James Edwards joined Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) as a Rail Enforcement Officer in 2016, where he worked on the frontline to help crack down on antisocial behaviour.
As part of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Awareness Week (30 June – 6 July), James, now a Rail Enforcement Team Leader for Thameslink, shared how the rail operator is tackling abuse and disorder a year on from launching its £2.5 million Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan.
“I’ve always been passionate about keeping the public safe, which is why I worked at the Metropolitan Police for 13 years before joining GTR. I enjoyed my time with the police because I learnt how to solve issues at a community level, but I wanted to transfer my skills to a new industry, so I successfully applied for GTR’s Rail Enforcement Officer role.
“After four years in rail, I felt confident taking the next step in my career and applied for the Rail Enforcement Team Leader role because I want customers to travel with us without fear of crime or antisocial behaviour on the network.”
GTR has delivered on its pledge to roll out more than 1,500 Body Worn Video (BWV) cameras to frontline staff, which James says has helped prevent violence towards colleagues. The train company is also improving its training and aftercare so staff feel supported following incidents.
“It’s encouraging to see more colleagues are wearing bodycams because it helps calm down a situation if a member of the public is being abusive. This is based on my own experience when a member of the public was shouting at me, so I activated my camera and explained they were being recorded, which immediately deescalated the incident. Wearing bodycams can also reduce the burden of railway colleagues going to court to give evidence if they become victims of crime, as the footage can often provide enough information.
“We’re also bolstering support for colleagues who have been verbally or physically abused by closely examining the reports logged through GTR’s Zero Harm app, which is used to investigate and tackle incidents. My team go to the station where the incident happened to talk to the affected member of staff and their colleagues so we can gather more detail which may not have been included in the initial report, such as a full description of the offender and the inappropriate language used.”
Over the past year GTR has also doubled the number of Travel Safe Officers (TSO) on its network from 20 to 40. TSOs make approximately 300 interventions across the GTR network per period ranging from ticketing issues, ASB, workplace violence, concern for welfare and medical issues. Forty TSO’s were deployed on New Year’s Eve last year on targeted trains and stations – zero workplace violence incidents were recorded at those locations, demonstrating that a visible presence works at deterring ASB.
James, who lives in Watford, also highlighted that the rail company is working closer with policing and prosecutions teams to remove offenders from the network, while making customers feel more confident with reporting crime.
“The improvement plan has really emphasised the importance of sharing information with the British Transport Police (BTP) and Home Office forces because we know we share a lot of the same issues. For example, if someone is causing an issue at a station there’s a chance we know who they are, so if other teams inform us we can restrict their movements or remove them from the network.
“We’re also doing more patrols with the BTP on board services where we give customers crime prevention advice and hand out the BTP’s 61016 text service. This means the public and rail colleagues can contact the BTP directly and discreetly to report an incident which has happened, issues affecting their journey or local station, or ask a general police enquiry. These are all steps we’re taking to create a safer and more secure railway for passengers.”
Image credit: GTR
