CONTENT
- Home
- Cover Story
- General Features
- Interview
- Business Profiles
- Company Showcase
- News
- Appointments
- Conferences and Exhibitions
CHANNELS
- Infrastructure
- Rolling Stock
- Freight
- Health & Safety
- Security
- Skills & Training
- Franchises
- Business Improvement
- New Products & Services
- Station Development
- Contracts
OTHER MAGAZINES
- Venture
- Food Chain
- Construction Today Europe
- Manufacturing Today Europe
- Modern Utility Management
- European Supply Chain Management
- European Oil and Gas
- Schofield Publishing
RSS FEEDS
FeedsHome: December - January 2010 › Cover Story › A watchful eye
A watchful eye
04/01/2010 | Channel: Security
Utilising advances in technology and the media, the British Transport Police is helping to drive down crime throughout Britain’s rail systems
Entrusted with the demanding job of policing over 10,000 miles of track and 3000 stations with only a workforce of 2900, the British Transport Police faces the challenges of crime and disorder, vandalism, fatalities and terrorism on a day-to-day basis. Dedicated to policing the railways of England, Scotland and Wales, the organisation also polices London Underground, Docklands Light Railways, Croydon Tramlink and other light rail systems in Birmingham and the North East. Supplying end-to-end service for the rail industry, the British Transport Police operates without the hindrance of borough or county boundaries and so is able to deal with crime in its entirety across the whole system.
By working closely with the rail industry, it holds a thorough understanding of how the system works and the impact that policing activities have on operations. For example, when facing the challenge of fatalities on the system, officers are trained to deal with it swiftly and properly to minimise delay, while at the same time ensuring they carry out a thorough investigation – the same goes for bomb threats or suspicious packages. Careful risk assessment is essential, though avoiding overreaction and therefore further delays is also desirable.
Having held the position of deputy chief constable for five years, Andrew Trotter became chief constable in September 2009, he outlines the changes since his appointment: “I have been part of the transformation of British Transport Police that has gone on over the past few years where we have seen substantial investment from the rail industry, Transport for London and Network Rail. Through this investment we have been able to increase our resources and our performance dramatically with significant reductions in crime of all types across the whole system. I believe we are providing a much better service right from our telephone answering and care of victims through to crime detection, and I am very proud of this development.”
He adds: “Since becoming chief constable we have moved into a much more challenging budgetary regime and our main goal is to fashion ourselves so that we produce increasing performance at a time of decreasing funding. We have to be as efficient as possible and personally my focus has been to build on the outstanding success in tackling crime and particularly concentrate on violence and disorder. Attacks, threats of attack and concerns about disorder can really change peoples’ lives and it is critical that we keep the railway safe and encourage people to use this system, reassuring them that this is a very safe way to travel.”
Crime and disorder is a continuing focus for all police forces and is one that the British Transport Police has had great success in. Only four years ago, the organisation was experiencing over 2000 robberies a year, last year this fell to 900 and this year only 38 robberies have been experienced on the London Underground. Such an impressive statistic is facilitated by the excellent use of CCTV and the fact that freedom from force boundaries means criminals can be chased through multiple systems. Other passenger concerns in this area include the fear of using stations and trains late at night, and the disruption of groups such as travelling football fans. To combat this, the British Transport Police works to assess where resources are needed to protect those on the front line of assault such as operational staff.
Fast reaction times is a core strength of the organisation especially when it comes to managing fatalities. The handling of a fatality situation needs to be highly thorough and professional to eliminate suspicious circumstances and to reduce delay to passengers. When Railway Strategies spoke to the British Transport Police in 2006, the organisation’s target for clearing the scene was 90 minutes – this has now been greatly improved with operations running in the 70s It is one of our unique selling points that we understand situations like this. Our officers are track safety trained, which means that they can respond very quickly and have all the kit to deal with what sometimes can be a very distressing task,” Andrew explains.
Over the past few years, advanced technology and the media have come to play key roles in solving and preventing crimes, both in terms of capturing and publicising events, as Andrew highlights: “CCTV is vital to us, in the case of a crime, obtaining the tapes is the first thing we do. Indeed one of the reasons we have an extremely high detection rate of crime compared to other forces is because of the CCTV rich environment we operate in. On the technology front, we were also one of the frontrunners in using mobile data to enable our officers out in the field to access various databases, input crime reports and make recordings while on the move. Such developments unify our workforce and give major advantages in dealing with crime.”
The British Transport Police also makes excellent use of the media, circulating incriminating CCTV images to not only other forces but to regional and national newspapers to make use of alternative knowledge. Andrew adds: “I think we have a very intelligent public out there and they are solving crimes very quickly for us all the time. I have the national lead on media for the Association of Chief Police Officers and often address the Society for Editors, and I believe that unless there is some genuine need for confidentiality we should be as transparent as possible. I believe we should be looking after the media so that they have the facilities they need to do their job of communicating with the public. We have a whole generation of IT literate young people who expect to get information and pass it on rapidly. We should be in a position where people can enquire of us and find out what they need from us easily to allay suspicion and concern.”
