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!
thats not exactly true. The agency itself has powers on both sides. However, officers that are US citizens working on the US side cannot venture into Canada.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
I’m a former cop but I’ve also worked as a security officer at my local hospital. Both jobs I was armed and both jobs required the same P.O.S.T certification. The hospital was by far more dangerous with fighting being part of the job than anything I faced as a cop where I never once had to unholster my weapon. Just because someone’s job is security doesn’t necessarily mean they’re just key turns!
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.
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
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.
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 issues with railroad police is when they patrol a city with a police force of its own just to run citizen's information in the system and if nothing comes back they issue a warning like they have their own court system to enforce traffic violations off railroad property, stay on railroad property and everything will work out.
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
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.
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.
Every time you post a new video I am so impressed by you. The way you can keep your style and even improve on it with less that a quarter of the resources (that I'm just guessing) is so memorizing. Just goes to show it's not the content or fancy graphics or even the company, it's you I keep coming back to to find interesting, quality video journalism.
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.
Got a good one for you here… I work as a railroad contracted security officer and we work on behalf of the chief special agent. We enforce trespass law, act as the eyes and ears for the railroad agents, detain suspects if the agent requests it, we identify trespassers by getting their I.D, we respond to emergencies, etc. Definitely an interesting dynamic.
First time in your channel. I was doing research on where to lateral over to and get back to work after a well needed break. You may have started something positive in my life. Thank you!
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.
In Poland we have Straż Ochrony Kolei, which literally translates to "Railroad Security Guard" but they are law enforcement officers and can enforce the law on the railroad territory. They are hired and financed by Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways).
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
Playing either Red Dead Redemption video game the main story has a lot of focus on the Pinkertons, but I didn't realize until now this was an actual police force, but still private as assumed in the story. Makes sense in the story since trains were frequently involved
A somebody who's been metal detecting since the early nineties... I knew never to go on the tracks which is their property but I have metal detectors under a lot of train Bridges. The water underneath them that is. They're everywhere here in North Georgia right here by Chattanooga where I grew up. And there are several places where trains crossover water and have for a very long time. The coolest thing I ever found being a massive 200-pound bronze Bell. But I'd give a kid need to find one of those train police badges from back in the day. I also very much enjoy finding railroad spikes that span the ages from modern all the way back until beginning when they were made completely differently and obviously not using the same alloys. Or alloys at all for that matter. Some of the old railroad stuff that is old wrought-iron is some of the most fun stuff to blacksmith with and it is absolutely beautiful. It has a grain just like wood. Some folks might not realise the words "wrought iron" aren't referring to a style or metal fencing. No the metal is a completely different type to modern steel. And many times blacksmiths will pay more per pound for that stuff than they ever would for solid copper or bronze. I've been lucky enough to find several hundred pounds of it over the last few years. To which I gift to plenty of my blacksmith friends and acquaintances. Because it's genuinely hard to get ahold of. And it's getting harder. There are many different smelting methods but they will all have some type of beautiful grain. If you're familiar with Damascus steel that has been folded and layered... And then at etched once the knife or workpieces complete to show The grain structure just like wood grain or something similar... It's like that but even more beautiful. Some of my other favorite fines are tokens that I'm guessing the railroad folks used to carry. Like a token for free whiskey down at some local pub... But you'll find all types of them from different locations in the same city because obviously the railroad workers travel a lot. So when they drop tokens they weren't necessarily from the city where they lost them.
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 :)
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
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.
An hour? I was just at the Ellicott City B&O Railroad Museum yesterday where I learned that freight trains, unlike passenger trains, do not run on a schedule. Basically, when they have enough cargo to go, they go. I had no idea. And since most trains move at night, turns out it's unlikely to see a train during the day.
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!
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.
I knew of a photographer that had a wedding picture he took on the tracks hanging in his studio. He had a rail police member went for pictures but also left a ticket for trespassing.
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.
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.
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.
Channel is getting some great traction now Phil. Surprised it’s taken so long if I’m honest! Maybe time for a drone if you’re struggling with the tripod camera. 😉
Harvard Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, occasionally had Cambridge (municipal), Massachusetts (state), Harvard (university), and MBTA (transit) police around. It was ... a lot.
The early British railways had their own police forces, and so did their predecessor the canal companies and dock companies. After these were nationalized following World War 2 they became the British Transport Police, which still exists and operates throughout England, Wales and Scotland covering most railways and many civilian docks.
