49 U.S.C. § 28101 — Rail police officers

(a) In General. Under regulations the Secretary of Transportation sets, a rail police officer who works for or is contracted by a rail carrier, and who is certified or commissioned as a police officer under a state's laws, may enforce the laws of any place where that rail carrier owns property — to the same extent as a police officer certified or commissioned under that place's own laws — to protect: (1) employees, passengers, or patrons of the rail carrier; (2) property, equipment, and facilities the rail carrier owns, leases, operates, or maintains; (3) property moving in interstate or foreign commerce that the rail carrier possesses; and (4) personnel, equipment, and material moving by rail that are vital to national defense. (b) Assignment. A rail police officer directly employed by or contracted by one rail carrier, and certified or commissioned under a state's laws, may be temporarily assigned to help a second rail carrier with law enforcement duties if that second carrier asks. While assigned, the officer is considered an employee or agent of the second carrier and may enforce the laws of any jurisdiction where the second carrier owns property, to the same extent described in (a). (c) Transfers. (1) If a certified or commissioned rail police officer transfers their main job or home from the state that certified or commissioned them to another state or jurisdiction, the officer must apply, within 1 year of the transfer, to be certified or commissioned as a police officer under the new state's laws. (2) During the year between the transfer and that deadline, the officer may still enforce the laws of the new jurisdiction where they reside, to the same extent described in (a). (d) Training. (1) A state may recognize, as meeting its own basic police certification or commissioning requirements for rail police officers, anyone who completed a program at a state-recognized police training academy in another state, or at a federal law enforcement training center, and who is certified or commissioned as a police officer by that other state. (2) This does not override or affect any state's own training requirements related to criminal law, criminal procedure, motor vehicle law, any other state law, or state-mandated ongoing in-service training.