RTD-PD, BNSF Railway Police establish working partnership

Building upon an informal relationship in place for years, RTD’s Transit Police Department in December entered a formal working partnership with BNSF Railway Police, enabling RTD’s officers to access BNSF property to enforce grade crossing and trespassing laws through arrest, citation or other lawful means.

The letter of authorization provides a framework for the two entities to share information, gain access to properties and respond to incidents. It is critical for both police departments to work together, given their properties parallel each other through a large portion of the Denver metro region, said BNSF Railway Deputy Chief Jeff Matthews, whose territory encompasses Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and a portion of Oklahoma.

“With the cooperation of RTD Police and Railway Police, the ultimate goal is providing a safe environment for everybody,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter if it’s passenger rail or freight, we are all intertwined.”

BNSF, one of the largest railroad networks in North America, has a police department that includes five officers in Colorado, three of whom are in Denver. RTD’s growing police department has dozens of officers. Cooperation between the two, Matthews noted, enables greater police response.

The agreement moved forward recently after RTD-PD Officers Rob Sobek and Justin Sanders crossed paths in recent months with a BNSF police officer on a service check, said Transit Police Sgt. Alicia Valerio. During a subsequent meeting over coffee in Denver, officers from both agencies discussed areas of focus that are common to both entities, such as the unhoused population, and the need for better communication and collaboration between them.

“And then it was brought to my attention that we had nothing in place that we would communicate with one another,” she said. While the agencies shared some incident-specific information prior to December, Matthews added, it was not happening in a regular, uniform manner.

A meeting with Matthews followed, and a letter of authorization was signed shortly thereafter. This document, Valerio said, “allows officers from RTD to enforce any criminal activity on their (BNSF) property in which our properties run side by side. If we're contacting someone on one side and the individual happens to run over or vice versa, we as two different agencies can come together and tackle that and not worry about the logistics of, whose jurisdiction is this?”

Both leaders outlined several instances in which cooperative policing can prove beneficial to their departments. Perhaps someone tries to access light rail or freight tracks in a specific location, which could lead to a safety or security incident if not addressed. BNSF officers might have a sightline into an encampment on RTD property, information that can help Transit Police determine how to respond. Or, in a specific instance Matthews mentioned, an individual fleeing from RTD officers tossed a suspected weapon onto freight property – and freight personnel recovered the weapon and provided it to Transit Police.

On the day last week when Valerio discussed the partnership, she mentioned that two officers on her team were at 41st•Fox Station on the B and G lines because of information BNSF provided about an encampment there. The photographs they emailed, she said, “gave us the information that we needed. Now I have officers out there working on that campsite throughout this week. With the notices being served, we can call maintenance to get it cleaned up. And we are also prepared to hand out resources if people are willing to accept them, as far as shelter and mental health support.”

Working closely with other police agencies is crucial for an agency like RTD-PD, which operates in all or part of eight counties, Valerio observed. Sharing information leads to better resolution of issues – and better enables staff to be deployed in places with known needs, she said.

The agreement, Valerio said, illustrates that Transit Police is “moving in the right direction. I can assure our community that every day these officers are out there doing