As a railroader, thank you for not hanging out on the tracks too long… As a history buff of railroads, thank you for using American trains in your shots from the past, it pains me to see documentaries about American railroads and they use European trains as stand ins for here…
A dedicated railway police force is not a uniquely American phenomenon, in case if anyone thinks so. In India too there is a separate police department for the railways called RPF (Railway Police Force). However unlike in the US railways are not privately owned, yet.
The two Canadian railroads, CN and CP, have rail police throughout Canada and the United States. Their cruisers look very similar to RCMP ones which scares people, but they will never stop you for speeding.
That's technically incorrect. CN/CP Police have jurisdiction up to 500m from their rail line, and have the same powers as "normal" officers with the RCMP or any other department. So while its unlikely, they can and have pulled over people for speeding in the past.
A key difference, of course, is that they're not armed in Canada, but they certainly are in the US (armed, meaning firearms, they still carry batons and tazers).
@IronEh Actually the courts in Canada have upheld that a peace officer on duty in a marked police vehicle have full police powers no matter where they are. Railroad police in Canada now have the authority to enforce the highway traffic act anywhere.
Canada also has railway police, probably for similar reasons. In fact, railways operating in both Canada and the US generally have police with authority on both sides of the border.
The Railroad Police got Interstate Jurisdiction! And more authority then any other police force, along with the Game Warden,The Corner,The Postal Services Police, and The Necular Power Plant Police, and the Military Criminal Investigation Services Police!
Another great video. Makes me wonder about campus police on college campuses, even through it sounded like they were potentially more on the mall cop end of the spectrum. At least at my school they seemed to have jurisdiction around the entire campus and even a block or two out. I don’t think the city police were allowed on campus, unless specifically invited by our campus chief of police. Oh, and Amtrak police! Are they federal agents? Or still considered a private police force?
Yeah good questions - Amtrak police are a different situation because it’s federally run (as you guessed). And some campus police are fully credentialed like railroad police (though it’s spotty when they are full police officers or not).
The fact that US unis have their own police forces is honestly bizarre to me as a Canadian. Both universities I’ve attended have campus security, but they’re unarmed and not police (slightly upgraded mall cops). If actual police are needed, they call the local department.
@@casey6556 In most cases, to my understanding, it is only large campuses of public universities that have their own police that actually operate as police. Most schools have "campus security" or "public safety" forces that are more similar to private security guards than police.
The history of the US is so intertwined with the history of police forces, one can't be told without understanding the other. The Pinkerton Agency itself is a topic of interest. At one point when our civic institutions were not as strong as they are now, at times they operated more as a private army for hire, a tool for threats, intimidation, and violence. "The Pinkertons are coming" was not a reassuring call to many.
Yup, the Pinkertons were legitimized thugs employed by the tycoons of their time. Their name should always be one of disdain, the blood on countless labor organizers and striking workers remains on their hands.
I was kind of upset that throughout this whole video he didn’t talk about how the Pinkertons and also the railroad police where also made to suppress labor movements like in 1877
Come back after nightfall, you’ll see more movement from the trains then 😜 I’m right next to one (I believe it’s the same route as yours since I’m on the James River). I hear those suckers going at night all the time! Maybe it’s a logistical AND security thing. Or maybe it’s a timing thing for this region. Either way, great video!
The tracks on the east coast are spider webs. From the yard right by the James in Richmond you can go to about 5 different directions. So it's possible it's the same line but harder to figure out than yould think. Once you get east of St Louis it's easy to tell though.
Yeah they’re literally just regular police officers who are assigned to patrol and/or guard train stations. However, if need be they can and a lot of times do other police duties (like patrolling the town or something) when it’s not peak time.
My friend is a BTP constable, most of the work is either cable theft, shop lifting at station, escorting football fans, and suicide clearance. Most of them are train geeks as well.
@@AM-kr4pv Ehh, police deal with worse. Suicide (via train or any other means) is very common in their line of work, heck, a lot of their coworkers take that route. But police tend to desensitised to it after awhile. When you walk up on a decapitated body one too many times with pieces in the stove and a head in the fridge (who keeps putting them in there Idk), walking up to a scene where it’s mostly “red mist” and a couple of parts here there and everywhere, and you know the reason is because the dude was just a sad and jumped is practically nothing to you at that point. It’s kinda messed up, but if it affected you badly every single time, it would be you who’d be jumping next because you’d not cope anymore. Not caring is almost like a survival tactic you could say, plus it keeps their head clear so they can focus on the job too.
3:00 That's a map of _planned_ UP lines, none of which were ever built. Ironically, the one UP line on that map that _was_ built in that area isn't on the map (other UP lines in the area now were acquired from the much more extensive Southern Pacific in the 1996 merger).
No, thank you for NOT doing more of this video on the tracks. Chasing this aesthetic often gets people killed and more people in media production need to be calling this out as dangerous behaviour. Even though you didn't encounter a train during your filming, trains DO 'sneak up' on people, especially when they've set up equipment and because of how fast they move. Freight trains especially are difficult to slow down once they get moving, so it's not like the train can avoid you if you can't get off the tracks fast enough. Tresspasser strikes or even near misses have huge psychological effects on the engineers. As someone who works in transit and has had to communicate the effects on service when people get hit on tracks, thank you again for legit not filming more on the tracks. There are plenty others who emulate this behaviour and it gets a lot of people killed each year.
agreed, trains are fucking QUIET from behind. all the noise comes from it PASSING you. Ive worked my fair share of railroad even then it still amazes me how quiet they can be
In Europe some (if not all) countries have railroad police too! But they are a sub-divison of the real government police department instead of private officers.
In Poland, railroad police is not part of the state police. They have less authority than regular police forces, but still more than your average mall security guard. They are armed and are allowed to use their weapons if it’s absolutely necessary.
There used to be a Railroad Police that were part of the Federal Railroad , but after German reunification the German Borderguard took over railroad policing in East Germany and the Railroad Police in the West was merged into the Borderguard (in big part because the railroad was privatized) , which lead to the Borderguard being transformed into the Federal Police we have today.
In the Netherlands even smaller public transport companies have their own enforcers, not gunned, but they do service the same way and are allowed to write tickets and arrest people to a certain degree.
In the U.K., the local police usually hang around near the train stations (or guard them in big cities) and on the trains there’s usually a ticket officer who can write fines and detain you but has to get the police to actually arrest you and take you back to the police station.
Man, history is wild. The older I get the more I see how everything is just a set of ideas on how to resolve problems. Computing was invented to do math, and years later that same number crunching is running this webpage along with so many other facets of our lives. History, from my perspective, is the cumulative knowledge on how people solved problems. For better or for worse. I had no idea the railway system had its own law enforcement.
Fascinating topic, excellent video (as always). I found myself heading down a cognitive rabbithole of Policing vs. Security, particularly when picturing coal "police", policing not trespassers but workers from organizing. It seems like although both enforce rules and laws, the notion is police have more extensive training, so that rights are also respected (in theory) while having the added power to arrest. I wonder if the Canal Network had some sort of police/security or ranger force?
