Gen. 51] 51

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY – EXECUTIVE ORDER –

TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY POLICE MAY PATROL

MARC RAILROAD TRAINS AND STATIONS

June 14, 2007

Mr. Ronald L. Freeland

Executive Secretary

Maryland Transportation Authority

You have asked whether Maryland Transportation Authority

Police may be assigned to patrol MARC railroad trains and stations,

including Amtrak stations.

As set forth in greater detail below, State law allows for the

jurisdiction of the Transportation Authority Police to be extended by

order of the Governor. A 2004 executive order directed the

Transportation Authority Police to exercise police powers to protect

publicly owned and common carrier “transportation assets” – a

phrase that includes MARC trains and stations served by MARC

trains. Thus, in our opinion, Transportation Authority police officers

may be assigned to patrol MARC trains and stations in Maryland,

including Amtrak stations served by MARC trains. The

Transportation Authority Police may enter into agreements with the

other law enforcement agencies that also have jurisdiction over those

locations, including the Amtrak Police Department, to coordinate

their efforts.

I

Background

A. Maryland Transportation Authority Police

The lineage of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police

can be traced back to several police forces that were created

beginning in the middle of the 20 century to patrol various th

transportation facilities in Maryland – including the State Roads

Commission Bridge Guards, the Harbor Tunnel Special Police, the

Maryland Port Authority Special Police, the State Aviation

Administration Police, and others. See MdTA Police Milestones at

<http://www.mdta.state.md.us/mdta/servlet/dispatchServlet?url=/

Police/policeMain.jsp>. By 1998, these various law enforcement
52 [92 Op. Att’y

The expanded jurisdiction under these particular provisions does 1

not extend to highways or “other public property or waterway open for

public conveyance.” TR §4-208(b)(2)(i).

agencies had all been absorbed into what is now known as the

Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Id.

Currently, under State law, the Transportation Authority Police

may exercise police powers on property “owned, leased, or operated

by or under the control of the Maryland Transportation Authority,

Maryland Aviation Administration, and Maryland Port

Administration.” Annotated Code of Maryland, Transportation

Article (“TR”), §4-208(b)(1). Indeed, the statute directs the

Transportation Authority Police to provide police services to those

three agencies. TR §4-208(e).

In addition, the jurisdiction of the Transportation Authority

Police can be extended to other property of the State Department of

Transportation, as well as the area within a 500-foot perimeter of

agency property, if the Governor declares a state of emergency or if

necessary “to protect against actual or threatened physical injury or

damage to State employees or State property or assets” and certain

procedural requirements are satisfied. TR §4-208(b)(2)-(3).1

Finally, and most pertinent to your question, the statute provides:

(4) The police officer may not exercise

[police] powers on any other property unless:

(i) Engaged in fresh pursuit of a

suspected offender;

(ii) Speci a ll y r e q u e st ed o r

permitted to do so in a political subdivision by

its chief executive officer or its chief police

officer; or

(iii) Ordered to do so by the

Governor.

TR §4-208(b)(4). 

In 2004, the Governor invoked the authority delegated by the

Legislature in TR §4-208(b)(4)(iii) to expand the jurisdiction of the

Transportation Authority Police. The Governor directed, in an

executive order, as follows:
Gen. 51] 53

 Those circumstances include joint investigations with other 2

police agencies, situations where the officer is rendering assistance to

another officer or is acting at the request of another officer and emergency

situations. CP §2-102(b)(3). In those circumstances, the officer must be

acting in compliance with the regulations of the officer’s department and

must notify certain local police officials. CP §2-102(b)(3)(ii), (c). 

The Maryland Transportation Authority

Police, while on duty, under the authority of

the Chief of the Transportation Authority

Police, shall, pursuant to Section 4-

208(b)(4)(iii) ... and by this Executive Order,

have all the powers granted to a peace officer

and a police officer of this State as provided

by law, henceforth with expanded jurisdiction

and authority to protect its facilities and areas

of primary jurisdiction and to enhance the

protection and safety of all publicly owned,

commercial, and/or common carrier

transportation assets throughout the State.

