On Saturday 31 October the Department for Transport published a press release marking ten years of the rail campaign "See it. Say it. Sorted." The release also covers the 61016 text line, the discreet way to report concerns on the network. For close protection teams that move principals by rail, that is the part worth reading.
What the release says
On the texts, the release says "more than 1.5 million exchanged over the last 10 years", leading to "more than 175,000 police deployments across the rail network", and "almost 83,000 crimes".
On volume, the release says: "more than 200,000 texts are now sent to the British Transport Police each year using 61016". The BTP Chief Constable, Lucy D'Orsi, is quoted in the same release saying the service "now receives more than 25,000 messages each month." We report both as published and with their speakers. We have not reconciled them, and the release does not.
On the purpose of the line, the release says: "While the campaign is primarily a counter-terrorism campaign, it has evolved as a way of promoting the 61016 number". D'Orsi calls the service "free, discreet" and says it lets passengers report "crime, suspicious behaviour and sexual harassment directly to us".
On coverage, the release says the campaign "is mandated across every train operator and station in England, Scotland and Wales".
How the line fits an operator's day
These are Ops Con planning points, our reading rather than DfT or BTP guidance.
61016 is a text route, so a team member can report a person, item or behaviour without a voice call that a principal, or the person being watched, might overhear. By the Chief Constable's description it also takes reports of suspicious behaviour, not only crime. We read that as a reason to save 61016 in every team member's phone before a rail movement, and to agree beforehand who texts it so the protective detail does not lose a second pair of eyes at the wrong moment.
Write the text so that someone who cannot see your location can use it. Give the station or train, the carriage or platform, a clear description of the person or item, and what you saw. Keep to what you observed.
The release does not say how fast BTP responds to a text, and it does not say when to use 61016 rather than an emergency call. Treat 61016 as a reporting route, and keep your own plan for an immediate threat to life.
What is not in the record
The release gives no figure for how many of the texts relate to terrorism or suspicious items. It gives no response times. It names England, Scotland and Wales, so we do not know from it whether 61016 covers Northern Ireland. It does not say how the 25,000 a month and 200,000 a year figures relate, and we have not tried to.
