Getting hired on Guilford or MBTA

How do you become an employee for a railroad? A girl I went to school with works for Guilford in the Billing Department but she got the job because her father is an engineer for Guilford. Though she doesn't care too much for trains (has even turned down her fathers offer to sit in the cab with him on one of his trips), she told me she does it because the pay is decent and the benefits are good.
Now most of you may not know, nor care but my dream is in Law enforcement and there's not telling when I will get on a department. The competition is so high in the law enforcement field it almost kills your confidence that you'll ever get hired in the first place. I have applied at a few places so far during the times that they accept applications and there's 250 to 300 other people applying at the same time for one department and half of them already work in the field. Well I think you see my point, so my question is:
Is it worth applying for a railroad (ex: Guilford) because even though being a security officer looks good on a resume, the pay is not great and I need something that will get me somewhere, because it could be a few years before I get on a police department.
So if it's worth it, what do I do? Let's say it’s for the MBTA or Guilford, where do I got, who would I talk to, what do I need to do because I haven't got the slightest idea?

Here's some links:

Guilford

MBCR (MBTA Commuter Rail)

AMDG (School for CSXT)

Many railroads have full-fledged police departments. These aren't just "security guys" -- they're real cops. Guilford's police force, the Boston & Maine Railroad Police Department, is one of the oldest railroad police departments in the country. Sounds like that is what you're looking for.

The MTA in New York city is always looking for Law enforcement officers; if you might consider relocating you might want to check out their website. Their system (Metro north) goes into ct. Good luck!!

Work safe
Derail

I did not know Guilford had a police force. I will have to look into that. Would I go to Iron Horse Park for that or do they have an office elsewhere for there police force. I have a resume all done up but I don't know where to send it to.

MEC407 wrote:Many railroads have full-fledged police departments. These aren't just "security guys" -- they're real cops.

Caveat:
While these railroad and transit police departments have full police powers, they often do not do much of what is traditionally thought of as police work. A lot of transit PD work is static post, acting as a deterent.(In fact they are pretty much police officers doing the job of a security guard). They don't respond to calls or perform traffic enforcement as a municipal PD would. Also, since these departments tend to be limited in scope they won't have all the specialized units a municipal department would (K9, traffic, narcotics).

The B&M RR Police (Guilford) do a lot of work in conjunction with the State Police in their territory and with the local PDs that their tracks travel through. This encompasses everything from teaching the non-railroad police officers how to handle railroad related incidents (as odds are they and the local Fire/EMS will be on scene before the RRPD) to showing them the railroad's yards and trespassing trouble spots to help look out for.

Unfortunately the railroad police department ranks tend to be just as hard to get into since there aren't generally many openings.

Working for the railroad may be your ticket to police work. I work on the railroad, and sometimes see internal job ads for police officers. I sometimes talk with our officers. They mostly patrol the lines. One of our yards is next to a project. Sometimes they need to make sure that our loads are not broken into. Other times they help the local, county, or state police. One of the officers told me that he even makes traffic stops, if someone is driving really crazy.
If you make a good impression in the company, you may have a shot with the rrpd.
I would suggest trying to get on part time in a local dept. If you have been to the academy, you may have a better shot.

A note on railroad police- they *do* have the same powers and concurrent jurisdiction with local police. Ask my boss who used to get tickets on the Thruway from Conrail Police on patrol. Are railroad police involved in "regular" police work? Maybe not as often, but railroad police detectives conduct investigations in matters relating to the railroad, and at certain points hand off cases to local PD. Once, my friend working for the Metro-North Police (now MTA Police) pulled over a speeder on the highway. During the traffic stop he discovered why he was speeding! His car was full of drugs. He was taken into custody and handed off to the NYS Troopers.

-otto-