This is one of those things that you have the gut reaction of "why" but then pretty quickly resolve it when you think about the history. I do find it legitimately interesting that there are still train heists happening. Just wanted to also say that your videos are a nice comfort place for me. Like I know if I'm having a bad day I can boot up one of your videos and the good vibes are enough to cheer me up. I think also watching you I find that I allow myself to more be myself. Like by seeing you being so authentically you on camera it makes me feel like its alright to express myself. I have always tended to go through life as a sort of dramaturgy, putting on masks to suit the conversation. But I feel as though I can kindle that flame of what makes me uniquely me and express that more, instead of what I know the other person wants to hear etc. I guess what I'm saying is you have given me confidence I didn't realize I needed, a mature kind of confidence.
My brother and I used to walk railroad tracks as kids. Not once did I think about a dedicated RR police force. Very informative. These videos fill the hole left by the absence of Vox Almanac videos.
Railroad police are actually on par with Federal police (particularly the US Marshal Service which they were mostly modeled on). There is a reason for this. Railroads and the US Government have been tied at the hip since it's creation. US railroads for most of it's history were responsible for nearly all US mail. They carried a large quantity not just federal payrolls, but State and corporate payrolls. They were, and still are, the primary carrier of military personnel and equipment. Railroads, being interstate commerce, fall under Federal jurisdiction and regulation. As such, even though they are railroad employees, they are actually fully fledged Federal Officers. Privately owned Federal officers. While railroad police don't really care or get themselves involved in local law enforcement issues, they can be requested to assist, and have been on occasion (especially around Chicago, where railroad police will often respond to calls involving officer shootings, or ongoing felony crimes where lives are in danger). As Federal agents, their jurisdiction goes well beyond the borders of the rail property. "They can't be Federal officers because they don't have civilian oversight, they are privately owned". That's not completely true. As I said before, railroads, while privately owned, are interstate commerce and so therefore fall under jurisdiction by the Federal government, which regulates them. In times of war or imminent danger, the railroads can and have been taken over by the US government (nominally under the US Army, until the creation of the USRA in WWI). Railroad police are the same thing. in normal operations they operate separately , but they are regulated by the Federal government, and they can, and frequently have been, pulled into the Federal system under the USDoJ (last time I remember this happening was 9/11 and lasted for a while until Homeland Security got themselves established and relinquished direct control). So while the don't have direct public oversight on a daily basis, they are bound to the Federal Government and can be pulled into service at any time. Due to this and Congressional oversight of the railroad regularity bodies, they are partially bound to public oversight.
What a wonderful video Phil! :) Really nice. Here in India too we have the "Railway Protection Force ". It would be so awesome to see a video about it from you. It can be like a sequel to this one :)
Decent video to have a brief look into the history of railroad police. I've personally hopped over 50,000 miles of freight trains in 25 countries, and would estimate the US has almost 10,000 active riders across it's rails today in the contemporary era. Of course during the great depression there were over 1 million. Again, in the 80's a growing trend of transients looking for work utilised freight transport, and finally today that number is again increasing, but mostly due to the disemination of subcultures like train hopping online, which is evidenced on UA-cam (even i've posted about it). That's the problem, its a transgressive activity so there's this dilemma that any amount of exposure of it to the homogenous society basically begins to destroy it. Railroad policing of riders has changed a lot recently, I've only been caught in the US once but I was let off and given a ride to the freeway. Many end up thrown in jail for a week with their dog in the pound. There is a true culture of disenfranchised youth in America today who take to the rails in search of freedom and an escape from many of the social problems which are endemic to Americas underclass even now (i'm not American so this isn't me), but i'd recommend checking out Mike Brodie's photographic work, and the videos of 'Hobo Shoestring' on UA-cam to get a an idea of what hoboing really means in a contemporary context. Anyways, sorry for rambling, perhaps you'll find those suggestions interesting.
1:57 Interestingly, in many places colleges and universities (especially public ones) have legit police officers. Harvard for example has actual police with full powers of arrest and specific jurisdiction (that does extend past Harvard property). Many police for public institutions (University of [STATE] systems for example) have state wide jurisdiction just like normal state police. More than just Railroad and Universities, a surprisingly larger number of essentially private police forces with real jurisdictions and powers of arrest exist in the US.
Yeah my local community college. The people in the law enforcement program can issue legal citations that get real court dates. I had to work on those traffic tickets and other local tickets putting them through the courthouse computers.
Yeah, here in Oregon our Campus Police have the same authority as other Police Officers and their jurisdiction is technically the entire state. It's common for them to do traffic details and respond to various crimes off campus in my area.
There's a big piece of history missing here, you've ignored the influence Britain had on US Policing which effectively was a carbon copy of what was taking place in England within the 1800s. "Railway Police" were first sworn in Britain in 1830s - Specialist Constables employed directly by railway companies to police their lines, trains, stations etc. These officers worked alongside more traditional local Parish, Borough and Town Constables to keep order within certain areas - Britain at this time interestingly enough didn't have "Coal & Steel Police" but did have "Canal Constables" who were very similar to their railway counterparts simply with powers to police the industrial canals. The US system hasn't changed really in this regard since the 1800s, in Britain however responsibility moved away from private company police and they were nationalised into the still functioning and existing "British Transport Police" in 1949. The US owes much of its law enforcement model to the UK, railway police were exactly the same during this time period.
Phil those look like the tracks around Richmond Virginia, where I grew up. I spent many, many hours walking those tracks in my youth. Very nostalgic for me. If you are in or around Richmond, I would love to see a video on Belle Isle, and especially the Belle Isle Hydroelectric Plant. A good general interest topic could be the reclamation of industrial areas by parks or how cities deal with decommissioned industrial infrastructure.
I have fond memories of my buddies and I putting pennies on the tracks to see them stretched out by the passing freight trains. We were, of course, largely oblivious to the risks we were exposing ourselves to -- though did feel a thrill placing the pennies and wisely kept a safe distance while the trains passed. It was exciting listening for the trains approaching and feeling their speed and weight rushing by us. I do recall an illogical concern that the coin might derail the train. The awareness that there is a police force dedicated to protecting the trains makes me wonder if we were breaking any laws and risking arrest for trespassing or potentially disrupting service. Besides the crime of defacing currency, of course.
@@PhilEdwardsInc You will be perfectly safe putting pennies on tracks, from derailing a train that is. The danger is the possibility that the pennies could shoot out like a bullet or you could get hit by the train. Here is a great video from WW2 era on their experiments on trying to derail trains: ua-cam.com/video/rCyVj6kt2zA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=WhatYouHaven%27tSeen
After your video about the pentagon and this video your next video should be... Why Phil Edwards is now on a watch list? (you'll always be on my watch list phil)
Another interesting aspect is Railroad Police have powers of arrest but don't book prisoners. An ex RR Cop told me how he did that once and caught heck with his supervisor after he received the bill from the jail. His boss told him I hired you because. you are big and know martial arts not to make arrests.
Harvard Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, occasionally had Cambridge (municipal), Massachusetts (state), Harvard (university), and MBTA (transit) police around. It was ... a lot.
