Youth Justice: your guide to cops and court in New South Wales. Supplement - February Transit Officers

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1 Youth Justice: your guide to cops and court in New South Wales Supplement - February 2007 The following section is a new section and should be read following the Chapter After court which ends on page 278. This section is written by Timothy Khoo, Youth Education Project, Macquarie Legal Centre, with thanks to Vanessa Ford from YAPA for her excellent fact sheets which can be found on the YAPA website, < Transit Officers It is easy to be confused about the range of security officers on trains and buses in NSW as there are a number of different types of officers. On CityRail trains in NSW you may find Transit Officers, Revenue Protection Officers and Transit Police. Each of these types of Officer has different powers and responsibilities. Transit Officers The most common type of security officer you will see on trains are Transit Officers. There are over 600 Transit Officers who regularly patrol CityRail trains in NSW. You can normally identify them by their dark grey uniform and yellow badges. Transit Officers are authorised by the Rail Safety Act 2002 (NSW) and the Rail Safety Regulation 2003 (NSW). Under this legislation, Transit Officers have the power to do a number of things, for example: They can ask you to show them your ticket They can demand your name and address if they suspect on reasonable grounds that you have committed a railway offence They can ask to see your concession card (if you have one) They can detain you with reasonable force for the length of time it takes to obtain this information They can also detain anyone who refuses to give their name and address until the police arrive If they think that you are committing an offence under the Regulations, they can tell you to leave the train or station. If you don t do as they tell you, you can be fined and/or removed by the officer They can confiscate a concession card that is incomplete, fake or being misused They can arrest you if they catch you committing an offence (this is the same citizen s arrest power that security guards and people who are not police officers have). Note: To exercise some of these powers, a transit officer has to be appointed an authorised officer under section 111 of the Rail Safety Act. However, most transit officers are probably authorised officers. One of the main functions of Transit Officers is to ensure that all passengers on the train system comply with the Regulations. When they see people who are not complying with the Regulations they will issue fines (infringement notices). Fines may be issued for a number of reasons (see table below for some examples of offences and fines)

2 2 Youth justice: your guide to cops and court in New South Wales Common offences On the spot fine Maximum fine Eating or drinking on train (unless for medical reasons) $100 $550 Putting feet on seats $100 $550 Littering $200 $1100 Not producing ticket when asked $200 $550 Possessing anything intended for use in damaging $200 $1100 property (eg spray paint) on any train or railway land Travelling on the stairs of a double decker train $200 $550 Travelling without a valid ticket* $200 $550 Using a concession ticket when not entitled to* $200 $550 Blocking train doors $400 $5500 Drinking alcohol (including possession of an opened $400 $1100 container of alcohol) on trains/stations Graffiti or vandalism $400 $2200 Offensive behaviour $400 $1100 Smoking under covered station area $400 $1100 Trespassing on railway land $400 $5500 Using offensive language $400 $1100 Less common offences Not returning lost property $100 $550 Throwing things at or from a train or station $400 $2200 Spitting $400 $1100 Without reasonable excuse: using the PA on the train or station, applying or releasing any brake on a train, using or interfering with safety equipment on the train, throwing anything at or interfering with any electricity supply line $400 $27,500 * If you are under 18 and travel without a valid ticket or concession card, the prescribed fine is $50 instead of $200. ** Please note: This list is not meant to be comprehensive and you should be aware that there are other offences which you may be fined for. It is also important to know that due to CityRail policy, Transit Officers have no discretion whether or not to issue fines when they see an offence being committed. This means that if they see you committing an offence, they must issue you with an infringement notice (although it should be noted that this is currently being debated). Some Transit Officers have extra powers and are called special constables. Special constables are impossible to identify though as they wear exactly the same uniform and badge as normal Transit Officers. Special constables have the power to do everything a Transit Officer can do, as well as the same powers as NSW Police (see Transit Police below) What can t they do? If the Transit Officer isn t a special constable, they cannot arrest anyone simply because they suspect you have done something. They also cannot search you without your consent. If you want to complain about a Transit Officer you should get their name and/or badge number and contact CityRail on If you are not happy with the way that CityRail deals with your complaint, you should complain to the NSW Ombudsman.

