Re: Sydney Ticket Inspectors

["Gail BENNETT" <valleyfm@mpx.com.au>]

Hi all,

Section 352 (1) of the Crimes Act 1910 allows for the arrest of any person
who has committed any offence. This is the section which has applied to
CityRail Revenue Protection staff (and anybody else in society). This is
also the general section that police use for arrest.

There is another subsection to s.352, which allows police and special
constable to arrest on suspicion. This means, that any railway officer (or
any other person) can only arrest if they actually saw the offence being
committed. They really cannot act upon information provided to them by a
third party.

The old Section 138 of the former Government Railways Act said that "any
railway officer may seize and detain any persons who has committed an
offence against the provisions of this Act." This Section whilst it may
appear granted similar powers to railway personnel, in reality, it was no
different from s.352(1), hence when the Transport Administration Act was
introduced, s.138 was abolished, because similar legislation already existed
(s.352(1)).

Thesedays if any railway officer is going to arrest, there is a lot they
should know, before they do so. Judges Rules apply, and their subsequent
actions may also be affected by the Anunga Decision in the NT Supreme Court
(which affects all people in law enforcement). In respect to this, the
current training of Revenue Protection Officers at CityRail, I feel, is
extremely adequate - their training is out of date.

Once the officer has decided they are going to arrest the person, that
officer must tell the offender such, and it is advisable to administer a
caution at that time "you are under arrest for the offence of xxxxxxxxxx,
you are cautioned that anything you may say can and may be used in evidence.
Do you understand"?

What is arrest? That is an interesting question. In some situations, it may
be the circumstances in which a person perceives themselves to be. In
respect to CityRail, it could be perceived by taking a person into a Station
Master's office, and a Revenue Protection Officer stands against the door to
the platform - the offender perceives, at that point, that they liberty has
been taken from them because their means of passage has been denied to them.

I feel Melbourne's Revenue Protection officers are better trained, and that
is because most of them were former members of the now defunct Victoria
Transit Patrol.

The nature of training for CityRail's Revenue Protection staff is absolutely
pathetic - they do their job, only half equipped.

As for those private security guards....yes, I believe in Railway Job for
Railway People!

Oh yeah, I work as a fraud investigator in a major Commonwealth Government
Department with my qualifications being achieved thru the Australian Federal
Police.

To all you railway guys (and girls) out there....keep up the good
work...you've gone through so much in recent years - I have a lot of time
for you all!

Gail