Railroad police or railway police are people responsible for the protection of railroad properties, facilities, revenue, equipment, and personnel, as well as carried passengers and cargo. Railroad police may also patrol public rail transit systems.
Transit police are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mass transit provider or municipality, county, district, or state.
Security police usually describes a law enforcement agency which focuses primarily on providing security and law enforcement services to particular areas or specific properties. They may be employed by governmental, public, or private institutions. Security police are generally considered distinct from security guards as security police personnel typically hold some level of law enforcement authority. The exact powers held by security police vary widely between jurisdictions. Examples of these types of agencies include the United States' DoD Police and FBI Police, the Indian Central Industrial Security Force, and the British Civil Nuclear Constabulary.
Special police usually describes a police force or unit within a such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or from other personnel within the same agency, although there is no consistent international definition. Generally, special police personnel hold some level of police powers; sometimes they hold the same powers and authority of other law enforcement officers within their jurisdiction, but at a minimum they will typically possess detainment and arrest authority. 'Special police' is also occasionally used when referring to an 'elite' law enforcement agency or unit, such as special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units or other similar paramilitary forces who have some level of police power. 'Special police' may also be used to describe individuals who are granted police powers incidental to their primary duties, such as welfare fraud investigators, certain security guards, child welfare investigators, and agricultural inspectors. Special police personnel may be armed or unarmed.
The Boston Police Department (BPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1854, the BPD is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. It is also the 20th largest law enforcement agency in the country, with 2,713 sworn and unsworn personnel.
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2024, it has 2,500 sworn troopers and 611 civilian support staff for a total of 3,111 personnel, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England. The MSP is headed by Colonel Geoffrey Noble, the first colonel to not come from State Police ranks.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police is a police force which has primary jurisdiction on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) property and vehicles in each of the 177 cities and towns within the MBTA. The department has grown to an authorized strength of 266 officers and 10 civilians. The majority of the MBTA Police Department's efforts are focused on patrol in Boston and surrounding communities, particularly around heavy rail The department patrols and protects the 5 subway lines to include the Silver Line, 13 commuter rail lines, 4 passenger ferry routes, 181 bus routes and The Ride paratransit system in Massachusetts communities.
Law enforcement in Canada is the responsibility of police services, special constabularies, and civil law enforcement agencies, which are operated by every level of government, some private and Crown corporations, and First Nations. In contrast to the United States or Mexico, and with the exception of the Unité permanente anticorruption in Quebec and the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, there are no organizations dedicated exclusively to the investigation of criminal activity in Canada. Criminal investigations are instead conducted by police services, which maintain specialized criminal investigation units in addition to their mandate for emergency response and general community safety.
Company police are a form of private police and are law enforcement officers (LEOs) that work for companies rather than governmental entities; they may be employed directly by a private corporation or by a private security company which contracts private policing services out to other entities. Company and private police generally provide security police services for their employer's or clients' properties. Company police generally refers to a law enforcement entity controlled specifically by a company, whereas private police generally refers to any law enforcement entity that is privately-controlled, such as the campus police of a private college or university. The authority accorded to company and private police LEOs still flows from a governmental entity and such private LEOs are often still subject to state or municipal law enforcement regulatory bodies.
The Boston University Police Department (BUPD) is the primary law-enforcement agency of Boston University and provides services to more than 41,000 students, faculty, and staff on 132 acres (0.53 km2) of University property and surrounding streets. Its headquarters are located at 32 Harry Agganis Way adjacent to Nickerson Field, in what was once the Braves Field ticket office.
The Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department (RIPSD) in New York City provides safety and security service to residents of Roosevelt Island, and the Manhattan and Roosevelt Islands stations of the Roosevelt Island Tramway, because of the contract that the State of New York made with New York City in 1968 which gave the state a 99-year lease on the land.
A security guard is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets from a variety of hazards by enforcing preventative measures. Security guards do this by maintaining a high-visibility presence to deter illegal and inappropriate actions, looking for signs of crime or other hazards, taking action to minimize damage, and reporting any incidents to their clients and emergency services, as appropriate.
The Alberta Sheriffs Branch is a provincial law enforcement agency overseen by the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services of the province of Alberta, Canada. Under the authority of the Peace Officer Act, Alberta Sheriffs are provincial peace officers with jurisdiction over the province of Alberta. The premier of Alberta has the authority to grant emergency police powers to all Alberta sheriffs during major emergencies within the province. The Alberta Sheriffs Branch is the largest sheriff service in Canada.
Law enforcement in New York City is carried out by numerous federal, state, city and private agencies. New York City has the highest concentration of law enforcement in the United States.
The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) is a department of the New York City government tasked with recruiting, hiring, and training City employees, managing 55 public buildings, acquiring, selling, and leasing City property, purchasing over $1 billion in goods and services for City agencies, overseeing the greenest municipal vehicle fleet in the country, and leading the City's efforts to reduce carbon emissions from government operations among other things.
A private police force, or private police department, in the United States is a law enforcement agency that is:
A special constable or special police constable can refer to an auxiliary or part-time law enforcement officer or a person who is granted certain (special) police powers.
Many municipalities of Massachusetts have their own police departments, as do many colleges and universities. Though most county governments have been abolished, each county still has a Sheriff's Department which operates jails and correctional facilities and service of process within the county.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) is the largest of the police unions representing police officers in the Boston Police Department. As of 2020, it represents approximately 1,500 officers. The BPPA also respresents Boston Emergency Medical Services personal.