3 Transit officers 3 Revenue Protection Officers These officers are not generally found on the trains but are usually based at train stations. They normally wear white shirts and dark pants and this can make identifying them a bit more difficult. Their main job is to check passenger s tickets at the train stations. Revenue Protection Officers generally have the same powers as Transit Officers, but as they are based at the station they will not use the same range of powers that Transit Officers do. For example, they can ask for your name, address or other identification. They can ask to see your ticket and concession card (if you have one). They can also confiscate your concession card if it is incomplete, fake or being misused. Revenue Protection Officers can also issue infringement notices for any offences under the Rail Safety Regulations (see above table for examples). What can t they do? It is important to note that they can t arrest you for suspecting that you have committed an offence. They must have actually seen you commit the offence to detain you lawfully. Like Transit Officers, they cannot arrest you on suspicion or search you if you don t consent. If you want to make a complaint about a Revenue Protection Officer, follow the same procedure as complaining about a Transit Officer (see Transit Officers above). Transit Police These officers are actually part of NSW Police and can be easily spotted by their blue police uniforms. Sometimes though the police officers may be in plain clothes and can t be clearly identified. Transit police may also include drug squad police and sniffer dogs (see Police drug sniffer dogs). Transit Police have all the powers of Transit Officers, as well as all the powers of the NSW Police. For example: They can demand your name and address in some situations They can search you (see Police searches) They can ask for tickets, identification and concession cards They can give you a reasonable direction to move on if they reasonably believe you are obstructing, harassing, intimidating or likely to cause fear to other people, or are hanging around to buy or sell drugs. If you don t move on after two warnings you may be fined $220 (see Police directions in public places) They can arrest you if they know or suspect on reasonable grounds that you have committed an offence, breached your bail conditions or if they have a warrant If you are under 18, police also have the option of dealing with you under the Young Offenders Act using warnings, cautions or conferencing (see Young Offenders Act). If you want to make a complaint about the Transit Police, you should get their name or badge number and complain to their Local Area Commander (they should tell you which police station they are from). If you have a very serious complaint (for example, if you are assaulted by an officer) you should also complain to the NSW Ombudsman. If you have a story about an experience with Transit Officers, either good or bad, check out YAPA s goodcopbadcop at < Here you can see some other people s experiences with Transit Officers as well as being able to share your own anonymously. What happens if I get fined? Even though CityRail policy suggests that there is no discretion for Transit Officers in issuing infringement notices, it appears that Transit Officers may sometimes exercise discretion and do not necessarily fine everyone that they see commit an offence. So if a Transit Officer comes to talk to you

4 4 Youth justice: your guide to cops and court in New South Wales about something and you can give them a good reason for why you were committing the offence, you may not be fined. Most of the time a transit officer will issue you with an infringement notice straight away. Sometimes though, you may not get a fine until days later in the mail. If you do get a fine, there are a number of ways to deal with it (see also Fines). 1. Pay it You may accept that you did something wrong and that you should just cop the punishment for it. Or even if you don t agree with the fine, you may still decide to pay it as you may not want the hassle and delay of going to court to defend it. If you decide to pay the fine, it is a good idea to pay it within the time specified on the infringement notice, which is usually 21 days. If you don t pay within 21 days, you will be sent a reminder notice which gives you another 28 days. If you don t have the money to pay the entire amount of the fine straight away, you will have to wait until the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO) makes an enforcement order, which normally happens after a further 28 days of the fine not being paid. You can then write to them and ask to pay by instalments. However, you should be aware that when the SDRO makes an enforcement order, they will add another $50 to the fine for an enforcement charge. 2. Defend it You may disagree with the fine that has been issued. You may dispute that you committed the offence, or you may argue that the fine issued is too much. If you want to defend the fine, you should fill out the court election form which will be on the back of the infringement notice before the 21 days expires. You may also be able to elect to take the matter to court in the additional 28 day period. In those 21 days it is also a good idea to seek legal advice. A community legal centre or legal aid may be able to help you with your matter (see Getting legal advice and assistance). You might also want to write a letter to the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO), who are responsible for dealing with the fine, and ask for the fine to be cancelled if there are special circumstances and you have evidence to prove it. If the SDRO refuses your request, you can still defend the fine at court. The SDRO will give you extra time to elect to take the matter to court as you won t get a response from them within the 21 day period. If you do choose to defend the matter at court you will be sent a court attendance notice which will tell you what court you need to attend and when. If you were under 18 when you were issued the infringement notice, you will go to a Children s Court. If you were over 18 you will have to go to a Local Court. You should be warned though, if you go before the court and are found to be guilty, the magistrate may increase your fine up to the maximum specified (see table above). In some cases, this can mean a fine of $200 being increased to $1100 or a fine of $400 being increased to $2200! You might also have to pay court costs. For young people, this doesn t happen very often however. In fact, even if you are found guilty (or plead guilty) in court, if you can explain to the magistrate that you cannot afford to pay the fine, the magistrate may dismiss the matter with a caution or section 10 or reduce the fine. You can also make an arrangement at the court to pay a fine by instalments. Note: In certain circumstances, some people may not get an infringement notice or fine for railway offences but might instead be arrested and charged (or issued with a court attendance notice by the police). This might happen if the transit officers or police think you are a serious repeat offender or if they can t verify your identity. What is a reasonable excuse for travelling on the train without a valid ticket? Under the Regulations it will NOT be a reasonable excuse to travel on a train without a ticket if: You would have been late if you had to pay for your ticket before you got on a train You were planning to buy a ticket when you got to your destination If you defend the matter at court, it IS a defence if you can show: That it appeared to you, after looking around, that there were no facilities to purchase a ticket before getting on the train. For example, if there were no station attendants and the ticket vending machines were out of order.

5 Transit officers 5 That you took all the steps reasonably required to pay for the ticket before travelling on the train but were unable to pay the fare or obtain the ticket due to circumstances outside of your control. For example, you got to the station with plenty of time before your train was going to leave, but there were no station attendants so the line at the ticket vending machine was really long. You were then waiting in that line and the machine broke down. The court has the ultimate discretion to decide whether or not the fine was issued to you lawfully and can deal with the fine in a number of ways. Those circumstances are not necessarily the only ones that will allow you to defend the matter however. You may have another good excuse which the magistrate can take into account in deciding how to deal with your matter.