Q&A: Paul M. Beakman
Lawman follows 2-track career
LOCKPORT— Paul M. Beakman says his job as chief special agent for the Falls Road Railroad Co. “keeps me on track.”
He also describes himself as “a force of one” for the 45-mile line.
His love of big machinery drew him to the part-time job. He also is a member of the Lockport Police Department and serves as the department’s warrant officer.
Beakman, 44, is easy to spot. He is the officer rarely seen without a smile, one of those rare folks who appears to truly enjoy his job.
Beakman joined the police force in 1985 after graduating from Lockport High School two years earlier. He was attending Niagara County Community College to study criminal justice when the Lockport officer job became available, and he went back to complete his degree in 1992. He got his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in two years through Keuka College, attending night school at a satellite campus at Genesee Community College, graduating in 2006.
Beakman said that at one time he dreamed he might pilot a big freighter out on Lake Ontario. That’s why the railroad suits him, well, too.
One day in October 1997, while Beakman was on patrol, he investigated a parking complaint in the Lockport rail yard at the Heath Street crossing.
“There were all these guys in suits. I got the cars moved out of the right of way, and they were very happy with the service and offered me a ride on the locomotive,” Beakman said.
He was hooked. Genesee Valley Trains, which owns
300 miles of track in New York and Pennsylvania, wanted someone to start a police department for its new Falls Road Railroad, the track that runs from Lock-
port to Brockport and is expected to be used to carry hundreds of thousands of tons of corn alongside Falls Road to a new ethanol plant in Shelby.
They hired Beakman. “It was a unique opportunity,” he said.
How long have you been the city’s warrant officer?
Officially it was Jan. 1, 2007.
You seem to enjoy your job here in Lockport. What do you do as warrant officer?
I process all warrants from City Court. . . . I go out and serve the warrants, too. I believe it’s important to treat people decently, and a lot of people will call me on the phone and will surrender [for arrest] to me. I have a large group of people out there who will only surrender to me. I work very hard to develop a good reputation out on the street. A lot of it is how you treat people. They’ve accepted that they’ve made a mistake. Sometimes they just need a push. If you yell and belittle them, they just avoid the situation. My job is very easy.
You don’t go break down doors like on TV?
It depends on the severity of the warrant. You know who you can trust and who you can’t. I love when I do have to go and get somebody, when I have to investigate a warrant and have to pinpoint a warrant. I try to see the good in everyone. I’ve always been low-key and never take the job home with me.
But you do have another job — with the railroad.
I never sought out the railroad job. I didn’t know anything about trains before.
I had imagined you were a little boy playing with all these trains.
No, not really.
How did you become chief special agent?
It’s really just a fancy title. I
didn’t even know what a railroad policeman was before [I met the owners of Genesee Valley Trains in 1997].
What do you do?
They wanted someone to start a police company. There have been railroad police since the 1800s. A lot of times, they were they only police as the railroads expanded out west. They have a rich history. It’s because of the vital commerce they carry. If the railroads stop, our economy stops. I work under a federal law enforcement commission.
Can you tell me about GVT?
We’re called a short line, a smaller operation. We’ve been in business for over 20 years. We actually own six railroads in New York and Pennsylvania, combined about 300 miles of track.
Tell me specifically about your job with the Falls Road Railroad.
We just put a $2 million improvement to all our tracks and put in a $1 million improvement to the trestle over the canal. With the ethanol plant in Medina, we’ve have a big increase in the amount of traffic on our line. Our company is very big on safety.
This September, you planned a safety drill based on this traffic.
It’s a unique opportunity. Since I’m a police officer and I work for the railroad, and because of the increased hazardous material traffic, the Lockport Emergency Response Committee appointed me to a position. We wanted to do a rail-related disaster. A lot of these products, people are afraid of, but railroad transportation is the safest transportation out there.
Had you ever had a train drill before?
No, and you can never get enough training. We simulated a leak from a tractor-trailer hitting a train, carrying ethanol. [In the simulated crash], the tractor-trailer also hit a school bus, which flipped, and we got the schools involved. It was very realistic and went very well.
What do you do to make sure people are safe in your job with the railroad?
I’m constantly out there to make sure people are not out there trespassing. It’s a one-man show from Lockport to Brockport. I once found an 11- year-old in Lockport was throwing switches in the rail yard. He could have derailed train. The railroad also wanted someone to serve as a liaison with other police agencies. I’m literally dealing with 20 different police agencies in Niagara, Genesee and Erie counties.
Are all-terrain vehicles a problem?
ATVs can actually erode the train bed and weaken the surface. They are a tremendous problem.
What are your other duties?
I’m also a presenter for Operation Lifesaver, a railroad safety program. That’s been very effective in bringing down the number of deaths and injuries.
What do you tell drivers?
The motorist is always at fault in a collision with a locomotive. Every grade crossing is marked. The motorist is obligated to yield the right of way to the train. The train, because of it’s massive weight, is going to take a mile or mile and a half to stop. People in a hurry, who pull out in front of a train, there are deadly consequences.
So you are involved in education programs?
Yes. The Niagara County Traffic Safety Fair. It goes hand in hand with the railroad police job. The three big components [of that job] are engineering, railroads work to have a safer equipment; education, going out to the community to tell them what we face; and then enforcement, making arrests.
Not that I would do this, but what if the gate is down but there is no train in sight?
That’s a good question. Even if there is no train in sight I tell people that by law they can’t go through a crossing. Really, you are supposed to turn around and find another route. But you are also supposed to call your local police agency so they can contact the railroad. All the crossing gates throughout the country have markings on them that tell them how to get the gates fixed. Plus, it can be an optical illusion that a train can be miles away. Mainline passenger trains and freight trains can appear to be much farther away than they actually are, and then, in a blink on an eye, the train is on you.
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