British Transport Police

British Transport Police works with the rail industry every day to keep the country’s railways a safe place to travel and work

Each day, millions of passenger journeys are made on the UK’s rail network and it is the role of British Transport Police to ensure the safety of every passenger and member of staff across England, Scotland and Wales.

With growing passenger numbers, freight kilometres and 24-hour policing in places like London, due to the demand of the Night Tube, the importance of the force has never been greater. Officers from BTP were also amongst the first on the scene at a number of major incidents in 2017, including the attacks at the Manchester Arena and London Bridge.

The force is also busy emphasising the importance of vigilance from both staff and passengers. Last year, specialist advisors ran Project Griffin counter-terrorism awareness events to more than 3,500 attendees from the rail industry in over 40 locations, including London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh. These sessions aimed to raise awareness of terrorism, build effective working relationships and empower people to report suspicious activity.

BTP also continued to operate Project Servator, which delivers unpredictable and highly visible deployments, designed to deter, disrupt and detect crime, including terrorism. It also worked with the Department for Transport on the ‘See It, Say It, Sorted’ campaign, aiming to encourage passengers to report anything suspicious.

The importance of rail staff and officers working together cannot be underestimated. In the last year alone, the work of officers and rail staff led to an incredible 1,917 life-saving interventions – reducing the devastating impact that fatalities have on the lives of individuals and their families, as well as the effect on train drivers and the rail industry as a whole.

Reporting crime

The best advice is always to phone 999 in an emergency but otherwise, call the BTP on 0800 40 50 40. Alternatively, and perhaps the best course of action, is to text 61016 – this text will then be picked up by BTP’s control room and if needed, officers can be deployed immediately.

The text 61016 service recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Last year, more than 44,200 texts were sent, with 3,300 crimes being recorded as a result.