It's funny, as for example for reasons mentioned in the video in Germany it's the federal police (Bundespolizei) that are responsible for patrolling the railway. In Poland however it's just regular police (as the police is not federalized like in Germany), but the operators can employ their own security forces (Sluzba Ochrony Kolei) that are actually accredited in the Ministry of Interior and are some kind of a real police force as well.
There used to be a dedicated "Bahnpolizei" under the juristriction of the "Bundesbahn" and seprate "Transportpolizei" in the GDR. After reunification both were merged into the border guard and renamed "Bundespolizei".
@@jonasschich5979 Does that mean that the Bundespolizei only handles our trains and borders? Their name sounds like they are the equivalent to the FBI, responsible for any issue crossing a state border.
@@Pystro Yes, although there are units called "Bereitschaftspolizei" which assist with big protest and such things if the Länder ask for it. The FBI Counterpart would be the Bundeskriminalamt which is its own seprate thing.
In germany our federal police is in charge with everything traveling and cargo related. So as soon you're entering a Trainstation, port, airport or the Autobahn they are in charge.
This isn’t really relevant but I remember when you had 10K subs and commenting “You should have 200K!” and I noticed that the number is halfway there. Appreciate the quality content!
No, that’s very different. It’s a very American phenomenon. Those police officers are regular police officers working for the government and can be assigned to a totally different police force. The American Rail Police are private officers hired by the companies that run the rails. Corporate owned police officers is not a thing here.
@@IkeOkerekeNews I’m not though…You can ask the police at the train stations all you like, and their answers are going to be what I’ve told you. They’re employer is the government, they trained as any regular police officer would, they then went on to be more specialised and became a Transport Police officer. They have the same powers as any other police officer, because guess what, they are a regular police officer! Their line of work is just more specialised, like other police officers. If a Narcotics officer sees a burglary taking place, he’s not gonna be like “nah man, I’m not about that breaking and entering life. See me, I’m all about preventing drugs, so imma just let this happen”, no he’s going to stop the burglary, because he can, because he’s a police officer! Same rule applies to Transport Police officers. Their jurisdiction is the rails, so crime and death that happens there is their department until other reasons dictate it should go to another department (like if it’s a murder or something it’ll go to the crime scene investigators who are solving that murder). And at the end of the day, they’re still police officers who do other duties, like patrolling the nearby area (especially in small towns that don’t have many officers), responding to backup other officers, and requesting to join a different department, in case they want to become a narcotics officer for instance. And NOTHING, about them is privatised. They are not employed by the rail companies. So please tell me where I’m “false”???
@@kgapaneseschoolgirlb I hate to tell you this but before BTP was created Britain had the exact same system of policing - private railway companies operated their own Constables. This all changed in the late 1940s when BTCP was created (which became the modern day BTP)
@@B-26354 Yes but everything back in the day was owned by private organisations. There are still hospitals in the U.K. named after the dude you had to pay before he’d even try and let you live the rest of your life kinda “everything is private”. That’s what the Industrial Revolution did, it was rich people seeing the chance to get even wealthier and more importantly, more powerful and own as much things as possible. Most countries though, decided that was bad and now own a lot of the public sector (Thatcher and then Tories afterwards started selling it again but before that we the public owned a lot of it) and now we have lots of state owned things, like police. Whereas America is still in its Liberal Adventure Capitalist Wonderland in certain sectors, like being able to own your own police force.
This makes sense. There are parallels between Australia and America, we also had a “Wild West” period, where each state was responsible for their own affairs, own police force and laws. Then came Federation in 1901, states still maintained their jurisdiction, but with the federal government came a lot more standardisation across government institutes.
I though pretty much every country has a railway police. Some european countries have it for sure. Germany got rid of it in the 1990s but Switzerland and france for example still have it to my knowledge. In my country you can find their number in case of an emergency on the bottom of the windows inside the wagons besides the "If you don't have a ticket you're in trouble" notice.
Indonesia also has its own version of this; the "Polsuska", which is an abbreviation for: "Polisi Khusus Kereta Api (KA)". It translates literally to: "police specifically for trains." They wear and iconic orange beret and an orange shoulder cover, and can be seen following the conductor up and down the train.
Tis the Richmond curse. Trains never show up when you want to film them, and they show up once every 15 minutes when you're trying to film something else
The should set up an ambush and when the Train Thieves come light them up
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Maybe the next time you're stopped for speeding or running a red light, the cop should just "light you up" for that crime too. Real life is not a video game.
From the private Railroad Police later came both Transit Police (like the transit police that is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which took over such policing from the Philadelphia Police Department given the restrictions in place for county sheriffs) as well as the Amtrak Police normally seen in the Northeast. As with the latter, Amtrak Police has the same arrest power jurisdiction as both the FBI and the US Marshals Service, thus anyone arrested by Amtrak Police is subject to Federal prosecution as opposed to the private Railroad and regional Transit Police, in which any arrested would be subject to the statutes of the State the individual was arrested in.
I like your fairly unbiased approach. I'd say, as a retired police officer, there's an entire subject matter here to explore. Please stay neutral and don't get into the right or left of it. If you don't like competition that capitalism breeds..please move to a communist country and see how that goes. Also, next chapter, check out the postal police... that's a bigger thing with deeper roots. RxR police is just the first oil boom protection... kind of shocking we don't have oil police... at least stateside. Keep pushing sir, like your work.
Wisconsin law authorizes railroad police and even the conductors have some police powers. My favorite is Wis. Stat. 192.17, which allow a conductor to arrest a passenger to protect the other passengers from "violent, abusive, profane, or indecent language or conduct." What I love is that the law specifies that the arrested person is to be kept in the "in the baggage car" until the train arrives somewhere that they can be handed off to local law enforcement. It just sounds delightfully old-timey!
Interesting video again =). As other people already mentioned, we have a federal police force (Bundespolizei) to control the trains in Germany, too. You saw them from time to time patrolling the larger stations. Today you hear about the Bundespolizei if someone didn't comply with the corona restrictions in trains, i.e. refuse to wear a mask. Then the conductor would call the train police.
There also used to separate railway police forces in east and west which got folded into the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard) in 1990/92, which in turn was renamed Bundespolizei (Federal Police) in 2005.
I run a bit. One Friday, after a long day, I ran one frequented route. I was too tired to run another 1/4 mile to the crossing and Never cross a rail track unless their is a crossing. I decided no one would care if I ran the 1/4 mile along the tracks back to the road. Not dangerous, but it is railroad property. Sure enough, a RR police guy stopped me. Being older, I walked with him, as directed, off RR property. He was decent and not at all like the RR police I read about in stories about the depression and RR car riders. He did mention the kids who frequent the area and I agreed. Actually, I was impressed, as he was decent, even friendly, but no nonsense. Being a older era veteran, I noticed he was not muscular, but had constrained nervous energy and a focus. He could be quick. More power to him. I take a different route.
