The public transport authority in Birmingham, TfWM has employed further transport safety officers (TSOs). The TSOs have some powers under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS), as granted by West Midlands Police chief constable.
The TSOs are typically dealing with low-level nuisance, disorder and anti-social behaviour, deployed on routes and locations based on reports received from transport staff or the public. They have the power to issue fines for smoking or littering (and to take a photo of the person fined); to require that someone being anti-social give their name and address; to require under-18s drinking alcohol in places where it’s not allowed on the street, to surrender it; and the power to control traffic, such as to get traffic moving on a main route if it’s jammed due to a break-down or such incident.
TfWM (Transport for West Midlands, based in Birmingham) has added eight TSOs to the three appointed in 2021. They work alongside police officers as they have been assigned to the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership, between TfWM, West Midlands Police and the British Transport Police. Funding has come from the £88m Bus Service Improvement Plan Grant, awarded to TfWM, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), by central Government last year.
The Labour West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said: “I’m very pleased to see eight new uniformed officers are now out and about, helping to prevent and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on our buses. The overwhelming majority of journeys on public transport in our region pass without incident, but it’s important that we’re not complacent and that safety and security are our top priority.
“We need far more people to be travelling by bus and this investment is a positive step in the right direction.”
Andy Street, the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said: “We were awarded the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to take steps to make our bus services more attractive to passengers and build back our services to their pre-covid level. We have already announced a fare freeze until 2025 to help people with their cost of living and have several more initiatives in the pipeline.
“We also know that antisocial behaviour can deter people from using the bus, so it is right that we use some of that investment to increase our Safer Travel team, make them more visible on our network to offer that added reassurance to passengers.
“It was great to meet the new officers and wish them well as they set out to keep our bus passengers safe and offer greater protection to the travelling public.”
More in the April print edition of Professional Security Magazine. Picture by Mark Rowe; tram stopping beside Birmingham Town Hall.
