Amtrak Police New York City

I know most of you guys have worked with the Amtrak Police over the years. They, of course have a large presence at Penn Station in New York.  We had one Amtrak Special Agent in Fort Wort Texas to cover most of Texas and all of Oklahoma.  There are more agents in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles .

It's been 15 years since working with them in New York but, very little has changed since then.  I was able to find my way through Madison Square Garden down through to Penn Station and locate them very quickly.

I ran into David, who had just been the past president of the police union. He was a great guy and very engaging.  He was very surprised to see the UP Police patch.  That is because their patch is almost an exact replica of ours, except for the name.  I told him the reason they were similar to which he replied that it made since. Small thinking by upper management.

He was on the radio pretty quick contacting everyone on duty to if anybody had an Amtrak police patch. No body did but, I'm pretty sure I have one at home somewhere.  I gave them some UP calendars as well, which being a railroad, they really appreciated. 

Compare to Amtrak shoulder patch on their uniforms. 

We talked about several past Amtrak employees we knew mutually but, which all are retired or fired in the last 15 years. During the 2004 Republican National Convention, which was held in Madison Square Garden , we all spent a lot of time here. Our Agents were allowed by Secret Service to have their service weapons on during the detail.  There were state police officers that were not allowed to be armed while protecting their governors.

This is also where Landon McDowell got pissed off at Madonna. We were on a planning trip to NYC a month before the RNC convention started and there was a restaurant really wanted to try right next to Madison Square Garden.  We got there and it was closed because the area around the Garden was closed off due to Madonna having a concert there that night. Landon called her a bad name.  He was not happy. That same street was blocked off today for Trump's visit.

It was good way to end my journey of meeting with police around the world.  I started in New Jersey with my friend Chip Griener, all away around the world and ending in New York City with the Amtrak Police. 

One thing I can say definitively is that our job is the same all around the world.  We live in different countries with different forms of government, different ideologies and a number of different problems and law enforcement challenges but, the job is always the same: to keep the peace and defend the ones who can not defend themselves, which one might find hard to believe in some of the more restrictive human rights countries.

There are plenty of things that we all have to do for politicians that we don't like or don't agree with. However, most of us really care about our community's safety and well-being.  And, we all have to watch our backs and look out for our fellow brothers and sisters in law enforcement. Like I always part by saying, "Be safe. Watch you six."

33nd at MSG blocked off for Trump visit.