Railroad police as a concept is okay, because the protection of cross-jurisdictional lines is important. But you're correct that people, especially local governments and sheriff's departments, want revision. It's one of the rare times a private company is allowed to own a police department. It opens a potential for conflict of interest between the public and the private world. For example, there's a bit of a problem right now where a wannabe cop will buy a railcar, incorporate it, found a police department, and then it's no longer a crime to call themselves a police officer. This has led to a couple of serious abuses. I'm going off of memory here, but there was a recent case where a guy was selling "employment" as a police officer. His customers were issued a badge, and usually went on to do things like provide safety and security training as consultants despite having no actual authority or training themselves. And you can't have them arrested for impersonation because they're technically not. Worse, this also allows untrained (pun) civilian to bypass weapon restrictions and purchase automatics and conceal carry, because it qualifies them for LEOSA coverage. If you decide to do a video on this topic, obviously try to independently vet everything I'm saying here, but you're correct. It blurs the line between police and civilian way too much and makes accountability harder than it already is.
@@paultootill7062 The corridors through Los Angeles, where the robberies are taking place, are the busiest in North America, with trains passing through 24/7 on the way to/from the port of San Pedro, each ranging from 100-140 cars. Those weren't the ones near him though.
Love your videos and content, this is what UA-cam was originally about, original creators with original content. If you need a reminder subscribe to this man.
As a german: there is PRIVATE law enforcement? That seems to be the most stupid idea I've ever heard. Law enforcement as a company that has to make profits.
I think having privately owned railroads/railways is definitely a part to why rail police still exist in this day and age. If the railroads were govt owned (state and/or federal/national), the companies operating today would be contracted to operate on a certain line, rather than it being company property.
While not as common, most states, 38 I believe, have hospital police. Also, you mentioned campus security, but most states also have university police, as well.
This is really interesting! As an EMT I interact a lot with several police departments from commercial and passenger rail, light rail, and transit. We have state transit police, port authority (who operates a railway as well as oversees bridges and tunnels), and CSX police as well.
Your videos are always informative and fun to watch. Plus, as a person who grew up in Richmond, I love seeing so many familiar locations around my hometown
TSA vs Railroad Special Agents. I’ve always wondered why the process of traveling via train in America such as Amtrak, isn’t a heavily guarded like TSA in Airports? Without any physical search before boarding a train, a passenger can carry all sorts of illegal items. I appreciated the video. Thanks for researching this topic.
Now I know what the Pinkertons mean in the game RDR2
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It’s not just an antiquity. It makes sense to this day, even in developed areas. Trains can traverse multiple municipalities within minutes. Therefore, it makes sense not to have local police jurisdictions enforce crime related to these vehicles that move in and out of them so quickly.
Being arrested or ticketed for trespassing on Railroad property is for your own safety. The police would much rather teach you a lesson than have to pick up your body parts for the next half mile and have a train crew with PTSD. Trains are incredibly quiet, especially with modern Diesel electric locomotives. All the sound is behind the train so you won't hear it until it's right on top of you. Due to the size you can't tell how fast a train is moving. A train that appears to be going 10 could easily be a High priority Z doing 70mph and if your not paying attention you won't know what hit you. I see it all the time Railfanning, people walking on the tracks sometimes wearing earbuds or headphones and quite a few times not not noticing the train rolling up behind them till the engineer lays on the horn. On average, a person or vehicle is hit by a train every three hours. Another thing to note is the crew on that train has to live with that fatality. They are the bullet fired from the gun, they have no control other than to dump the air and go into emergency braking and lay on the horn. Many times crews will suffer from PTSD from these incidents.
There are some that say the Pinkertons were formed to catch runaway slaves. And they were none too gentle about it. Sort of operated above the law because the railroad tycoons had massive power. There are a lot of rules and regulations that all transportation companies have to follow because of the railroads.
Maybe it's different in different states, but where I live even our light rail system has their own police force who will harass you at a moments notice if they even suspect you haven't paid for a ticket. A friend of mine got hassled by a Paul Blart because he didn't know University IDs worked as train fare.
As a railroader, thank you for not hanging out on the tracks too long… As a history buff of railroads, thank you for using American trains in your shots from the past, it pains me to see documentaries about American railroads and they use European trains as stand ins for here…
A dedicated railway police force is not a uniquely American phenomenon, in case if anyone thinks so. In India too there is a separate police department for the railways called RPF (Railway Police Force). However unlike in the US railways are not privately owned, yet.
Italy as well. We have PolFer (Polizia Ferroviaria - literally Railway Police), here it's not private either though.
In Poland we have SOK (Straż Ochrony Kolei) Railway police/Railway guards. And its more of a military than police. And it isn't privately owned.
Most Anglosphere countries to. The UK has the BTP. South Africa used to have railway police until the 1980s.
@@ccityplanner1217 Ohh. Interesting.
The UK has distinct rail police force too (the British Transport Police). I’d like to know how common this pattern is globally.
The two Canadian railroads, CN and CP, have rail police throughout Canada and the United States. Their cruisers look very similar to RCMP ones which scares people, but they will never stop you for speeding.
That's technically incorrect. CN/CP Police have jurisdiction up to 500m from their rail line, and have the same powers as "normal" officers with the RCMP or any other department. So while its unlikely, they can and have pulled over people for speeding in the past.
A key difference, of course, is that they're not armed in Canada, but they certainly are in the US (armed, meaning firearms, they still carry batons and tazers).
Railroad police in Canada carry firearms. I don’t know where you got the information from, but that is not correct.
@IronEh Actually the courts in Canada have upheld that a peace officer on duty in a marked police vehicle have full police powers no matter where they are. Railroad police in Canada now have the authority to enforce the highway traffic act anywhere.
@@burningblue1254 Do you know a recent case about this? I'm kinda interested.
Canada also has railway police, probably for similar reasons. In fact, railways operating in both Canada and the US generally have police with authority on both sides of the border.
The Railroad Police got Interstate Jurisdiction! And more authority then any other police force, along with the Game Warden,The Corner,The Postal Services Police, and The Necular Power Plant Police, and the Military Criminal Investigation Services Police!
Yeah, I've always thought it was odd to see canadian national railroad police operating in the USA 😅
@@donesixfourwe're being invaded 'eh?!
@@TheMrPeteChannel 🤣
I've always wondered this question, never was most urgent question, but still pondered.
Thank you for feeding my curiosity to rest.
Another great video. Makes me wonder about campus police on college campuses, even through it sounded like they were potentially more on the mall cop end of the spectrum. At least at my school they seemed to have jurisdiction around the entire campus and even a block or two out. I don’t think the city police were allowed on campus, unless specifically invited by our campus chief of police. Oh, and Amtrak police! Are they federal agents? Or still considered a private police force?
In va, many, if not all, Public colleges' are actually state police.
Yeah good questions - Amtrak police are a different situation because it’s federally run (as you guessed). And some campus police are fully credentialed like railroad police (though it’s spotty when they are full police officers or not).
The fact that US unis have their own police forces is honestly bizarre to me as a Canadian. Both universities I’ve attended have campus security, but they’re unarmed and not police (slightly upgraded mall cops). If actual police are needed, they call the local department.
@@casey6556
Not really. The vast majority operate as "campus security" as above commentators have described.
