Select Committee on Transport Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum submitted by British Transport Police Federation

  1.  The British Transport Police Federation is pleased to make this submission to the House of Commons Transport Committee.

  2.  The Federation represents the views of some 2,200 officers ranging in rank from Constable to Chief Inspector. We do not propose to comment in detail on the operational capability of the Force as this is outside our strict remit. The Force itself will capably and expertly articulate its professional view.

  3.  Following the bomb incidents in London in July 2005, the Federation understands that a review of how the police and other emergency services responded to the attacks is entirely appropriate. However, in any review the Federation would urge the Committee to note the excellence of the response by BTP officers and in particular, our ability to work as a team with other Forces. The Federation makes this point quite specifically because over the past five years the BTP has been reviewed no fewer than four times.

  4.  As a result of these reviews the BTP police officers (but not the Force as a corporate entity) have become disillusioned with their sense of security of career and personal future direction. Each review to date has been emphatic in its conclusion that Britain needs a specialist railway police service.

  5.  Former Transport Minister, John Speller noted in his 2001 consultation paper "Modernising the British Transport Police" . . . the British Transport Police's operations are fully integrated with Home Office Police Forces and they provide policing services to exactly the same high professional standard. In addition to providing specialist policing for the railway environment, they have developed particular expertise in . . . protection against terrorism, management of large travelling groups such as football supporters and control of anti-social behaviour in enclosed areas."

  6.  In its response to the consultation paper the Department for Transport stated:

    "The Government therefore considers that the national railway network is best protected by a unified police force providing a dedicated, specialist service and able to give a proper priority to the policing of the railways."

  7.  In 2004, the Transport Select Committee offered the following comment . . ." The railways are a specialised environment, with specialised needs and need a specialised Force . . . Unless there is a national force dedicated to policing the rail network, the task will not be given the priority it needs."

  8.  The White Paper, "The Future of Rail" published by the Department for Transport in 2004 stated: "The industry and passengers also receive significant benefits from a dedicated force, particularly from its approach to managing incidents, which is aimed at minimising delay. The Government confirms its support for the British Transport Police continuing in its role as a specialist rail police force."

  9.  It is not just that the reviews conclude that we are indispensable, secondly that the BTP is good at what it does but thirdly, when the quality of systems and of officers was tested, not once but twice last July, the BTP rose superbly to the occasion.

  10.  As a result of the Transport Committee's deliberations, the Federation would hope to see an end to the periodic examination of the workings of the BTP—examinations which query why the BTP even exists as opposed to recommending how its capability could and should be enhanced.

  11.  The Federation would invite the Committee to comment on the difficulties which the present funding arrangements pose for the BTP. Under the user pays principle the senior management of BTP spend inordinate time recovering from the Train Operating Companies their share of the costs of providing them with a dedicated specialist police service. The public's willingness to travel by train is directly governed by how safe they feel from railway crime. The ability of the BTP to restore normal operational service after an incident directly affects the revenue of the Train Operating Companies. It is therefore unacceptable that BTP energy which has other policing priorities such as public safety and anti-terrorism should be spent in chasing up companies who are simply reluctant payers. The Federation believes that companies slow to pay should incur penalty charges as a disincentive to wasting police time.

  12.  As Chairman of the Police Federation, either I or our General Secretary, Roger Randall would be pleased to give evidence to the Committee.





 
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