State Sen. Jack Hart of South Boston is co-sponsor of a bill that would eliminate the MBTA's separate police force by merging its 257 officers into the State Police, the Bulletin reports.
Is this really a story about the Massachusetts state police and the Massachusetts MBTA and not similar agencies in some other state? This sounds like a shockingly good idea for the legislators of our Commonwealth to have come up with. Provide more T police, provide the State police access to better facilities, AND implement economies of scale? I'll be shocked and elated if this passes.
I'd hate to see the staties charging into - or refusing to charge into - a third rail tunnel because they'd just been rotated into T duty.
Merging in the Massively Deficient Cops and the Capitol Police, who pretty much patrolled the capitol, parks, and roadways in ways that staties are familiar with and trained to handle made a whole lot of sense. Merging in people who (are? should be?) trained to deal with more "beat cop" types of policing in stations and potentially special environments not encountered elsewhere needs some thought if it going to advance the interests of public safety.
Comments
Shock and Awe
Is this really a story about the Massachusetts state police and the Massachusetts MBTA and not similar agencies in some other state? This sounds like a shockingly good idea for the legislators of our Commonwealth to have come up with. Provide more T police, provide the State police access to better facilities, AND implement economies of scale? I'll be shocked and elated if this passes.
Logic
See, they're already used to standing around holes in the ground.
Would MBTA be a special unit?
I'd hate to see the staties charging into - or refusing to charge into - a third rail tunnel because they'd just been rotated into T duty.
Merging in the Massively Deficient Cops and the Capitol Police, who pretty much patrolled the capitol, parks, and roadways in ways that staties are familiar with and trained to handle made a whole lot of sense. Merging in people who (are? should be?) trained to deal with more "beat cop" types of policing in stations and potentially special environments not encountered elsewhere needs some thought if it going to advance the interests of public safety.
Speak of the devil
...and suddenly he appears.
NYC cops and NY Transit reaching agreement on when to stop power to trains to chase suspects
It's not just a Boston issue.
True, but ...
The MTA used to have its own police department. Now it's part of the NYPD.
Huh?
Crime on the T is at a ten year low. Tell me again why a merger is necessary??
Money
All these separate police forces = redundancy = added costs.