@@casey6556 In most cases, to my understanding, it is only large campuses of public universities that have their own police that actually operate as police. Most schools have "campus security" or "public safety" forces that are more similar to private security guards than police.
The history of the US is so intertwined with the history of police forces, one can't be told without understanding the other.
The Pinkerton Agency itself is a topic of interest. At one point when our civic institutions were not as strong as they are now, at times they operated more as a private army for hire, a tool for threats, intimidation, and violence. "The Pinkertons are coming" was not a reassuring call to many.
Yup, the Pinkertons were legitimized thugs employed by the tycoons of their time. Their name should always be one of disdain, the blood on countless labor organizers and striking workers remains on their hands.
I was kind of upset that throughout this whole video he didn’t talk about how the Pinkertons and also the railroad police where also made to suppress labor movements like in 1877
@@darrinmartone2288
Honestly I thought it was where he was headed. But that's another video with more research etc.
@@lsdzheeusi That, yeah. Like - it is, indeed, another story. One that would span thirty minutes, not 6-8 minutes.
Come back after nightfall, you’ll see more movement from the trains then 😜 I’m right next to one (I believe it’s the same route as yours since I’m on the James River). I hear those suckers going at night all the time! Maybe it’s a logistical AND security thing. Or maybe it’s a timing thing for this region. Either way, great video!
I know if i drove trains i would do it at night just to wake people up and then wave and smile when they come out to scream at the train
The tracks on the east coast are spider webs. From the yard right by the James in Richmond you can go to about 5 different directions. So it's possible it's the same line but harder to figure out than yould think. Once you get east of St Louis it's easy to tell though.
You always explore these fascinating yet obscure topics. Thanks for doing what you do and keep it up!
Great video, Phil. For someone who isn't a "railfan," you covered this story perfectly. Nice work!
that means a lot coming from you - thanks!!!
The UK have the BTP (British Transport Police)
Yess
We have the British Transport Police here in the UK too. But they're a police force like any other. They just like trains a lot. 🙂
Yeah they’re literally just regular police officers who are assigned to patrol and/or guard train stations. However, if need be they can and a lot of times do other police duties (like patrolling the town or something) when it’s not peak time.
My friend is a BTP constable, most of the work is either cable theft, shop lifting at station, escorting football fans, and suicide clearance. Most of them are train geeks as well.
@@olavsantiago "suicide clearance" oh good lord that must be rough
@@AM-kr4pv probably rougher for the train driver, seeing something that you cannot stop. Where as the police are there to find the bit's of body.
@@AM-kr4pv Ehh, police deal with worse. Suicide (via train or any other means) is very common in their line of work, heck, a lot of their coworkers take that route.
But police tend to desensitised to it after awhile. When you walk up on a decapitated body one too many times with pieces in the stove and a head in the fridge (who keeps putting them in there Idk), walking up to a scene where it’s mostly “red mist” and a couple of parts here there and everywhere, and you know the reason is because the dude was just a sad and jumped is practically nothing to you at that point.
It’s kinda messed up, but if it affected you badly every single time, it would be you who’d be jumping next because you’d not cope anymore. Not caring is almost like a survival tactic you could say, plus it keeps their head clear so they can focus on the job too.
100k! awesome, love that your independent content is getting the exposure it deserves.
3:00 That's a map of _planned_ UP lines, none of which were ever built. Ironically, the one UP line on that map that _was_ built in that area isn't on the map (other UP lines in the area now were acquired from the much more extensive Southern Pacific in the 1996 merger).
I love this channel, just after discovering it I am immediately enticed!
Please continue to make more content.
So glad that I subscribed to this channel. Another fascinating nugget of American society.
No, thank you for NOT doing more of this video on the tracks. Chasing this aesthetic often gets people killed and more people in media production need to be calling this out as dangerous behaviour. Even though you didn't encounter a train during your filming, trains DO 'sneak up' on people, especially when they've set up equipment and because of how fast they move. Freight trains especially are difficult to slow down once they get moving, so it's not like the train can avoid you if you can't get off the tracks fast enough. Tresspasser strikes or even near misses have huge psychological effects on the engineers.
As someone who works in transit and has had to communicate the effects on service when people get hit on tracks, thank you again for legit not filming more on the tracks. There are plenty others who emulate this behaviour and it gets a lot of people killed each year.
agreed, trains are fucking QUIET from behind. all the noise comes from it PASSING you. Ive worked my fair share of railroad even then it still amazes me how quiet they can be
In Europe some (if not all) countries have railroad police too! But they are a sub-divison of the real government police department instead of private officers.
In Poland, railroad police is not part of the state police. They have less authority than regular police forces, but still more than your average mall security guard. They are armed and are allowed to use their weapons if it’s absolutely necessary.
There used to be a Railroad Police that were part of the Federal Railroad , but after German reunification the German Borderguard took over railroad policing in East Germany and the Railroad Police in the West was merged into the Borderguard (in big part because the railroad was privatized) , which lead to the Borderguard being transformed into the Federal Police we have today.
In the Netherlands even smaller public transport companies have their own enforcers, not gunned, but they do service the same way and are allowed to write tickets and arrest people to a certain degree.
In the U.K., the local police usually hang around near the train stations (or guard them in big cities) and on the trains there’s usually a ticket officer who can write fines and detain you but has to get the police to actually arrest you and take you back to the police station.
Italy has a specialized service of the State Police that operates on the railways and has offices in many stations, even small ones
Phil these videos have been great! Really look forward to many many more to come!
Man, history is wild. The older I get the more I see how everything is just a set of ideas on how to resolve problems. Computing was invented to do math, and years later that same number crunching is running this webpage along with so many other facets of our lives. History, from my perspective, is the cumulative knowledge on how people solved problems. For better or for worse. I had no idea the railway system had its own law enforcement.
Fascinating topic, excellent video (as always). I found myself heading down a cognitive rabbithole of Policing vs. Security, particularly when picturing coal "police", policing not trespassers but workers from organizing. It seems like although both enforce rules and laws, the notion is police have more extensive training, so that rights are also respected (in theory) while having the added power to arrest. I wonder if the Canal Network had some sort of police/security or ranger force?
This is one of those things that you have the gut reaction of "why" but then pretty quickly resolve it when you think about the history. I do find it legitimately interesting that there are still train heists happening.
Just wanted to also say that your videos are a nice comfort place for me. Like I know if I'm having a bad day I can boot up one of your videos and the good vibes are enough to cheer me up. I think also watching you I find that I allow myself to more be myself. Like by seeing you being so authentically you on camera it makes me feel like its alright to express myself. I have always tended to go through life as a sort of dramaturgy, putting on masks to suit the conversation. But I feel as though I can kindle that flame of what makes me uniquely me and express that more, instead of what I know the other person wants to hear etc. I guess what I'm saying is you have given me confidence I didn't realize I needed, a mature kind of confidence.
What a nice message - I don’t think I deserve it but I’m glad you draw that from it!
My brother and I used to walk railroad tracks as kids. Not once did I think about a dedicated RR police force. Very informative. These videos fill the hole left by the absence of Vox Almanac videos.
