Via Police Magazine

Five New York transit officers boarded a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train to apprehend a suspect wanted for at least seven bank robberies in Suffolk County.

The officers boarded a LIRR train late last week in a coordinated effort with the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Police Department announced.

Officers with MTA and NYPD were dispatched to the East New York station at about 7:35 p.m. Thursday. MTA officers Steven Burns, Edward Russell, David Bergstein, Thomas Garland, and John Wozny canvassed the westbound platforms at Jamaica Station and boarded the train believed to have Schneider.

They showed a photograph to a conductor who confirmed that he had seen the suspect aboard the train, and said that the suspect had transferred moments earlier to a second train, bound for Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn. The MTA PD then asked the LIRR central dispatching office, known as the Movement Bureau, to hold that second train at East New York.

Officers found 21-year-old Max Schneider inside the bathroom of that train car. The officers arrested the Dix Hills resident and turned him over to the Suffolk County Police Department, He's been charged in connection with the robberies that took place between Feb. 17 and March 24.

"I'd like to commend the quick thinking and teamwork of all of the officers and the LIRR personnel who contributed to this arrest," according to Douglas Zeigler, MTA's director of security. "This arrest is a fine example of the benefits that result from the extraordinary levels of interagency cooperation we share with our regional law enforcement partners. Everyone who played a role should be commended for helping to make our region safer and more secure."