RailCorp Transit Officer
Encyclopedia
Rail Corporation New South Wales
Rail Corporation New South Wales is a statutory authority of the New South Wales government. RailCorp owns, operates and maintains the Sydney suburban and interurban rail network which is marketed under the CityRail brand; in addition to operating rural passenger services under the CountryLink...
train services in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Transit Officers conduct uniformed and plain-clothes patrols on CityRail
CityRail
CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...
and CountryLink
CountryLink
CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...
train services and are assigned to ensure the safety and security of passengers, staff and rail property.
The position was created in 2002 after a report found that rail security required more authority than possessed by the Chubb Security
Chubb Security
Chubb Security is an electronic security and fire safety business. It is owned by United Technologies Corporation.-History:The Company was founded by Charles and Jeremiah Chubb, who patented their Chubb detector lock in 1818. Apparently the Prince Regent accidentally sat on a Chubb lock complete...
officers contracted by RailCorp. Offical figures show that to date over 600 Transit Officers have been engaged.
Legal standing
The Rail Safety Act 2008 provides for persons employed as a RailCorp Transit Officer to be appointed as a "Rail Safety Officer" for the purposes of the Rail Safety Act 2008 and it's subordinate legislation. The Act and Regulations establish various railway offences and the powers of an authorised officer in relation to those offences.A Transit Officer may also be appointed as a special constable under the Police (Special Provisions) Act 1901, which would give the Transit Officer similar legal powers as a constable of the New South Wales Police Force, but only while on RailCorp property. A requirement of employment as a Transit Officer is eligibility to be appointed as a special constable.
Powers under the Rail Safety Act and Regulations
By virtue of the Rail Safety Act 2008 http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/scanview/inforce/s/1/?TITLE=%22Rail%20Safety%20Act%202008%20No%2097%22&nohits=y and the Rail Safety (Offences) Regulation 2008 http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/scanview/inforce/s/1/?SRTITLE=%22Rail%20Safety%20(Offences)%20Regulation%202008%22&nohits=y, Transit Officers are empowered to:- Request tickets and concession cards for inspection (Rail Safety (Offences) Regulation 2008),
- Direct people to leave stations and trains (Rail Safety (Offences) Regulation 2008)
- Demand full name and residential address when they suspect, on reasonable grounds that a person has committed a railway offence,
- Issue infringement notices ('on-the-spot' fines) for railway offences.
Unless appointed as a special constable, Transit Officers have no legal basis to demand identification documents. Under current laws, Transit Officers not appointed as special constables have a legal basis for detaining a person to be verified by NSW Police.
Power of arrest
Transit Officers, unless they have been appointed as a special constable, are not granted any specific power of arrest by legislation. The power of arrest as exercised by Transit Officers is commonly referred to as a citizen's arrestCitizen's arrest
A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval Britain and the English common law, in which sheriffs encouraged ordinary citizens to help apprehend law breakers.Despite the...
and is granted to all persons in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
by section 100 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002.
By virtue of section 231 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002, a person making an arrest under section 100 may use reasonable force to make the arrest or to prevent the escape of the person after arrest. Upon making an arrest, the Transit Officer will make arrangements to transfer the person into police custody.
Uniform
Transit Officers wear a distinctive mid blue and black uniform with Rail Corporation of N.S.W. arm patches and yellow rank insignia on their shoulders. RailCorp reviewed the uniform worn by Transit Officers in 2008 with feedback from focus groups deeming the old dark grey uniforms too threatening and "SWAT-like". A week-long trial of blue uniforms took place from the 20 February 2008, with RailCorp conducting a survey of passengers to gauge the public response to the changes. As a result of this process, the new uniforms were progressively issued to officers in the closing months of 2008.Equipment
Transit Officers carry batons and handcuffs while on duty. For communication between other transit officers and base operations they carry Motorola XTS5000 radios which use the NSW Government Radio NetworkGovernment Radio Network (Australia)
The Government Radio Network is the umbrella term used to refer to various systems in place across Australia that enable state-wide trunked radio communication. The network operates through inter-linked sites for government and public services such as police, ambulance, fire, or roads authorities...
(GRN) to remain in contact over all of Sydney and surrounds.
Rank insignia
Transit Officers have a rank structure, insignia of which is worn on their epaulettes. Ranks set out below ascend in seniority from left to right. One rank that is not shown in the pictures below, is that of a Probationary Transit Officer. The rank comes before a Transit officer on the far left and is a solid black epaulette with no other decoration.| Transit Officer | Transit Officer (1 Year +) |
Senior Transit Officer |
Senior Transit Officer (1 Year) |
Transit Team Leader |
Operations Inspector |
Regional Operations Manager |
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Training
Transit Officers undergo a six month training programme focusing on rail law and law enforcement based customer service, they receive training covering the Rail Safety Act, the Crimes Act, the Evidence Act, the Young Offenders Act, Graffiti Control Act, investigation and crime scene preservation. During these six months Transit Officers gain experience in oral de-escalation techniques, Defensive tactics,the use of batons and handcuffs, rail safety, communications, documenting, briefs of evidence and various other areas. Upon completion of their training officers receive the Certificate III in GovernmentAustralian Qualifications Framework
The Australian Qualifications Framework provides the hierarchy of educational qualifications in Australia. It is administered nationally by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Few qualifications outside the system are accepted by employers or for...
.
Criticism
The NSW Premier has said the NSW OmbudsmanOmbudsmen in Australia
-Government ombudsmen:Government ombudsman services are free to the public, like many other ombudsman and dispute resolution services, and are a means of resolving disputes outside of the court systems....
has made valid criticisms of the behavior of some of the state's 600 transit officers and of Railcorp's failings in addressing complaints.
The NSW Ombudsman has called for proper oversight to rein in the officers.
Ombudsman Bruce Barbour has raised serious concerns about the way Railcorp investigates complaints regarding the behavior of Transit officers.
In his annual report to Parliament, Mr Barbour says many of the public's complaints about the officers related to serious issues such as assault, use of excessive force and grossly inappropriate conduct.
"People have been assaulted, people have been inappropriately treated, one person was made to squat for 15 minutes while he was handcuffed until police arrived but ultimately he wasn't charged with anything," he said.
"He had a valid ticket and he hadn't done anything wrong."
Future
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 21 February 2009 that the NSW government was considering abolishing Transit Officers and transferring their responsibilities to the NSW Police Force.As of September 2011 the NSW State Government has announced that the Transit Officer function may be dissolved or moved to the NSW Police Force. Under the State Governments plan the 600 current transit officers would be abolished by the end of 2012. Officers would be offered three options, redundancy, new positions as revenue protection officers or placement at the NSW Police Force College to train to be police officers if they meet the requirements.