Railroad police are actually on par with Federal police (particularly the US Marshal Service which they were mostly modeled on). There is a reason for this. Railroads and the US Government have been tied at the hip since it's creation. US railroads for most of it's history were responsible for nearly all US mail. They carried a large quantity not just federal payrolls, but State and corporate payrolls. They were, and still are, the primary carrier of military personnel and equipment. Railroads, being interstate commerce, fall under Federal jurisdiction and regulation.
As such, even though they are railroad employees, they are actually fully fledged Federal Officers. Privately owned Federal officers. While railroad police don't really care or get themselves involved in local law enforcement issues, they can be requested to assist, and have been on occasion (especially around Chicago, where railroad police will often respond to calls involving officer shootings, or ongoing felony crimes where lives are in danger). As Federal agents, their jurisdiction goes well beyond the borders of the rail property.
"They can't be Federal officers because they don't have civilian oversight, they are privately owned". That's not completely true. As I said before, railroads, while privately owned, are interstate commerce and so therefore fall under jurisdiction by the Federal government, which regulates them. In times of war or imminent danger, the railroads can and have been taken over by the US government (nominally under the US Army, until the creation of the USRA in WWI). Railroad police are the same thing. in normal operations they operate separately , but they are regulated by the Federal government, and they can, and frequently have been, pulled into the Federal system under the USDoJ (last time I remember this happening was 9/11 and lasted for a while until Homeland Security got themselves established and relinquished direct control).
So while the don't have direct public oversight on a daily basis, they are bound to the Federal Government and can be pulled into service at any time. Due to this and Congressional oversight of the railroad regularity bodies, they are partially bound to public oversight.
Private Corporations owning State Police officers is starting to sound very dystopian cyberpunk like.
Na that’s just the 1870s-1910s.
@@captiannemo1587 Ahh yes, who can forget how great those decades were…
What a wonderful video Phil! :) Really nice. Here in India too we have the "Railway Protection Force
". It would be so awesome to see a video about it from you. It can be like a sequel to this one :)
Yeah but that's in India....
Decent video to have a brief look into the history of railroad police. I've personally hopped over 50,000 miles of freight trains in 25 countries, and would estimate the US has almost 10,000 active riders across it's rails today in the contemporary era. Of course during the great depression there were over 1 million. Again, in the 80's a growing trend of transients looking for work utilised freight transport, and finally today that number is again increasing, but mostly due to the disemination of subcultures like train hopping online, which is evidenced on UA-cam (even i've posted about it). That's the problem, its a transgressive activity so there's this dilemma that any amount of exposure of it to the homogenous society basically begins to destroy it. Railroad policing of riders has changed a lot recently, I've only been caught in the US once but I was let off and given a ride to the freeway. Many end up thrown in jail for a week with their dog in the pound.
There is a true culture of disenfranchised youth in America today who take to the rails in search of freedom and an escape from many of the social problems which are endemic to Americas underclass even now (i'm not American so this isn't me), but i'd recommend checking out Mike Brodie's photographic work, and the videos of 'Hobo Shoestring' on UA-cam to get a an idea of what hoboing really means in a contemporary context. Anyways, sorry for rambling, perhaps you'll find those suggestions interesting.
even in india we too have railway protection force RPF
Love your videos man, always learn something new and always great to watch
Amazing video phil! Loving this channel
As many people said, it is not a uniquely American thing. In Poland we also have Straż Ochrony Kolei (Railway Protection Guard).
You're a very entertaining, well informed and genuine person and I'm very glad to have found your channel a month ago! Keep it up man!
This reminds me of the classic cinema trope of the "bad guy" tying the "damsel in distress" to the train tracks
Bro you are my go to channel when I have insomnia
Great video and topic, thanks!
It was super interesting.
1:57 Interestingly, in many places colleges and universities (especially public ones) have legit police officers. Harvard for example has actual police with full powers of arrest and specific jurisdiction (that does extend past Harvard property). Many police for public institutions (University of [STATE] systems for example) have state wide jurisdiction just like normal state police.
More than just Railroad and Universities, a surprisingly larger number of essentially private police forces with real jurisdictions and powers of arrest exist in the US.
Yeah my local community college. The people in the law enforcement program can issue legal citations that get real court dates. I had to work on those traffic tickets and other local tickets putting them through the courthouse computers.
Yeah, here in Oregon our Campus Police have the same authority as other Police Officers and their jurisdiction is technically the entire state. It's common for them to do traffic details and respond to various crimes off campus in my area.
There's a big piece of history missing here, you've ignored the influence Britain had on US Policing which effectively was a carbon copy of what was taking place in England within the 1800s.
"Railway Police" were first sworn in Britain in 1830s - Specialist Constables employed directly by railway companies to police their lines, trains, stations etc. These officers worked alongside more traditional local Parish, Borough and Town Constables to keep order within certain areas - Britain at this time interestingly enough didn't have "Coal & Steel Police" but did have "Canal Constables" who were very similar to their railway counterparts simply with powers to police the industrial canals.
The US system hasn't changed really in this regard since the 1800s, in Britain however responsibility moved away from private company police and they were nationalised into the still functioning and existing "British Transport Police" in 1949.
The US owes much of its law enforcement model to the UK, railway police were exactly the same during this time period.
Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the knowledge!!
Phil those look like the tracks around Richmond Virginia, where I grew up. I spent many, many hours walking those tracks in my youth. Very nostalgic for me. If you are in or around Richmond, I would love to see a video on Belle Isle, and especially the Belle Isle Hydroelectric Plant. A good general interest topic could be the reclamation of industrial areas by parks or how cities deal with decommissioned industrial infrastructure.
I’m always searching for an excuse to traipse around there!
I have fond memories of my buddies and I putting pennies on the tracks to see them stretched out by the passing freight trains. We were, of course, largely oblivious to the risks we were exposing ourselves to -- though did feel a thrill placing the pennies and wisely kept a safe distance while the trains passed. It was exciting listening for the trains approaching and feeling their speed and weight rushing by us.
I do recall an illogical concern that the coin might derail the train.
The awareness that there is a police force dedicated to protecting the trains makes me wonder if we were breaking any laws and risking arrest for trespassing or potentially disrupting service. Besides the crime of defacing currency, of course.
This is the reason I did not mention putting pennies on the track - I prefer to preserve ignorance so I can keep doing it.
@@PhilEdwardsInc You will be perfectly safe putting pennies on tracks, from derailing a train that is. The danger is the possibility that the pennies could shoot out like a bullet or you could get hit by the train. Here is a great video from WW2 era on their experiments on trying to derail trains: ua-cam.com/video/rCyVj6kt2zA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=WhatYouHaven%27tSeen
After your video about the pentagon and this video your next video should be... Why Phil Edwards is now on a watch list? (you'll always be on my watch list phil)
The pinkerton's were also union busters...
You should go into that.
Whereas Monty Python taught us that in the UK we have the Church Police. 'Ello ello ello, what's all this then, amen?
