Editing British Transport Police (section)

== History ==
===Early days===
[[File:Flickr - Duncan~ - Police.jpg|thumb|BTP Police station "blue lamp"]]
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2021}}
Private British railway companies employed detectives and police almost from the outset of passenger services in 1826. These companies were unified into four in 1923 then into a single nationalised company in 1947 by the Transport Act, which also created the [[British Transport Commission]] (BTC). On 1 January 1949 the '''British Transport Commission Police''' (BTCP) were created by the British Transport Commission Act 1949<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/8/contents/data.htm |title=Transport Police (Jurisdiction) Act 1994 |website=Legislation.gov.uk |access-date=17 February 2019}}</ref> which combined the already-existing police forces inherited from the pre-nationalisation railways by [[British Railways]] as well as the [[London Passenger Transport Board|London Transport]] Police, canal police and several minor dock forces.  In 1957 the Maxwell-Johnson enquiry found that policing requirements for the railway could not be met by territorial forces and that it was essential that a specialist police force be retained. On 1 January 1962 the British Transport Commission Police ceased to cover [[British Waterways]] property<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Constituent%20Force/Canal%20Forces/Sharpness%20Dock%20Police%20%20(1874%201948).htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040614073125/http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Constituent%20Force/Canal%20Forces/Sharpness%20Dock%20Police%20%20%281874%201948%29.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 June 2004 |title=Sharpness Dock Police (1874–1948) |access-date=28 August 2007}}</ref> and exactly a year later when the BTC was abolished the name of the force was amended to the British Transport Police.

===Racism===
In the 1960s and 1970s BTP officers led by [[Detective Sergeant]] [[Derek Ridgewell]] gave false testimony to obtain convictions of young men in the [[Black British people|British Black community]] on the [[London Underground]] on charges such as assault with intent to rob. Eventually some of the men, who became known as the [[Oval Four]] and [[Stockwell Six]], managed to have their convictions overturned. In November 2021, the BTP chief constable apologised to the black community for the trauma caused by Ridgewell, and said his actions did "not define the BTP of today".<ref name=guardian-20211105>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/05/british-transport-police-apologise-to-uk-black-community-for-corrupt-ex-officer-derek-ridgwell-stockwell-six-oval-four |title=British Transport Police apologise to UK black community for corrupt ex-officer |last1=Gayle |first1=Damien |last2=Mohdin |first2=Aamna |newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 November 2021 |access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref>
In July 2021 Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock stated that a review of Ridgewell's record had "not identified any additional matters that we feel should be referred for external review",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/25/i-just-went-bent-how-britains-most-corrupt-cop-ruined-countless-lives|title='I just went bent': how Britain's most corrupt cop ruined countless lives|first=Simon|last=Hattenstone|date=25 January 2024|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> this proved not to be a reliable statement as the Criminal Case Review Commission subsequently quashed the convictions of Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet, 2 of 12 men convicted on Ridgewell's evidence of theft from a goods depot in 1977. The CCRC appealed for "anyone else who believes that they or a loved one, friend or acquaintance was a victim of a miscarriage of justice to contact the CCRC – particularly if DS Derek Ridgewell was involved.",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ccrc.gov.uk/news/convictions-quashed-after-persistent-pro-active-ccrc-investigation/|title=Convictions quashed after persistent pro-active CCRC investigation|date=18 January 2024}}</ref> indicating that there are many further victims of this corrupt, racist officer that the BTP have not identified in their flawed review.

===Changes===
In 1984 [[London Buses]] decided not to use the British Transport Police. The British Transport Docks Board followed in 1985 when it was privatised. This included undertaking immigration control at smaller ports until the Immigration Service expanded. The force crest still includes ports and harbours.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} BTP left the last ports it policed in 1990. The force played a central role in the response to the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]]. Three of the incidents were at London Underground stations: [[Edgware Road]] (Circle Line), [[Russell Square]] and [[Aldgate]] stations, and the Number 30 bus destroyed at [[Tavistock Square]] was very close to the then force headquarters of the BTP, the latter incident being responded to initially by officers from the force. 

Like its predecessors, the BTP only powers available under [[common law]] to [[parishes]], landowners and other bodies to appoint [[constable]]s to patrol land and/or property under their control.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} This is distinct from the establishment of a police force by statute, as applicable to the [[Metropolitan Police]] in 1829. BTP finally gained jurisdiction on a statutory basis by the enactment of the Transport Police (Jurisdiction) Act 1994,<ref>{{cite web |title=Transport Police (Jurisdiction) Act 1994 |website=Statutelaw.gov.uk |url=http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&Year=1994&number=8&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1390154&ActiveTextDocId=1390154&filesize=19507 |date=24 March 1994 |access-date=8 June 2009}}</ref> which was subsequently amended by the [[Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/en2003/03en20-a.htm |title=Explanatory Notes to Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 – Background – paragraph 59 |website=Opsi.gov.uk |date=11 August 2003 |access-date=8 June 2009}}</ref>

===21st century===
In 2010, the force's dog training was moved from a force-specific training establishment near [[Tadworth]], Surrey (opened in 1984) to the Metropolitan Police's Dogs Training School in [[Keston]], London Borough of Bromley. In May 2011, the [[Secretary of State for Transport]] [[Philip Hammond]] announced that British Transport Police would create an armed capability of its own with the added benefit of additional resilience and capacity to the overall UK police armed capability.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13521747 |title=Transport police to be armed to counter terror threat |work=BBC News |access-date=11 December 2012 |date=24 May 2011}}</ref> The BTP are deployed on armed patrols using [[Glock 17]] pistols, [[Lewis Machine and Tool Company|LMT]] [[AR-15]] CQB carbines<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lmtdefense.com/ |title=Lewis Machine & Tool Company - Complete Weapon Systems |website=Lmtdefense.com |access-date=17 February 2019}}</ref> and [[taser]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuZDjgsjBUo | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726132807/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuZDjgsjBUo&feature=youtu.be| archive-date=26 July 2012 | url-status=dead|title=Policing the railways - Armed police |publisher=British Transport Police |access-date=11 December 2012 |via=YouTube}}</ref>