An ‘integrated police and security pilot project’ was part of an official inspection into British Transport Police (BTP). HM Inspectorate of Constabulary noted that as a result of the Manchester Arena Inquiry (which found failings by the BTP on duty at Manchester Victoria rail station beside the Arena), since April 2022 the force has been running the project at five (unnamed) major train stations that ‘aims to improve creativity and collaboration with industry partners and local Home Office police forces.
The inspectorate reported: “They do this through joint briefings, deployments and shared problem-solving. This is helped by intelligence staff, referred to as collators. Collators use data from police and partners to establish emerging crime trends and problems in local areas. Problem profiles are then created to help co-ordinate a partnership approach to tackling issues. Collators have made a noticeable impact on this project through twice-daily briefings, which include updates on problems, staff availability and intelligence requests’. Such joint working with partners has already reduced demand, the inspectors found.” Examples shown to us include preventing county lines drug criminality, preventing assaults on rail staff and interrupting a potential knife attack by a person who was motivated by extremist views.”
Background
Unlike Home Office police forces, BTP is a non-departmental public body, sponsored through the Department for Transport (and a DfT minister commissioned the inspectorate to make the inspection); and BTP is ‘funded almost entirely by the rail transport industry’, the inspectors noted.
As an example of how the BTP has to work in tandem with the rail sector, the inspectors noted that the force would handle the security needed to deliver the Great British Railways: Williams-Shapps plan for rail, a reform of how the railways are managed, which awaits parliamentary sign-off. The report noted ‘more demand on BTP is likely’ if train operating companies reduce their staffing due to ‘post-pandemic reductions in passenger numbers’ which has caused long-running strikes.
Like guarding contractors who work for train operators the BTP has a focus on suicide prevention on the lines. The BTP has seen a rise of 44 per cent in ‘crisis interventions’ and a rise of 7 per cent in lifesaving interventions between the year ending March 2019 and March 2022. The force ‘considers the rises to be related to the post-pandemic mental health impact’, according to the report.
Hence work by the force to reduce the risk of suicide in vulnerable locations on the railway network. Trespass on the network is a priority for the force, the inspectorate reported. “Once a site is identified as a high-risk location, it is inspected for opportunities to reconfigure the physical environment to reduce risk. This can include the installation of gated barriers on fast platforms and public information signs to raise awareness.” Wider work on suicide prevention includes training for GPs, as well as concourse businesses and tattooists, ‘the latter due to a link between memorial tattoos and traumatic grief. Feedback on the training has been positive: some retailers have reported that they now have the awareness, skills and confidence to intervene’.
As an aside, Samaritans were recently at London King’s Cross station hosting a ‘Small Talk Salon’. Samaritans is calling on people to give ‘small talk’ a go, as the charity says that a simple comment about the weather could be all it takes to save someone’s life. Visit Samaritans.org/smalltalksaveslives.
In four of seven subjects that the inspectors focused on, the inspectors rated the force good in four, including the preventing of crime and anti-social behaviour; and inadequate in only one (vetting and counter-corruption).
Security on the railways featured in the February print edition of Professional Security Magazine and will feature in the April edition.
Photo by Mark Rowe, southeastern rail enforcement officer on duty at Canterbury West station, Friday evening last month, beside BTP officers.