The Maryland Transportation Authority shall

adopt policies and procedures to implement

the provisions of this Executive Order and to

ensure the safe, efficient, and cooperative

provision of law enforcement services in

instances in which the expanded jurisdiction

and authority is exercised in this State.

COMAR 01.01.2004.28B (May 18, 2004) (emphasis added).

Transportation Authority police officers also have the same

authority as other police officers in the State to make arrests, conduct

investigations, and otherwise enforce the laws of the State

throughout the State in specified circumstances authorized by

statute or when acting in fresh pursuit. See Annotated Code of 2

Maryland, Criminal Procedure Article (“CP”), §2-102; see also 89

Opinions of the Attorney General 66, 70-72 (2004); 89 Opinions of

the Attorney General 158 (2004).

B. MARC Trains and Stations

Since the mid-1970s, the State has provided the rolling stock

for commuter rail service in the Maryland and entered into operating

agreements with various railroads to provide that service. See
54 [92 Op. Att’y

In addition, one station is owned by the City of Gaithersburg and 3

one station is owned by the National Park Service.

H i s t o r y of M A R C at

<http://www.mtamaryland.com/about/transitprofiles/>.

That service has operated under the logo “MARC” since 1983 and

is currently overseen by the Maryland Transit Administration, one

of the modal administrations of the Maryland Department of

Transportation. TR §§2-107, 7-902. Currently, the MARC system

provides commuter rail service from Perryville and Baltimore (and

intermediary points) to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It also

provides service from Frederick, and Martinsburg, West Virginia,

(and intermediary points) to Union Station. MARC trains stop at 42

stations. Most of the passenger stations served by MARC trains are

owned or leased by the State and operated by the Transit

Administration; four of the stations are owned by Amtrak, the

federally chartered and owned interstate passenger railroad.3

Various law enforcement authorities have jurisdiction with

respect to MARC trains and stations. The Maryland Transit

Administration Police exercise police powers on “property owned,

leased, or operated upon, by, or under the control of the [Maryland

Transit] Administration],” which includesrailroad facilities. TR §7-

207(b)(1). However, that jurisdiction does not limit the authority of

other police agencies, such as the Maryland Transportation Authority

police, on such property. TR §7-207(b)(2). The Amtrak Police

Department is authorized under federal law to provide security for

passengers and property of Amtrak. 49 U.S.C. §24305(e). In

addition, law enforcement agencies in the jurisdictions where

stations and tracks are located also may exercise police powers in

those locations.

II

Analysis

The General Assembly has defined by statute the areas within

which a Transportation Authority police officer ordinarily may

exercise police powers – essentially State-operated toll facilities,

airport facilities, and port facilities. TR §4-208. The statute

prohibits officers from normally exercising police powers on other

property “unless ... [o]rdered to do so by the Governor.” TR §4-
Gen. 51] 55

 The provision allowing for extension of jurisdiction pursuant to

4

a gubernatorial order had been a part of the statutes governing the State

Aviation Police and the Toll Facilities Police, two of the predecessors of

the Transportation Authority police, since 1974. Chapter 665, §§2, 4,

Laws of Maryland 1974, then codified at Article 1A, §42(b) and Article

41, §208C(d), respectively.

208(b)(4)(iii). In accordance with that delegation, the Governor has 4

issued such an order. That order grants the Transportation Authority

Police “expanded jurisdiction and authority ... to enhance the

protection and safety of all publicly owned, commercial, and/or

common carrier transportation assets throughout the State.”

COMAR 01.01.2004.28B.