I was surprised that there wasn't any Nazi Donald Duck footage in this video😂
Don’t summon him - he can appear at any moment…
Another interesting aspect is Railroad Police have powers of arrest but don't book prisoners. An ex RR Cop told me how he did that once and caught heck with his supervisor after he received the bill from the jail. His boss told him I hired you because. you are big and know martial arts not to make arrests.
When Phil posts the world listens
Harvard Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, occasionally had Cambridge (municipal), Massachusetts (state), Harvard (university), and MBTA (transit) police around. It was ... a lot.
I grew up around trains so I was at point more into trains than cars. Trains are cool tho
It's funny, as for example for reasons mentioned in the video in Germany it's the federal police (Bundespolizei) that are responsible for patrolling the railway. In Poland however it's just regular police (as the police is not federalized like in Germany), but the operators can employ their own security forces (Sluzba Ochrony Kolei) that are actually accredited in the Ministry of Interior and are some kind of a real police force as well.
There used to be a dedicated "Bahnpolizei" under the juristriction of the "Bundesbahn" and seprate "Transportpolizei" in the GDR. After reunification both were merged into the border guard and renamed "Bundespolizei".
@@jonasschich5979 Does that mean that the Bundespolizei only handles our trains and borders? Their name sounds like they are the equivalent to the FBI, responsible for any issue crossing a state border.
@@Pystro Yes, although there are units called "Bereitschaftspolizei" which assist with big protest and such things if the Länder ask for it. The FBI Counterpart would be the Bundeskriminalamt which is its own seprate thing.
In germany our federal police is in charge with everything traveling and cargo related. So as soon you're entering a Trainstation, port, airport or the Autobahn they are in charge.
This isn’t really relevant but I remember when you had 10K subs and commenting “You should have 200K!” and I noticed that the number is halfway there. Appreciate the quality content!
Thanks!
UK also has the British Transport Police, I don’t think this is a purely American phenomenon.
No, that’s very different. It’s a very American phenomenon. Those police officers are regular police officers working for the government and can be assigned to a totally different police force. The American Rail Police are private officers hired by the companies that run the rails.
Corporate owned police officers is not a thing here.
@@kgapaneseschoolgirlb
False.
@@IkeOkerekeNews I’m not though…You can ask the police at the train stations all you like, and their answers are going to be what I’ve told you. They’re employer is the government, they trained as any regular police officer would, they then went on to be more specialised and became a Transport Police officer.
They have the same powers as any other police officer, because guess what, they are a regular police officer! Their line of work is just more specialised, like other police officers. If a Narcotics officer sees a burglary taking place, he’s not gonna be like “nah man, I’m not about that breaking and entering life. See me, I’m all about preventing drugs, so imma just let this happen”, no he’s going to stop the burglary, because he can, because he’s a police officer!
Same rule applies to Transport Police officers. Their jurisdiction is the rails, so crime and death that happens there is their department until other reasons dictate it should go to another department (like if it’s a murder or something it’ll go to the crime scene investigators who are solving that murder). And at the end of the day, they’re still police officers who do other duties, like patrolling the nearby area (especially in small towns that don’t have many officers), responding to backup other officers, and requesting to join a different department, in case they want to become a narcotics officer for instance.
And NOTHING, about them is privatised. They are not employed by the rail companies. So please tell me where I’m “false”???
@@kgapaneseschoolgirlb
I hate to tell you this but before BTP was created Britain had the exact same system of policing - private railway companies operated their own Constables.
This all changed in the late 1940s when BTCP was created (which became the modern day BTP)
@@B-26354 Yes but everything back in the day was owned by private organisations. There are still hospitals in the U.K. named after the dude you had to pay before he’d even try and let you live the rest of your life kinda “everything is private”.
That’s what the Industrial Revolution did, it was rich people seeing the chance to get even wealthier and more importantly, more powerful and own as much things as possible.
Most countries though, decided that was bad and now own a lot of the public sector (Thatcher and then Tories afterwards started selling it again but before that we the public owned a lot of it) and now we have lots of state owned things, like police. Whereas America is still in its Liberal Adventure Capitalist Wonderland in certain sectors, like being able to own your own police force.
if I remember correctly Canada does too, as there are Canadian and US agencies with jurristriction in both countries. Ex. Amtrak
So does the UK, they are called the BTP British transport police.
Yup
India too. Railway has their own police and Courts
BNSF is a railway police force
Great Britain (not Northern Ireland) has railroad police as well. British Transport police has about 3,000 officers.
This makes sense. There are parallels between Australia and America, we also had a “Wild West” period, where each state was responsible for their own affairs, own police force and laws. Then came Federation in 1901, states still maintained their jurisdiction, but with the federal government came a lot more standardisation across government institutes.
That makes me wish there were a good US/Australia comparative history to read.
South Africa used to have railway police on passenger trains, as a branch of the national police force.
Phill putting campus police in with mall security is ridiculous nowadays. My campus police (GaTech) are just as armed and trained as the APD.
I though pretty much every country has a railway police. Some european countries have it for sure. Germany got rid of it in the 1990s but Switzerland and france for example still have it to my knowledge.
In my country you can find their number in case of an emergency on the bottom of the windows inside the wagons besides the "If you don't have a ticket you're in trouble" notice.
Indonesia also has its own version of this; the "Polsuska", which is an abbreviation for: "Polisi Khusus Kereta Api (KA)". It translates literally to: "police specifically for trains." They wear and iconic orange beret and an orange shoulder cover, and can be seen following the conductor up and down the train.
I like hearing about all of these but this detail is interesting!
I love how his fear is getting arrested, and not, you know, getting hit by a train and going SPLAT!
I also fear splatting.
Tis the Richmond curse. Trains never show up when you want to film them, and they show up once every 15 minutes when you're trying to film something else
We have the ‘British Transport Police’ in the UK.
The should set up an ambush and when the Train Thieves come light them up
Maybe the next time you're stopped for speeding or running a red light, the cop should just "light you up" for that crime too. Real life is not a video game.
Last year my real reallife german(i live in germany) test for my final grade(Hauptschulabschluss) was about the pinkerton detective agency lol.
Your production quality is fantastic. Looking forward to your channel getting the attention it deserves!
From the private Railroad Police later came both Transit Police (like the transit police that is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which took over such policing from the Philadelphia Police Department given the restrictions in place for county sheriffs) as well as the Amtrak Police normally seen in the Northeast. As with the latter, Amtrak Police has the same arrest power jurisdiction as both the FBI and the US Marshals Service, thus anyone arrested by Amtrak Police is subject to Federal prosecution as opposed to the private Railroad and regional Transit Police, in which any arrested would be subject to the statutes of the State the individual was arrested in.
I like your fairly unbiased approach. I'd say, as a retired police officer, there's an entire subject matter here to explore. Please stay neutral and don't get into the right or left of it. If you don't like competition that capitalism breeds..please move to a communist country and see how that goes.
Also, next chapter, check out the postal police... that's a bigger thing with deeper roots.
RxR police is just the first oil boom protection... kind of shocking we don't have oil police... at least stateside.
Keep pushing sir, like your work.
Thanks!
You're looking more and more like Gary Oldman playing Commissioner Gorden every video.
Eager to reach my final form and meet Batman.
