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A comment on Amtrak police use of passenger data. Parent comment

Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by dagw on Monday March 23, 2015 @09:35AM (#9250754)
The huge difference is that in most other countries the transport police are autonomous from any single actor and not part of or beholden to a single corporation.
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by ZanyProgrammer on Monday March 23, 2015 @10:41AM (#9251163)
Amtrak is defacto a government agency, calling it a corporation is a bit of rhetorical overkill. And since Amtrak is responsible for all long distance train travel in this country, and its infrastructure, why not have its own police force?
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by Spooky23 on Monday March 23, 2015 @11:44AM (#9251478)
Most every major railroad has a police force.
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by ams6110 on Monday March 23, 2015 @07:43PM (#9254040)
Even commuter systems do. Chicago proper has the Chicago Transit Police, and the suburban system (Metra) has its own police as well.
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by dagw on Monday March 23, 2015 @01:14PM (#9252026)
Is that a good thing? Why not have a Federal Rail Transport Police? I'm honestly not sure how I feel about a bunch of for profit organizations all having their own police force, but I'm willing to be convinced it's a good idea.

Something about the phrase $COMPANY Police just makes me uncomfortable.

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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by Spooky23 on Monday March 23, 2015 @03:40PM (#9252928)
The Federal government generally stays away from general police duties, because most of the laws typically enforced by the police are state laws. When the Feds operate police forces, it is scoped to a specific institution or place. The VA, GSA, US Mint, etc operation police forces oriented towards federal property.

I think it makes sense for railroads to have police, as the crimes that affect them are multi-jurisdictional by nature and specific to the railroad. Colleges are similar in many ways... US Marshalls + pinkertons provided security to railroads in the 19th century. Professional police alleviate many of the abuses that inevitably happen with security people.

I get a little uncomfortable with private police not tied to an institution. When I was in vacation in South Carolina, the resort rent-a-cops were sworn officers... that sounds like a way to cover up crime to me.

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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by ZanyProgrammer on Monday March 23, 2015 @11:53AM (#9251523)
Only BNSF and UP, from what I remember (in the US).
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by Spooky23 on Monday March 23, 2015 @12:22PM (#9251688)
Nope, plenty more...

CSX: http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/community/csx-police-department...

NY MTA: http://web.mta.info/mta/police/

Norfolk Southern: http://www.protecttheline.com/ns_police.php

Canadian Pacific: http://www.cpr.ca/en/safety/cp-police-service

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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by ZanyProgrammer on Monday March 23, 2015 @12:48PM (#9251837)
Interesting, forgot about CSX, though I don't count transit police in the same category as police for freight rail-freight being genuine private companies as opposed to public transit agencies.
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by psykovsky on Monday March 23, 2015 @12:04PM (#9251589)
The world is so big...
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Re:Amtrak police use of passenger data by shiggerino on Tuesday March 24, 2015 @04:40AM (#9255449)
How does it differ from other corporations with government investors?

These companies exist to be able to operate at a loss to serve a greater benefit to the public, but giving them more power than that doesn't really seem like it would be in the public's interest.

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