The Railway Police
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The book follows the history of the railway police from their formation in 1826 up until the modern day, it follows their work which is very varied and at times very dangerous and that is shown in the very detailed last chapter of the book which is dedicated to railway police who have either been killed or have died in the line of their duty. You can see that when they were first formed all those years ago they were referred to as gate keepers and through history they became the railway police and today they are now known as the British Transport Police. Each chapter in the book will refer to different times in their history and as you read the book you will see how the role of the railway police dramatically changed, they began by looking after the railways and its stock and even clearing rubbish from the railway tracks and they ended dealing with a terrorist offence on the London transport system that killed 52 innocent people. At least you can say that they have had a varied and interesting history. But equally in the book it will show you that until recently they were never treated as equal to the Home Office forces, their pay was never the same, their various other entitlements including a reasonable retirement pension was never the same and it took different Chief Constables of the railway police many years to get the railway police almost equal to other Home Office forces. The book will also show you that whatever crime however small and all the way up to murder happens on the railway system. In recent years you will see that if a murder is committed on the railway system then the railway police will be the lead force and will conduct the investigation. That is something that has changed over the years before it was always the Home Office force that would be the lead force in serious crime. In 2002 the railway police even had a television series done about them called ‘Rail Cops’, the officers became quite famous as television viewers watched them as they went about their day to day work. So from looking after railway property many years ago they were now fully in the public eye. Hopefully they will now become as respected as any other police officers and I think this book will assist in that process.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The book is about the railway police and most readers probably do not realise that it is the oldest police force in the United Kingdom and it can be traced back in history to 1826. I am no doubt that some historians of the Metropolitan Police will disagree. The book will follow the railway police through its history up until the present day and it will give you a flavour of what they are all about and of course what work they get involved in. I think some of you will be very surprised at what they actually do. I have written this book because I feel that they do not get the credit they deserve and are overlooked somewhat and I hope that after you have read this book you will agree with me that we do need the railway police as much as we need any other police.
About the Author
The author is a married man and lives with his wife and three cats in the Sutton Coldfield area of the West Midlands. He has one son who is an account manager at a Global finance company. He left school at 15 and after spending his early work years training to be a carpenter and joiner he then decided that his future would be in law enforcement and in 1975 became a police officer with the West Midlands Police who he served until his retirement in 2005 after 30 years. He still works for the same force today as a member of the police support staff and is a accredited financial investigator. But his new found passion is writing and this is his third book and it is not surprising that it is a book on law enforcement but this time he tells the story of the railway police since they were first formed in 1826 until the present day.