K&A Railroad Police

The Knoxville & Asheville Railroad Police is a Law enforcement agency that serves protection for the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad Company.

History
The K&A Transport police agency was established in 1905 shortly after the railroad was built. Their mission was to protect the trains of the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad from train robbers who would try to steal vaulable cargo. In 1929, when the Great Depression hit, they started hunting down Hobos who would try to steal a free ride or rob the freight cars.

Uniforms
The uniforms the Railroad cops wore consisted of a green button up shirt, a black tie, a gold 7 poinit star badge, a matching green hat with yellow band and gold star, black gunbelt, black shoes, and black khaki trousers.

Divisions

 * Knoxville, Tennessee
 * Del Rio, Tennessee
 * Erwin, Tennessee
 * Harriman, Tennessee
 * Pikeville, Tennessee
 * Sheldon, North Carolina
 * Asheville, North Carolina
 * Waynesville, North Carolina
 * Hendersonville, North Carolina
 * Burnsville, North Carolina
 * Wahalla, South Carolina
 * Greenville, South Carolina

Ranks

 * CHIEF: The Chief is in charge of the whole department.
 * DEPUTY CHIEF: The Deputy Chief is the Chief's Second-in-command, right hand man, and assistant.
 * INSPECTOR: The inspectors command divisions.
 * CAPTAIN: Like the Deputy Chief, the Captain is the Inspector's second in command. He supervises precinct headquarters.
 * LIEUTENANT: The Lieutenant commands 2, 3 or more sergeants.
 * SERGEANT: The Sergeant is in charge of the investigations and gives the orders. His orders come straight from the Lieutenant. He sometimes goes on patrol with the officers. He has 3 stripes.
 * DETECTIVE: The detective solves the crimes and co-operates with the local police and/or sheriff's departments to solve the case. He has 2 stripes.
 * OFFICER: The officer is in charge of patrolling railroad company property and act as security. He has one stripe.

Patrol Cars
In the 1950s and 1960s, the patrol cars of the railroad police were painted bright red with the roof and the trunk painted white. They were equipped with blue bubblegum lights and a shiny siren with a red light mounted on the drivers side fender. The lettering was in white with the Railroad logo on the back doors. The front doors would state which division the car is assigned to, the unit number smack dap in the number and underneath it "RAILROAD POLICE".

Each car was codenamed "Kapo" because of what their license plates said. (Ex. KAPO 54. "KAPO 54, We have sightings of some suspicious activity near Winslow Junction. Please investigate". "This is KAPO 54, we're on it!".)