Does that actually count as a police department or is that more like a private security company and they have to call the real police if anything happens?
Yeah, the idea of “train police” is actually perfectly sensible since it’s specialized and both the criminals and victims will be constantly transiting between jurisdictions. The fact that they’re actually owned by the railroads is a creepy legacy of the original gilded age plutocracy. I first learned about this when I saw the BNSF cops driving around Fort Worth with “Police” on the door instead of “Security” like I would have expected.
Private railroad companies also have their own police departments.
Does that actually count as a police department or is that more like a private security company and they have to call the real police if anything happens?
It’s a real police department, The United States postal service also has their own police department.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Police_Department
Weird.
Yeah, the idea of “train police” is actually perfectly sensible since it’s specialized and both the criminals and victims will be constantly transiting between jurisdictions. The fact that they’re actually owned by the railroads is a creepy legacy of the original gilded age plutocracy. I first learned about this when I saw the BNSF cops driving around Fort Worth with “Police” on the door instead of “Security” like I would have expected.
The more oddly specific the police force’s jurisdiction, the more scared to be if they take an interest in you.