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<DIV><FONT size=4>Fred</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>Another problem in East St Louis and east of it is officious
security guards who tell you not to photograph the trams.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>Dwight</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fwschneider@comcast.net
href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">Fred Schneider</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 02 August, 2013 12:41</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Western PA Trolley
discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [PRCo] Fwd: PRCo Armed Motormen</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">The
Armed Trolley Motorman discussion borders on a "Stop the World, I want off"
discussion. <BR><BR>I recall an item that my aunt sent to me from a Washington,
DC, newspaper about 1954, when my uncle was spending his summers at the
University of Maryland working on his doctoral thesis. Seems a chap
boarded a Glen Echo - Cabin John car at a rural stop late in the evening, helped
himself to all the motorman's cash, and then left in the woods. It
was so unusual back then that it was front page news. <BR><BR>Just a few
years later Philadelphia Transportation Company was making plans to shorten the
37 (or was it 36 by then) car line from the loop in the swamps to a new loop
closer to civilization because they were tiring of motormen losing their change
boxes. <BR><BR>The period mentioned in these posts … late 1960s and
early 1970s … was when SEPTA installed flashing police call lights on all
vehicles to enable a driver being held up to summon police. See the
yellow light on the roof at the front of the vehicle … it's there to call the
cops. But that was a period when those problems were in the big
cities. The small cities were almost considered immune.
<BR><BR>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SEPTA_New_Flyer_DE40LF_5606H.jpg <BR><BR>Sad
isn't it. Lancaster, at that time, simply reduced the amount of
money operators carried because smaller cities were safe. The money
changer was no longer openly visible. They suggested you should have
exact fare but if you didn't, the operator could reach in his box, pull out the
changer and make change. Today, with a knifing or gun slaying almost
every week in Lancaster, no one would even think of subjecting a bus driver to
carrying change. Harrisburg had 15 killings in January through April
2013 … same problem. I just searched Johnstown on line … in 2010: 3
murders, 6 rapes, 43 robberies and 53 assaults … 105 major crimes in a
city of only 23,000 people. It is no longer the big
cities. It's everywhere.<BR><BR>I have a buddy who lives in downtown
Reading … known him since we were in high school. He lives in a high
rise apartment. Claims he doesn't go out at night … just sits upstairs and
listens to the gunfire on the streets below.<BR><BR>Camden, NJ, a small city
across the river from Philly, has become one of those don't go there
places. Your chance of being murdered in Camden was 61 per 100,000
in 2011. It has a population of around 77,000 so that's 47 killings a year
… just slightly lower than one per week … and that was before murders
skyrocketed because the city ran out of money and they disbanded the city police
force in 2013. <BR><BR>Probably the one place you don't want to go to
photograph light rail cars is East Saint Louis … small city and it doesn't
appear on the radar in most cases because the crime statistics you read only
show the big places like Detroit and St. Louis. But East Saint
Louis, Illinois gives you 92 chances out of 100,000 of being murdered in a year
… probably the worst in the country. Far worse than St. Louis which
you read in the papers. It's one of those towns where you have to be
careful when you drive because the crooks steal manhole covers and sell them for
scrap.<BR><BR>And if you think you can avoid it by moving … pick a city and look
it up on the internet. I just picked Fargo, North
Dakota. Population is about 105,000. You have one chance
in 100,000 of being murdered. 45 chances of being robbed. 190
chances of being assaulted. <BR><BR>
http://www.cityoffargo.com/CityInfo/Departments/Police/CitizenResources/CrimeStatistics/<BR><BR>I
remember listening to a western Minnesota radio station a few years ago that was
telling its listeners that the drug culture loved rural areas because the police
were not as sophisticated as they were in the big cities.<BR><BR>Beam me up
Scotty….<BR><BR>Begin forwarded message:<BR><BR>> From: John Swindler
<j_swindler@hotmail.com><BR>> Date: August 2, 2013 10:44:23 AM
EDT<BR>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
<pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org><BR>> Subject: Re: [PRCo]
PRCo Armed Motormen<BR>> Reply-To: Western PA Trolley discussion
<pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org><BR>> <BR>> <BR>> What
about Dayton around 1970?? Didn't the private operator publicize that the
bus operators would be deputized? <BR>> <BR>> Exact fare (Removal of
cash from operators) occurred after a D.C. transit operator was gunned down
around 1970.<BR>> <BR>> They told us at CTA in 1968 not to argue or get
into a fight - we were not paid to be a hero. Chicago was averaging about
a thousand bus robbery's a year. During one of my summers, a 12-Roosevelt
bus operator was gunned down. He was a foreign student working for the
summer and may not have fully understood "give me da money".<BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>> From: hrbran@cavtel.net<BR>>>
Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2013 09:34:57 -0400<BR>>> To:
pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo
Armed Motormen<BR>>> <BR>>> It was against PATransit policy to allow
any employee to carry a firearm. I<BR>>> remember Harold Geissenheimer did
discuss that topic one time after<BR>>> Division 85 of the Amalgamated
Transit Union put forth the idea of<BR>>> operators and mechanics being
allowed to carry guns. This was after scores<BR>>> of operator assaults,
myself being a victim included. Policy remained the<BR>>>
same.............no guns. The same is true at Greater Cleveland
Regional<BR>>> Transit Authority.........no guns. In Cleveland, even with
a "permit to<BR>>> carry", one was required to secure the weapon in your
private vehicle<BR>>> before coming into the station.<BR>>>
<BR>>> With individual states beginning to allow teachers and school
personnel to<BR>>> be armed, and given the American habit of "pushing the
envelope", we may at<BR>>> some point see some states allowing transit
personnel to be armed. Transit<BR>>> operator assaults are on the rise
again all over North America and this<BR>>> will play into any decision on
armed transit personnel.<BR>>> <BR>>> As for the newspaper article,
it almost seems comic. The operator had time<BR>>> to "hoist the front
trolley pole" before the robber got from the rear of<BR>>> the car to stop
him? Please! People were easily convinced of anything back<BR>>> in
1931.<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 8:21 AM,
Lattner, Raymond <rlattner@pa.gov> wrote:<BR>>> <BR>>>> Ed,
I guess you will probably be the only one who may be able to<BR>>>>
answer this, did the company actually ever arm PRCo operators?<BR>>>>
<BR>>>> Anything in your files regarding this? Also, did PAT ever
consider arming<BR>>>> its operators? Are PAT employees allowed to
carry if permitted?<BR>>>> <BR>>>> Any idea what kind of
police force PRCo had?<BR>>>> <BR>>>> Thanks<BR>>>>
<BR>>>> Ray<BR>>>> <BR>>>> Article dated October
1931.<BR>>>> <BR>>>> <BR>>>> <BR>>>>
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_______________________________________________<BR>>>>
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Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>>>
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<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> -- <BR>>> Herb
Brannon<BR>>> *In Pittsburgh...The Paris of<BR>>>
Appalachia<http://www.arc.gov/appalachian_region/TheAppalachianRegion.asp><BR>>>
*<BR>>> Let's Go Bucs<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>>
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