Maryland Transit Administration Police
Encyclopedia
Maryland Transit Administration
The Maryland Transit Administration is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. It is better known as MTA Maryland to avoid confusion with other cities' transit agencies who share the initials MTA. The MTA operates a...
directed to patrol public transportation and related facilities in and around the Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, area. Officers are certified by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission
Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission
Headquartered in Sykesville, MD, the Maryland Police And Correctional Training Commissions is a state oversight agency for all law enforcement and correctional agencies in Maryland.-Duties:...
and have full police powers.
Specialized units within the department include Criminal Investigations Unit, K9, Motorcycles, VIPR and Professional Standards.
The current chief of police
Chief of police
A Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
is Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
John E. Gavrilis. Acting Deputy Chief of Police is Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Fred Damron JR. Bureau commanders are Captain
Police captain
- France :France uses the rank of capitaine for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. The rank comes senior to lieutenant and junior to commandant....
Jerome Howard (Southern District), Captain Robert Rosendale (Northern District), Captain Robert Stanley (Administrative Bureau), Acting Captain Burna McCullom (Technical Services) and Captain William Collins JR (Special Operations). Former Chief Douglas Deleaver is National Vice President of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives is a membership group of primarily black law enforcement CEOs and command level officials in local, state, county, and federal government. Headquartered in Washington, DC, it has 57 chapters in the United States, one in St...
.
History
The department was founded on October 1, 1971, by act of the Maryland State Legislature as the Mass Transit Administration Police Force. On October 1, 2001, when the Mass Transit Administration was renamed the Maryland Transit Administration, the police force changed its name to reflect the change.Fleet
The primary patrol vehicle of the department is the Chevrolet ImpalaChevrolet Impala
The Chevrolet Impala is a full-size automobile built by the Chevrolet division of General Motors introduced for the 1958 model year. Deriving its name from the southern African antelope, Chevrolet's most expensive passenger model through 1965 had become the best-selling automobile in the United...
. Ford Crown Victoria
Ford Crown Victoria
-1992–1994:Released in March 1991 as an early 1992 model, the Crown Victoria sedan was completely redesigned with a rounder, eight-window roofline . The redesign reduced the coefficient of drag from 0.42 to 0.34; the suspension setup was also heavily revised...
s are also used. The prisoner transport vehicles are Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
and Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
s. Harley Davidson motorcycles are currently used. Current markings are all black vehicles with yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
lettering stating transit police
Transit police
Transit police are a specialized police agency or unit employed by a common carrier, which could be a transit district, railroad, bus line, other transport carrier, or the state...
. Towards the front of the vehicle is the department's uniform patch and at the rear is the Maryland Transit Administration logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
. Light bar
Light bar
Emergency vehicle lighting refers to any of several visual warning devices, which may be known as light bars or beacons, fitted to a vehicle and used when the driver wishes to convey to other road users the urgency of their journey, to provide additional warning of a hazard when stationary, or in...
s are red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
and blue
Blue
Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
rotating lights or LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
lights, though some vehicles have strobe light
Strobe light
A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope...
s incorporated into the design.
Weapons
Officers are each issued a SigarmsSIGARMS
SIG Sauer GmbH is the German representative of Switzerland-based manufacturing firm Swiss Arms AG, which was spun off from Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft in 2000. SIG Sauer Inc was established in 1985 with the name SIGARMS to import and distribute SIG firearms into the United States,...
SIG Pro
SIG Pro
The SIG Pro is a series of semi-automatic pistols developed and manufactured jointly by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft and J. P. Sauer & Sohn...
2340 .40 caliber
Caliber
In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
, OC spray and the Asp baton.