When talking about his vision for British Transport Police, Andrew takes a very straightforward approach that centres on protecting passengers, rail staff and the railway in the most professional and value-added way possible. He believes officers should be a friend and an assistant to people who are using the transport system, while being tough and stringent on those who abuse or misuse it. In order to combat the financial constraints implicated on the industry, the organisation must become flexible and innovative in its approach to disorder so as to continue the success it has experienced so far in driving crime down year-on-year.
By working closely with the rail industry, it holds a thorough understanding of how the system works and the impact that policing activities have on operations. For example, when facing the challenge of fatalities on the system, officers are trained to deal with it swiftly and properly to minimise delay, while at the same time ensuring they carry out a thorough investigation – the same goes for bomb threats or suspicious packages. Careful risk assessment is essential, though avoiding overreaction and therefore further delays is also desirable.
Having held the position of deputy chief constable for five years, Andrew Trotter became chief constable in September 2009, he outlines the changes since his appointment: “I have been part of the transformation of British Transport Police that has gone on over the past few years where we have seen substantial investment from the rail industry, Transport for London and Network Rail. Through this investment we have been able to increase our resources and our performance dramatically with significant reductions in crime of all types across the whole system. I believe we are providing a much better service right from our telephone answering and care of victims through to crime detection, and I am very proud of this development.”
He adds: “Since becoming chief constable we have moved into a much more challenging budgetary regime and our main goal is to fashion ourselves so that we produce increasing performance at a time of decreasing funding. We have to be as efficient as possible and personally my focus has been to build on the outstanding success in tackling crime and particularly concentrate on violence and disorder. Attacks, threats of attack and concerns about disorder can really change peoples’ lives and it is critical that we keep the railway safe and encourage people to use this system, reassuring them that this is a very safe way to travel.”
Crime and disorder is a continuing focus for all police forces and is one that the British Transport Police has had great success in. Only four years ago, the organisation was experiencing over 2000 robberies a year, last year this fell to 900 and this year only 38 robberies have been experienced on the London Underground. Such an impressive statistic is facilitated by the excellent use of CCTV and the fact that freedom from force boundaries means criminals can be chased through multiple systems. Other passenger concerns in this area include the fear of using stations and trains late at night, and the disruption of groups such as travelling football fans. To combat this, the British Transport Police works to assess where resources are needed to protect those on the front line of assault such as operational staff.
Fast reaction times is a core strength of the organisation especially when it comes to managing fatalities. The handling of a fatality situation needs to be highly thorough and professional to eliminate suspicious circumstances and to reduce delay to passengers. When Railway Strategies spoke to the British Transport Police in 2006, the organisation’s target for clearing the scene was 90 minutes – this has now been greatly improved with operations running in the 70s It is one of our unique selling points that we understand situations like this. Our officers are track safety trained, which means that they can respond very quickly and have all the kit to deal with what sometimes can be a very distressing task,” Andrew explains.
Over the past few years, advanced technology and the media have come to play key roles in solving and preventing crimes, both in terms of capturing and publicising events, as Andrew highlights: “CCTV is vital to us, in the case of a crime, obtaining the tapes is the first thing we do. Indeed one of the reasons we have an extremely high detection rate of crime compared to other forces is because of the CCTV rich environment we operate in. On the technology front, we were also one of the frontrunners in using mobile data to enable our officers out in the field to access various databases, input crime reports and make recordings while on the move. Such developments unify our workforce and give major advantages in dealing with crime.”
The British Transport Police also makes excellent use of the media, circulating incriminating CCTV images to not only other forces but to regional and national newspapers to make use of alternative knowledge. Andrew adds: “I think we have a very intelligent public out there and they are solving crimes very quickly for us all the time. I have the national lead on media for the Association of Chief Police Officers and often address the Society for Editors, and I believe that unless there is some genuine need for confidentiality we should be as transparent as possible. I believe we should be looking after the media so that they have the facilities they need to do their job of communicating with the public. We have a whole generation of IT literate young people who expect to get information and pass it on rapidly. We should be in a position where people can enquire of us and find out what they need from us easily to allay suspicion and concern.”
When talking about his vision for British Transport Police, Andrew takes a very straightforward approach that centres on protecting passengers, rail staff and the railway in the most professional and value-added way possible. He believes officers should be a friend and an assistant to people who are using the transport system, while being tough and stringent on those who abuse or misuse it. In order to combat the financial constraints implicated on the industry, the organisation must become flexible and innovative in its approach to disorder so as to continue the success it has experienced so far in driving crime down year-on-year.
