New Jersey Transit Police Department

The NJ Transit Police Department was created on January 1, 1983, and it evolved as a result of the passage of the Public Transportation Act of 1979 and subsequent legislation on the state and federal levels.

[citation needed] The New Jersey Transit Police Department has its headquarters located at One Penn Plaza East in Newark.

However, the department has seven different districts to provide coverage to New Jersey Transit's extensive system of railways and bus terminals.

[citation needed] After September 11, 2001, the Essex County, New Jersey Sheriff's Office had a tenfold increase in requests for bomb detection.

The program was fairly inexpensive, using dogs that had washed out of seeing-eye training but were calm and obedient, which were fine for bomb detection.

New Jersey Transit customized three road vehicles so that the teams could operate statewide, presenting themselves without notice.

Because a large percentage of bomb alerts turn out to be false, the fast response minimizes disruption to the flow of trains and passengers.

[1] During his tenure, former Governor James McGreevy helped dramatically expand the counter-terrorism capabilities of the New Jersey Transit Police.