This make me appreciate Red Dead Redemption 2 more than it already have
Wisconsin law authorizes railroad police and even the conductors have some police powers. My favorite is Wis. Stat. 192.17, which allow a conductor to arrest a passenger to protect the other passengers from "violent, abusive, profane, or indecent language or conduct." What I love is that the law specifies that the arrested person is to be kept in the "in the baggage car" until the train arrives somewhere that they can be handed off to local law enforcement. It just sounds delightfully old-timey!
NJ Transit does authorize the conductor to eject or remove a disorderly or non-compliant passenger. Signs are on each car regarding this.
650 cops for the entire network. Meanwhile India with 75k RPF personnel throughout India 🔥
Interesting video again =). As other people already mentioned, we have a federal police force (Bundespolizei) to control the trains in Germany, too. You saw them from time to time patrolling the larger stations. Today you hear about the Bundespolizei if someone didn't comply with the corona restrictions in trains, i.e. refuse to wear a mask. Then the conductor would call the train police.
There also used to separate railway police forces in east and west which got folded into the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard) in 1990/92, which in turn was renamed Bundespolizei (Federal Police) in 2005.
I run a bit. One Friday, after a long day, I ran one frequented route. I was too tired to run another 1/4 mile to the crossing and Never cross a rail track unless their is a crossing. I decided no one would care if I ran the 1/4 mile along the tracks back to the road. Not dangerous, but it is railroad property.
Sure enough, a RR police guy stopped me. Being older, I walked with him, as directed, off RR property. He was decent and not at all like the RR police I read about in stories about the depression and RR car riders.
He did mention the kids who frequent the area and I agreed. Actually, I was impressed, as he was decent, even friendly, but no nonsense.
Being a older era veteran, I noticed he was not muscular, but had constrained nervous energy and a focus. He could be quick. More power to him.
I take a different route.
Wow I’m glad he was a nice escort. Sure they are used to a lot of teens!
Railroad police as a concept is okay, because the protection of cross-jurisdictional lines is important. But you're correct that people, especially local governments and sheriff's departments, want revision. It's one of the rare times a private company is allowed to own a police department. It opens a potential for conflict of interest between the public and the private world. For example, there's a bit of a problem right now where a wannabe cop will buy a railcar, incorporate it, found a police department, and then it's no longer a crime to call themselves a police officer.
This has led to a couple of serious abuses. I'm going off of memory here, but there was a recent case where a guy was selling "employment" as a police officer. His customers were issued a badge, and usually went on to do things like provide safety and security training as consultants despite having no actual authority or training themselves. And you can't have them arrested for impersonation because they're technically not. Worse, this also allows untrained (pun) civilian to bypass weapon restrictions and purchase automatics and conceal carry, because it qualifies them for LEOSA coverage.
If you decide to do a video on this topic, obviously try to independently vet everything I'm saying here, but you're correct. It blurs the line between police and civilian way too much and makes accountability harder than it already is.
In a Europe states are not that decentralized. Sometimes there is special train branch of state police.
You look like Commissioner Gordon/ Gary Oldman from Batman.
It’s funny, as a Brit I would never even think of trespassing on a railway.
Too dangerous for one thing. Our tracks are way busier than the ones Phil was near in this video.
@@paultootill7062 The corridors through Los Angeles, where the robberies are taking place, are the busiest in North America, with trains passing through 24/7 on the way to/from the port of San Pedro, each ranging from 100-140 cars. Those weren't the ones near him though.
Love your videos and content, this is what UA-cam was originally about, original creators with original content. If you need a reminder subscribe to this man.
I know it doesn’t mean much, but I think this was an exceptional video
As a german: there is PRIVATE law enforcement? That seems to be the most stupid idea I've ever heard. Law enforcement as a company that has to make profits.
I am binging these videos like a netflix show
I think having privately owned railroads/railways is definitely a part to why rail police still exist in this day and age. If the railroads were govt owned (state and/or federal/national), the companies operating today would be contracted to operate on a certain line, rather than it being company property.
While not as common, most states, 38 I believe, have hospital police. Also, you mentioned campus security, but most states also have university police, as well.
Oh I didn’t think about hospital police (or run into that). Makes sense.
This is really interesting! As an EMT I interact a lot with several police departments from commercial and passenger rail, light rail, and transit. We have state transit police, port authority (who operates a railway as well as oversees bridges and tunnels), and CSX police as well.
Those damn pinkertons, i thought Arthur killed them all
Smarter every time. I love this channel!
today I learned: those blankets on a stick are called bindles
oh and also something about railroad police
Your videos are always informative and fun to watch. Plus, as a person who grew up in Richmond, I love seeing so many familiar locations around my hometown
TSA vs Railroad Special Agents. I’ve always wondered why the process of traveling via train in America such as Amtrak, isn’t a heavily guarded like TSA in Airports? Without any physical search before boarding a train, a passenger can carry all sorts of illegal items.
I appreciated the video. Thanks for researching this topic.
Because the most you can do is derail it... not fly into a skyscraper
Now I know what the Pinkertons mean in the game RDR2
It’s not just an antiquity. It makes sense to this day, even in developed areas. Trains can traverse multiple municipalities within minutes. Therefore, it makes sense not to have local police jurisdictions enforce crime related to these vehicles that move in and out of them so quickly.
Being arrested or ticketed for trespassing on Railroad property is for your own safety. The police would much rather teach you a lesson than have to pick up your body parts for the next half mile and have a train crew with PTSD. Trains are incredibly quiet, especially with modern Diesel electric locomotives. All the sound is behind the train so you won't hear it until it's right on top of you. Due to the size you can't tell how fast a train is moving. A train that appears to be going 10 could easily be a High priority Z doing 70mph and if your not paying attention you won't know what hit you. I see it all the time Railfanning, people walking on the tracks sometimes wearing earbuds or headphones and quite a few times not not noticing the train rolling up behind them till the engineer lays on the horn.
On average, a person or vehicle is hit by a train every three hours.
Another thing to note is the crew on that train has to live with that fatality. They are the bullet fired from the gun, they have no control other than to dump the air and go into emergency braking and lay on the horn. Many times crews will suffer from PTSD from these incidents.
It always brings a smile to my face to see a new video from your channel. I'm especially interested in subjects like these! Thank you so much :)
Great Video
I never knew there is a Railroad Police at all
So it was Interesting to see
Glad to see this one as knowing that Its going to be important
Of Course It's those Pinkertons!
- Arthur Morgan probably
Weren’t they union busters, too?
Huge ones.
In the Netherlands we had abolished our railroad police, but after protests from train drivers the railroad police was reestablished
There are some that say the Pinkertons were formed to catch runaway slaves. And they were none too gentle about it. Sort of operated above the law because the railroad tycoons had massive power. There are a lot of rules and regulations that all transportation companies have to follow because of the railroads.
The campo at my university are actual police. It's a state school...
Maybe it's different in different states, but where I live even our light rail system has their own police force who will harass you at a moments notice if they even suspect you haven't paid for a ticket. A friend of mine got hassled by a Paul Blart because he didn't know University IDs worked as train fare.