Skip to main content

The History of Jurisdiction - A Small Example from the Great War

 

The attitude of local forces to BTP and its predecessor forces has always been rather mixed.  In recent years I rarely have cause to tell groups I work with that I once served in BTP.  As they are mostly police officers I am speaking to their reaction to mention of the railway police (current and historic) is often negative.  I have always found the Police History Society rather sniffy about the history of the railway and dock police.  Somehow in the minds of many the sacrifice of railway, dock and canal police does quite score so highly as that to be found in other forces. 

In one respect geographic forces were (and perhaps still are) united.  That is in opposing any extension of the powers of RDC officers. The fact that officers from other geographic forces have powers in their area does not seem to offer any threat but the prospect of RDC officers exercising the power of constable on their patch might bring about the end of civilisation.  Of course even now local officers have full powers on railway premises.

I am currently working on an example of this in relation to the policing of London buses but I came across another example today.  The demands placed on police forces at the start of Great War in 1914 were dramatic.  Thousands of ordinary people were signed up as Special Constables across virtually all forces.  Newspapers are full of reports of their faltering first steps in policing.  But even in this environment the prospect of the railway police trespassing on the streets could cause consternation.

Police Review & Parade Gossip (‘The Organ of the British Constabulary’) of 5th February 1915 reports that Manchester City Council had heard that the Great Central Railway Bill that was soon to go before Parliament would include provision for railway constables to have powers within half a mile of railway premises. The Council were outraged by the prospect and calculated that railway constables would have powers in nearly a third of the city.  The matter was brought to the attention of the Watch Committee and officers of the authority were instructed to object to the proposal.

The objection was successful and the Great Central Railway Act 1915 contains no mention of the powers of constables.

By 1915 the powers of most RDC officers were limited to railway premises with a power of ‘follow and arrest’ outwith the same.  Early Acts of Parliament that granted more extensive geographical powers had largely been replaced. The power ‘in the vicinity’ was not introduced until 1960s and was lost in 2003.  Powers to deal with matters effecting the railway (etc) off railway premises came in the last quarter of the 20th century and remains in place.

 

Phil Trendall

January 2024

 

REFERENCES

Police Review and Parade Gossip 5th February 1915 P62

Great Central Railway Act 1915

 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give me a firm place to stand.........

  Is policing better today than it was 50 years ago?   Is this even a valid question?   My answer to both is   straightforward: ‘I don’t know’.   I suspect that most things are better and some things have declined but generally it is the sort of question that can take up a lot of time and enough hot air to power a dirigible.   I really DON’T want to start a debate on this because what concerns me most is my own shifting perspective.   As a grumpy git I find the sight of scruffy police officers looking bored and staring at their telephones really annoying.   I don’t understand why wearing a traditional helmet is so difficult and I don’t like the rather lightweight approach to discipline.   On the other hand my professional dealings with police officers show me that modern officers are bright, caring, thoughtful and determined to do the right thing.   As events demonstrate there is no shortage of brave people in today’s service. The horrors of racism and misogyny still haunt the service
Post a Comment
Read more

Law and History 2: JUST THE SAME AS OTHER FORCES?

  Reading through this before posting makes me fear that it is not historical enough for this blog and trespasses into contemporary issues.   So be it.   But I do feel it necessary to remind readers that this blog does NOT represent the view of the BTPHG.   These ramblings are mine alone. It is rarely accurate to say that history repeats itself, but it is true that somethings that we think are settled in the past return to challenge us again. When I was a serving police officer in BTP I saw a steady evolution in the status of the force.   The achievements of officers, particularly in facing the ‘decade of disasters’ (1980s) and the acknowledged expertise of BTP in dealing with certain classes of activity (terrorism, theft person, theft of goods in transit, major incident response, football disorder etc) all led to an increasing recognition that BTP was an equal member of the police family.   In concrete terms this had been marked by the recommendation of the Wright Committee into the
1 comment
Read more

Police Review & Parade Gossip 1902/3

  I have, at long last, returned to my project of searching early editions of Police Review & Parade Gossip for items relating to the Rail, Dock and Canal (RDC) Policing.   I have run into a couple of years where the index (which was compiled at the end of end calendar year) is missing which means I have had no choice but to go through every page of every edition.   Police Review was a weekly publication that described itself as ‘The Organ of the British Constabulary’.   It provides a valuable insight into the issues that concerned police officers and the public. So, what were the big questions of the early Edwardian period?   Well, questions of law make a frequent appearance together with operational demands.   The delay to the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902 (he was ill) led to a lot of operational angst.   Even today mutual aid brings challenges but imagine what it was like when there were 243 forces (i) covering England, Scotland and Wales.   Assaults on officers were at a v
Post a Comment
Read more