Whether this order gives the Transportation Authority Police

authority to patrol MARC trains and stations turns on whether they

are properly characterized as “publicly owned, commercial, and/or

common carrier transportation assets.” The order does not define the

term “transportation asset.” There is no question that MARC’s

rolling stock is “publicly owned.” Other railroad property used for

operation of the trains, such as the MARC and Amtrak stations, even

if not “publicly owned,” surely could be characterized as belonging

to a commercial enterprise or a common carrier. Cf. Annotated

Code of Maryland, Public Utility Companies Article, §1-101(e)

(defining “common carrier” to include railroads). Moreover, it is

notable that the executive order was issued in the spring of 2004

shortly after terrorist bombings targeted commuter trains and train

stations in Madrid, Spain. Undoubtedly the order was intended to

allow Transportation Authority police officers to augment the

existing law enforcement units that serve commuter trains and

stations in Maryland.

We understand that, at the time the Executive Order was

issued, the Chief of the Transportation Authority Police construed

the phrase “transportation asset” broadly in a general order that he

issued to all Transportation Authority police personnel. General

Order # 04-20 (May 24, 2004). Among other things, he construed

the phrase to include “any ... vehicle, ... conveyance, railroad, ... or

other transportation resource, public or private, including those

described in Transportation Article §21-101....” TR §21-101 defines

a number of transportation-related terms, including “railroad” and

“railroad train.” See TR § 21-101(p), (r); see also TR §7-101(j)

(defining “railroad facility” to include “any facility used in providing

railroad services,” including locomotives, cars, and real property).

 Thus, it is clear that the agency charged with carrying out the
56 [92 Op. Att’y

 We need not decide whether every term in TR §21-101 should 5

properly be considered a “transportation asset” within the meaning of the

Executive Order, as there can be little dispute that the ordinary plain

meaning of transportation asset would encompass a railroad station or

railroad train. 

Executive Order interpreted it to include railroads and railroad trains

at the time the order was issued. Cf. Adventist Health Care, Inc. v.

Maryland Health Care Commission, 392 Md. 103, 119-20, 896 A.2d

320 (2006) (courts show great deference to interpretation of statute

or regulation by agency charged with its administration); Maryland

Transportation Authority v. King, 369 Md. 274, 288-89, 799 A.2d

1246 (2002) (same).5

This interpretation of the Executive Order was well known.

An analysis of the Transportation Authority’s budget prepared by

legislative staff for the 2005 session of the General Assembly

reported that the Executive Order had been issued to expand the

jurisdiction of the Transportation Authority police with respect to

transportation assets and that the expanded jurisdiction included

“dispatch security and law enforcement on Maryland Rail Commuter

rail lines.” Department of Legislative Services, Analysis of the FY

2006 Maryland Executive Budget, 2005, J00J00 - Maryland

Transportation Authority, at p.4; see http://mlis. state. md.us

/2005rs/budget_docs/All/Operating/J00J00_-_Maryland_Transpor

tation_Authority.pdf. 

Finally, when multiple police agencies have jurisdiction in a

particular area, it is a common practice to enter into a memorandum

of understanding that delineates a division of labor and responsibility

among those agencies. Cf. TR §7-207(e) (specifically authorizing

Transit Administration Police to enter into agreements with other

public safety authorities concerning its responsibilities). We

recommend that the Transportation Authority Police enter into

appropriate memoranda of understanding, particularly with the

Amtrak Police Department.

III

Conclusion

State law allows for the jurisdiction of the Transportation

Authority police to be extended by order the Governor. A 2004

executive order directed the Transportation Authority police to
Gen. 51] 57

Many MARC trains originate or terminate outside of Maryland 6

– i.e., West Virginia or the District of Columbia. You have not asked, and

we do not address, the police powers of Transportation Authority police

officers in those jurisdictions.

exercise police powers to protect publicly owned and common

carrier “transportation assets” – a phrase that properly includes

MARC trains and stations served by MARC trains. Thus, in our

opinion, Transportation Authority police officers may be assigned to

patrol MARC trains and stations, including Amtrak stations in

Maryland. The Transportation Authority Police may enter into 6

agreements with the other law enforcement agencies that also have

jurisdiction over those locations, including the Amtrak Police

Department, to coordinate their efforts. 

Douglas F. Gansler

Attorney General

Robert N. McDonald

Chief Counsel

 Opinions and Advice