British Transport Police

A police service wholly independent of the conventional HomeOffice police services, deriving from the private forces established by railway companies when they were founded, and who were responsible, inter alia, for signalling before mechanical systems were devised. The BTP are responsible for preventing and detecting crime on the railway system, including the LondonUnderground^?, and for investigating rail accidents. The MetropolitanPolice retain the closest liaison with the BTP, especially with regard to crime on the Underground. Such famous cases of the 1840s as those of Daniel Good, or John Tawell (the first murderer arrested by use of the electric telegraph) were resolved by the cooperation of the Met with what were then known as "the Railway Police".

• Fido, Martin, and Keith Skinner. The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard. Rev. and updated ed. London: Virgin, 2000.

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 29 Jan 2005