles East of Victorville, Work train left in the desert with tools, supplies and etc. Vandels shooting things up, B&E the supplies. He called in state police, was assisted by county and watched as several thugs tore thing up. When back up finally arrived they jointly arrested all of them.
Bottom line, the crime would never have been solved if it had been left up to the local authorities, as they had no reason to even be any where near where the train ROW crew was.
By having their own officers, they can put them any where they want, when they want, and cover their own needs as they see fit. At their own cost, and not at the taxpayers expense.
BTW Andy had assisted local authorities many times on calls when a local officer needed back-up and there was no local officer any where near. At the RR’s expense by the way.
Not only do they (RR police) have to meet all the state requirements, they also have to be well rehearsed in “Train”. Proper Safety, operations, and a thousand other things relating to the RR SOPs. That the local police officer, probably would never think of.
All together, I think that it is a very workable system. Now about “looking the other way” on some things. Integrity is every officers personal cross he carries. How he handles things are a personal commitment to him/her self.
The bold and blue color in what I quoted from you just proves my point, that the railroads really don’t need sworn LEO’s. By what your friend said, he had to wait for CHiPs, and the County Mounties, before he could do anything. He could have done that (waited) as a security guard. He did not need to be a sworn peace officer. Granted, it would never have been solved if left to local authorities, but having him be a sworn peace officer did not assist in solving the crime, either.
Steve any Police agency that needs help will always call other departments or agencies for assistance especially small town departments, or departments with low man power like Park Police and im sure RR Police fall under the same. Why do we need a Sheriffs department when you have State police? Why do we need State police when we have town police or why do we need Federal Police when each state has their own Police force. Departments don’t mind helping out when needed but if a local PD or State Police had to take care of all the illegal activity on RR property especially in remote areas it would get old. Plus its a wasting tax payer money taking away from our protection. Local PD’s dont want to deal with trespassing complaints and other disorderly person offences all the time on RR property. Its different if its you and me they are helping because they are being paid by our town to protect us not the private RR. For a RR to have its own Police force helps take the load off the local Police and they can arrest for these minor offences rather then wasting the local PDs time. Again if they had security they would still have to call the local PD even for minor crimes like trespassing. Crime is obviously high enough for these big RR’s to have its own PD. The local Police will help the RRR Police if needed in the case where they might be short on man power one day or something big occurs like a mass shooting etc…
In the case Of Dave’s friend calling for assistance. He could have done something, but you would have to be an idiot to try and stop 6 guys with guns in a remote area by yourself, especially if there is no life being at risk at that moment. That would be suicide. Its safer waiting for backup. Would you deal with a riot by yourself? No you will wait for backup even if its from the next town over.
How would you feel if your local PD was tied up dealing with a minor incident that occurred on RR property in a remote area and at the same time you needed your local PD to respond to your home for a burglary in progress. Now your local PD’s response time is going to be longer because they are on RR property dealing with a minor crime. Since RR’s have their own police force they don’t have to take away from the local police for the minor and in most major crimes. Yes their are those rare times they will call the locals for backup but that’s all they are back up. The RR police will still do the reports, charging the criminals and going to the courts. Not the local PD because all they did was assist.
