Victoria O'Reilly

Said the following about Thameslink & Great Northern Rail Enforcement Team:

“As Team Leader I would like to nominate both Thameslink and Great Northern Rail Enforcement Teams for Rail Team of the Year. These teams work closely together and cover GTR North routes. Established in January 2016 the team comprises of 20 Officers and 2 Team Leaders. As a new role for TL and GN the teams have broken down barriers and stigmas attached the private Policing role and are now a vital connection between the partnership of GTR and British Transport Police.

REOs are the first port of call for Anti-Social Behaviour, Low Level Crime and education on both networks. REOs are a visual presence to support staff and reassure passengers using our services. They deter crime and provide Crime prevention advice to reduce crime on the network. Since April 2019 alone, REOs have conducted over 3000 train patrols making passengers feel safer when travelling. They have submitted over 260 Intelligence reports to Police - information that would have been lost without them, aiding Police in Crime detection. As well as Intel REOs have assisted Emergency Services 112 times since April, this can be anything from first contact first aid, to controlled interventions to prevent injury to staff and the public.

While on patrols REOs are constantly vigilant the environment around them. Thanks to training from The Samaritans REOs can identify vulnerable people on the network. Approx. 140 vulnerable / suicidal people have been approached and helped by both Thameslink and Great Northern REOs.

This year 2 Great Northern REOS put their own lives at risk when a young female suffering with her Mental Health was seen on the tracks with a train approaching in the distance. On getting to the female she then produced razors having self-harmed. REOs acted quickly pulling her to safety and giving her first aid. She was kept in a safe place for emergency services arrival. On another occasion REOs were finishing shift when a member of the public felt unwell. While waiting for an ambulance the male collapsed suffering heart failure. REOs used the station defibrillator and the male was taken to hospital.

Over 2000 Primary School Children have received educational talks in school as well as being invited to their local station for a 'Try a Train' day where they can practice their personal safety on the Railway first hand.

REOs conduct a number of self-motivated Operations.

OP DARK NIGHT is an overnight patrol of the trains between Bedford and Brighton, reassuring passengers when staff are at minimal numbers. REOs patrol trains and stations helping vulnerable people.

OP BENEDICT is an early morning OP where we identify homeless people sleeping on the trains. They are signposted to shelters and recently we conducted joint patrols with a London based outreach charity.

OP OPUS was in relation to mid-day Anti-Social behaviour and Tissue begging on the route, assisting staff and identifying repeat offenders.

Within the team we have dedicated Officers who have received training and are now - Wellbeing Officers, TRIM Practitioners, Safeguarding Champions, Mental Health First Aider, Personal Safety Group lead, School Liaisons as well as members of the National Rail Care Team.

The teams also received 2 awards this year;

'Company of the Year' Rail Safety Accreditation Scheme - BTP 2018

'Outstanding Team Work' - NATIONAL RAIL AWARDS 2019

Everything comes in three right??? I truly believe they deserve to be recognised this year at the Rail Staff Awards as when people want to run away from bad situations, we run towards them.“