Done Deal !

[centralcoastscanman]

Certainly is a case of back to the future...again. I don't think anybody would disagree that having sworn police performing the role is better than having the current transit officers, who fall into a very grey area somewhere above a security guard, being that they are given certain powers but not enough to perform any real law enforcement role.

As a former member of the railway police, back in the late 70's, I can see where those who do patrol train need to have the powers and authority like we did. In fact in those days we had more authority than the police - a sore point with some. Something that the Transit Officers lack. But if governments of any colour were not so weak on this topic, the TO's would have had the necessary legislative backup from day one. Instead the tree huggers made them customer service officers. And the police are not without some blame here, they are jealous of their position and guard their power base. Any challenge is usually meet with the standard "you need professional police officers" doing this job or role or task. Even when the railway coppers were trained at the police academy, alongside NSW police, they said the same thing. Anyway what is done is done and no doubt, 10 maybe 20 years down the track (pardon the pun) the railways will have Transit Officers again. Everything old is new again.


R

Funny you say the Police guard their power base Russell. When I was working in hospitals as a security guard we were speaking with the Police Association regarding special constable endorsement under certain pieces of legislation. The Police association were very supportive of this move as it freed up their officers to deal with real issues rather than sitting in a hospital babysitting some mental health patient while listening to a nurse whinge you can't go yet he's violent.

Problem was the Dept of Health didn't want it as they wanted to waste police officers time by blocking any attempt to get this change made. Albeit most officers wouldn't pass but at least if there was 1 on per shift that was endorsed that was enough.

[cartman]

More details on the new Police Transport Command

Grant

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/ass ... ommand.pdf


In Summary
* Command takes over 1st May 2012
* Covers trains, buses and ferries
* Commander is Assistant Commisioner
* Command team made up of three superintendents, nine inspectors, 1 business manager & 14 administrative staff
* 310 strength at May 2012 increasing to 610 officers by 2014
* Three primary hubs
- Central Sydney
- Parramatta
- SW Sydney
* Seven satellite hubs covering Central Coast, Newcastle, Illawarra
* 12 office locations in all

[Garry]

and watch them be redeployed somewhere else away from the transport system

[cartman]

Found some more information via google

Business Unit

PTC - Command
11 unsworn officers
Includes:
Commander x 1 = Assistant Commisioner
Business Manager x 1
Executive Officer x 1
Executive Assistant x 1
Administrative Co-ordinator x 2
Roster Officer x 2
Administrative Officer x 2

16 sworn officers
Includes:
Operations Manager x 1 = Inspector
Staff Officer x 1 = Inspector
Human Resource Manager x 1 = Inspector
Professional Standards Manager x 1 = Sgt

PTC - North / Central Sector
City Central
1 unsworn officer - Sector Commander (Superintendent)
210 sworn officers

PTC - North / West Sector
Parramatta
1 unsworn officer - Sector Commander (Superintendent)
176 sworn officers

PTC - South / South West Sector
Liverpool
1 unsworn officer- Sector Commander (Superintendent)
198 sworn officers

[matthewn1983]

lol the way the academy is going at the moment, i can't see them getting the numbers, been hearing the drop out rate for the first semester is very high.

[centralcoastscanman]

haha now thats funny, me thinks give it 2 years and the transit officers employed by Railcorp will be back as i don't think the cops are going to have the numbers to cover all that place the ever growing number of task forces they are forming to investigate the bikie's playing nasty with easy other...

If the people in Police recruitment would get off their power trip and realise they are public servant's, they are accountable they might start getting more people through.
I've been fighting with them for near on 8 years as i want them to provide me with something they have told me verbally in writing, they are refusing and claim to know nothing about it or claim to alread have given it to me in writing. When I request a copy of the said document claiming i've lost it they are unable to find their copy of it either...

If the government started paying people to goto the Academy they might start getting a few more people too, as the package deal the nsw cops are offered isn't much to write home about and thats before you get confirmed as a constable.

[Bigfella237]

I must admit I was shocked when talking with one of the boys in blue one day and I asked how much you get paid while you're at the academy... I couldn't work out why he was laughing his ass off!

The PF must be about the only employer in the world who expects it's employees to pay for their own on-the-job training?

Andrew

[Scotty]

The PF must be about the only employer in the world who expects it's employees to pay for their own on-the-job training?

I think you'll find NSWPF pay for all related on-the-job training, just like any other employer.

But initial training at Goulburn in un-paid because at that time you are not an employee of (or employed by) the police. You attend Goulburn as a student and undertake studies with a NSW university for a policing related degree. If you are successful you are offered the opportunity to apply for employment with the NSWPF and, if accepted and successfully complete the relevent exams, you are confirmed and commence employement (and start getting paid).

If the government started paying people to goto the Academy they might start getting a few more people too, as the package deal the nsw cops are offered isn't much to write home about and thats before you get confirmed as a constable.

The benefit, as I see it, is that you can easily cull the 'dead wood' (or people who are not suitable) while they are classified as 'students', without having to go through the difficult process of terminating someone who is classed as an 'employee'.

Plus, they are not short of applicants. Each year many thousands of canditates apply for entry, with only a small number being accepted for training. Even less people are offered employment. The problem is not in getting people to apply, it is getting suitable people to apply. Employing people before they commence training and paying them during initial training will not fix that problem.

[Chrisco]

Seeing a lot of promo from the NSWPF open days at Darling Harbour, newspaper ads, etc
I would like to see what the rate of people who apply, the acceptances and whose who quit in the first year fed up with 12hr shifts, lack of respect police are given these days,etc

[cartman]

Something doesn't add up here

They begin on 1st May which means that the Rail transits are in the process of winding down ... say an overlap of 2mths to 30/6/12
Transit officers are bailing out now (i know that for a fact - retraining, redundancy etc)
The PTC have only about 50% of their workforce positions filled .... the commuter crime folk ... who up to the very recent havent been very noticeable in the rail environment (but mainly carrying out covert and investigative work)
Even with a full workforce of 610 they dont seem to have enough staff to cover trains, buses and ferries.

Founds parts of the below in a local newspaper which seems to outline intelligently the challenges
If you take into account annual leave, rostered days off and sick leave on any given day you would be left with about 450 operational staff.
You would then need to then split that into two, 12 hour shifts operational, your operational staff level is now down to 225 including supervisors.
Paired with a buddy leaves you with about 100 patrols in a 12hr shift
This now has to be split between the three modes of Transport.
For instance it is well documented that there are well over 2000 train services a day
Even with assistance from the local working channel for urgent jobs and loss of patrol time when the crims are being processed the numbers just don't add up, especially in the transition period before the full 600 are onboard

Grant


PS In the vacuum transport crime on trains, vandalism etc will become a problem, i suspect, for the government