Well Phil, you crystallized the question to which there's no easy answer. A legal mechanism allowing local law enforcement to access railroads property when requested seems a clear first step. Of course that means safety and other training for those officers. I became aware of how thinly spread railroad police coverage is when working at NJ Transit. Again this a public agency, but to cover 530 route miles and 162 stations, there are around 250 officers. Major stations are the only place you'll always find patrols, otherwise they must travel to outlying incidents. Further complicating matters the track of the busiest line, the Northeast Corridor, is owned by Amtrak.
In the US, police were local government bodies and were fragmented, the same principle across private companies. In Australia, the police are employed by the state government and have a broad juristiction. The railways until the 1990s were also government organizations. The only policing was mainy fare evasion and vandalism. In more recent times police were expanded on the railways to combat violence and petty crime.
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 🤣
thats not exactly true. The agency itself has powers on both sides. However, officers that are US citizens working on the US side cannot venture into Canada.
I've always wondered this question, never was most urgent question, but still pondered.
Thank you for feeding my curiosity to rest.
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.
Pinkerton is now part of Securitas International Security Services as well as Burns security.
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!!!
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.
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.
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!
You always explore these fascinating yet obscure topics. Thanks for doing what you do and keep it up!
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.
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.
Your production quality is fantastic. Looking forward to your channel getting the attention it deserves!
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.
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).
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.
This reminds me of the classic cinema trope of the "bad guy" tying the "damsel in distress" to the train tracks
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
I’m a former cop but I’ve also worked as a security officer at my local hospital. Both jobs I was armed and both jobs required the same P.O.S.T certification. The hospital was by far more dangerous with fighting being part of the job than anything I faced as a cop where I never once had to unholster my weapon. Just because someone’s job is security doesn’t necessarily mean they’re just key turns!
I love this channel, just after discovering it I am immediately enticed!
Please continue to make more content.
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…
The UK have the BTP (British Transport Police)
Yess
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.
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
As many people said, it is not a uniquely American thing. In Poland we also have Straż Ochrony Kolei (Railway Protection Guard).
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.
even in india we too have railway protection force RPF
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 issues with railroad police is when they patrol a city with a police force of its own just to run citizen's information in the system and if nothing comes back they issue a warning like they have their own court system to enforce traffic violations off railroad property, stay on railroad property and everything will work out.
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
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
That was a great informative video! Thank you.
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.
Every time you post a new video I am so impressed by you. The way you can keep your style and even improve on it with less that a quarter of the resources (that I'm just guessing) is so memorizing. Just goes to show it's not the content or fancy graphics or even the company, it's you I keep coming back to to find interesting, quality video journalism.
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.
awesome video! Looking forward to the next one
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 :)
Got a good one for you here…
I work as a railroad contracted security officer and we work on behalf of the chief special agent. We enforce trespass law, act as the eyes and ears for the railroad agents, detain suspects if the agent requests it, we identify trespassers by getting their I.D, we respond to emergencies, etc. Definitely an interesting dynamic.
Phil these videos have been great! Really look forward to many many more to come!
Such a good channel! Love learning about whatever you feel like sharing with us
Amazing video phil! Loving this channel
Love the videos! Great stuff, keep it coming!
Just found your channel and recognized you from Vox. Loved every video so far and can’t wait for more.
So glad that I subscribed to this channel. Another fascinating nugget of American society.
First time in your channel. I was doing research on where to lateral over to and get back to work after a well needed break. You may have started something positive in my life. Thank you!
Great video!🔥🔥🔥
Another great one! Thank you!
Love the new channel. Great to see your videos, as well as your Vox stuff, keep it up!
Love your videos man, always learn something new and always great to watch
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.
here in the UK we have railway police called the british transport police that only operate on the railways
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
Thanks for your videos. I've discoreved your channel recently and I enjoy both your research and presentation.
In Poland we have Straż Ochrony Kolei, which literally translates to "Railroad Security Guard" but they are law enforcement officers and can enforce the law on the railroad territory. They are hired and financed by Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways).
LOVED that inclusion of the older song relating to those train agents😄🙌🙌
Great video!
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?
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.
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.
3:11 I always pause on the stereograph photos and look at them with my left eye looking at the left and my right eye looking at the right.
A video about train cops... Aaaand now I'm obsessed with 1860s stereographs. Thanks for introducing me to those!
I kinda wanna do a video on them…very cool trendy thing at the time!
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
Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the knowledge!!
Dude, your videos are amazing. I love trains and really appreciate the way you told this story. Beautifully filmed. I just subbed.
In a Europe states are not that decentralized. Sometimes there is special train branch of state police.
