Railroad police are different from one country to another. Their roles in some countries are not different from that of any other police agency, while in others they are more related to a type of security police. They are all commonly responsible for the protection of railroad (or railway) vast networks of properties, facilities and personnel as well as public rail transit systems. Some are given extensive additional authority where other jurisdictions are more restricted.
In the United States and Canada, all railroad police are employed by the major Class I railroads, as well as some smaller ones. In other countries, this work is typically done by territorial police forces rather than specialized agencies. In Great Britain, railways fall under the jurisdiction of the British Transport Police, a nation-wide transit police force that is responsible for policing all railways and some public transit systems.
Read more about Railroad Police: Canada, China, People's Republic Of, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Italy, India, United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the words railroad and/or police:
“... no other railroad station in the world manages so mysteriously to cloak with compassion the anguish of departure and the dubious ecstasies of return and arrival. Any waiting room in the world is filled with all this, and I have sat in many of them and accepted it, and I know from deliberate acquaintance that the whole human experience is more bearable at the Gare de Lyon in Paris than anywhere else.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“In Africa, there is much confusion.... Before, there was no radio, or other forms of communication.... Now, in Africa ... the government talks, people talk, the police talk, the people don’t know anymore. They aren’t free.”
—Youssou N’Dour (b. 1959)