Want to voice your opinions on the policing of your local railway and station, or provide feedback on a police operation that you witnessed? British Transport Police (BTP) is offering you the opportunity… by asking for volunteers to join a Citizens Panel.
BTP are looking for enthusiastic members of the public and rail staff from across the region to join a Citizens Panel. They are looking for people who have a general interest in railways and the railway community, in particularly those who have strong links into local communities, to work in an advisory role to provide feedback and advice on how BTP’s actions are interpreted by members of the public. The aim of the panel is to strengthen relationships between BTP and local community groups.
Inspector Tracy Metcalf is setting up the panel: “We want members of the public to become more involved in advising us in policing of the railways. BTP already has a National Independent Advisory Group (NIAG) whose members are from a wide cross section of backgrounds, communities and diverse groups who constructively evaluate BTP’s policies and procedures based on their own independent views, experiences and special knowledge of their own communities. But we now want to develop an area-based group who can represent the North East railway community we serve, and allow members of the public and rail staff to have a say on how we police the railways locally.
She added, “We want members of the panel to have links to the diverse communities we police so we can help form a bridge between these groups and BTP.
“The aim is for members of the public and rail staff to get involved and be a voice for the community. We want them to provide feedback to us, and to challenge us when they don’t think we are getting things right. We want them to be critical and challenge existing processes to continue to build trust and confidence in us, which will have real tangible effects on our policing and our policies.’
Meetings will be held quarterly.