When Phil posts the world listens
Bro you are my go to channel when I have insomnia
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.
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)
Great video
Playing either Red Dead Redemption video game the main story has a lot of focus on the Pinkertons, but I didn't realize until now this was an actual police force, but still private as assumed in the story. Makes sense in the story since trains were frequently involved
A somebody who's been metal detecting since the early nineties... I knew never to go on the tracks which is their property but I have metal detectors under a lot of train Bridges. The water underneath them that is. They're everywhere here in North Georgia right here by Chattanooga where I grew up. And there are several places where trains crossover water and have for a very long time. The coolest thing I ever found being a massive 200-pound bronze Bell. But I'd give a kid need to find one of those train police badges from back in the day.
I also very much enjoy finding railroad spikes that span the ages from modern all the way back until beginning when they were made completely differently and obviously not using the same alloys. Or alloys at all for that matter. Some of the old railroad stuff that is old wrought-iron is some of the most fun stuff to blacksmith with and it is absolutely beautiful. It has a grain just like wood. Some folks might not realise the words "wrought iron" aren't referring to a style or metal fencing. No the metal is a completely different type to modern steel. And many times blacksmiths will pay more per pound for that stuff than they ever would for solid copper or bronze. I've been lucky enough to find several hundred pounds of it over the last few years. To which I gift to plenty of my blacksmith friends and acquaintances. Because it's genuinely hard to get ahold of. And it's getting harder.
There are many different smelting methods but they will all have some type of beautiful grain. If you're familiar with Damascus steel that has been folded and layered... And then at etched once the knife or workpieces complete to show The grain structure just like wood grain or something similar... It's like that but even more beautiful.
Some of my other favorite fines are tokens that I'm guessing the railroad folks used to carry. Like a token for free whiskey down at some local pub... But you'll find all types of them from different locations in the same city because obviously the railroad workers travel a lot. So when they drop tokens they weren't necessarily from the city where they lost them.
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....
in the uk they have the british transport police which police stations and trains
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
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.
I was literally thinking about this 10 minutes ago, and this appears. Brilliant video
An hour? I was just at the Ellicott City B&O Railroad Museum yesterday where I learned that freight trains, unlike passenger trains, do not run on a schedule. Basically, when they have enough cargo to go, they go. I had no idea. And since most trains move at night, turns out it's unlikely to see a train during the day.
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!
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.
I knew of a photographer that had a wedding picture he took on the tracks hanging in his studio. He had a rail police member went for pictures but also left a ticket for trespassing.
I love how his fear is getting arrested, and not, you know, getting hit by a train and going SPLAT!
I also fear splatting.
In the Netherlands we had abolished our railroad police, but after protests from train drivers the railroad police was reestablished
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!
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.
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.
2:20 *Damn, they really made the Pinkerton detective agency from Red Dead Redemption 2 into a real person*
Channel is getting some great traction now Phil. Surprised it’s taken so long if I’m honest! Maybe time for a drone if you’re struggling with the tripod camera. 😉
The UK has the BTP (British Transport Police); they're state-run, but funded both by the state and by the private train companies
Harvard Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, occasionally had Cambridge (municipal), Massachusetts (state), Harvard (university), and MBTA (transit) police around. It was ... a lot.
The early British railways had their own police forces, and so did their predecessor the canal companies and dock companies. After these were nationalized following World War 2 they became the British Transport Police, which still exists and operates throughout England, Wales and Scotland covering most railways and many civilian docks.
It’s the same in the UK. We have the British transport police which is joint government and railway funded.
Well-done. You stuck the landing, as it were. 👍👍👍
Same thing in Switzerland we have SBB's police officers.
Well Phil, you crystallized the question to which there's no easy answer. A legal mechanism allowing local law enforcement to access railroads property when requested seems a clear first step. Of course that means safety and other training for those officers. I became aware of how thinly spread railroad police coverage is when working at NJ Transit. Again this a public agency, but to cover 530 route miles and 162 stations, there are around 250 officers. Major stations are the only place you'll always find patrols, otherwise they must travel to outlying incidents. Further complicating matters the track of the busiest line, the Northeast Corridor, is owned by Amtrak.
That is a great encapsulation of the public side of this. Thanks for sharing.
In the US, police were local government bodies and were fragmented, the same principle across private companies. In Australia, the police are employed by the state government and have a broad juristiction. The railways until the 1990s were also government organizations. The only policing was mainy fare evasion and vandalism. In more recent times police were expanded on the railways to combat violence and petty crime.
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…