> IANL: What is the rules for use of force for railroad police, or railroad authorities protecting cargo? Also NAL. Force has to be proportional. That means th

> IANL: What is the rules for use of force for railroad police, or railroad authorities protecting cargo? Also NAL. Force has to be proportional. That means that an unarmed trespasser stealing property can't be shot, only detained. > It seems people are breaking into these cars without fear of force, or prosecution. I'm sure they have some fear. I doubt that they want to get caught, since it's at least a few hours or a weekend in jail to get processed. As far as prosecution goes, if I were a criminal, I'd either naively think that I'll never get caught/prosecuted, or just accept that it might happen at any time, but I prefer theft now over avoiding maybe-prosecution in the future. > Combined, those are like a powder keg of lawlessness. There's no powderkeg here, so long as we don't escalate. If prosecutions don't start, the likely thing to happen is that the railyards will improve physical security (e.g. razorwire fencing everywhere, reduce trains at rest), improve their security forces and response times, and pass any remaining expense onto the customers.