Customer Reviews

Policing Mass Transit: A Comprehensive Approach to Designing a Safe, Secure, and Desirable Transit Policing and Management System

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Policing Mass Transit is a book well suited to students of mass transit as well as practitioners in the transit industry. One of the best features, mentioned in my heading, is the blending or theory with practical application.

The first section of the book has three chapters devoted to the theory of discussion of creating a management system for a safe and secure transit system. That theoretical discussion allows the reader to then appreciate the actual security plan developed by one transit agency, which is contained in one of the appendices. It is probably the best feature of book that allows both students and profeessionals within the field to use the book to improve their understanding of policing a public transportation system.

Following the theoretical basis for creating a community oriented security system, the book then looks at all parts of modern transit systems: buses, trains and fixed locations. It is in this section of the book that each of the parts of a typical system are fiven individual attention with practical suggestions of improving the policing of any public transportation system.

The third and final section deals with special considerations every transit manager must understand. Of particular interest to me is the section on the potential of mass transit being a target of terrorism.

While greater attention could have been given to some of the topics in the last section, overall I found the book a very good combination of theory and practice. It will be of use to both those already within the profession and as a text book for those studying mass transit, law enforcement and planning.

As Reviewed by Larry R. Moore:

Policing Mass Transit is an asset to communities and local governments; transit planners; port, rail, and bus authorities; police policy/procedures developers; and training designers. It proves essential reading for trainers, transit construction and subcontractor vendors, and specific members of the criminal justice system who may have a direct or inderict interest in policing transit modes and bringing criminals to justice.

Mass transit security changed forever in March 1995 when the Aum Shinrikyo sect
placed five canisters of diluted sarin gas into the Tokyo subway system, killing 12
people and sickening thousands. That single incident gave the world a taste of the
potential for mass destruction within the mass transit system.

Mass transit security has become a specialty in and of itself, and Kurt R. Nelson has
given this emerging field a treatise of its own. Nelson explores the goals and
elements of transit policing, examines tactical considerations and approaches to
transit issues, and delves into special issues of modern life that affect mass transit
safety, such as terrorism, youth behavior, and disabled passengers.

The book also contains three valuable appendices: a customer security survey,
transit laws, and the Tri-Met (Portland, Oregon) security system plan and program.
The latter, at 76 pages, outlines the process that the transit authority used in 1998 to
develop security programs and incorporate security into its business philosophy. It
includes sections on security roles and responsibilities, security plan management,
and threats and vulnerabilities, among others. This appendix, like the book as a
whole, is of value to police officers, transit security officers, and directors of security
involved in mass transit.