{"id":7561,"date":"2015-04-14T12:50:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T12:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress72\/?page_id=12382"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:25","slug":"do-rail-staff-need-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2015\/04\/14\/do-rail-staff-need-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Do rail staff need weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francesca Josanu (19), International Business Administration from Moldova<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhere I\u2019m from, I wouldn\u2019t even go out after 9pm and my mum would never let me go alone. Even during the day there is drunk people on transport and they sometimes get violent. I\u2019ve seen tipsy kids travelling here, and although I guess they could get angry I haven\u2019t noticed it. People here just aren\u2019t that aggressive, so I\u2019m never scared or concerned catching trains, even at night. If conductors had batons and pepper spray they would need to be very careful about using them because it could do more harm than good. There would need to be strict guidelines, so staff use them only when really necessary, otherwise it will just create more problems.\u201d HK<\/p>\n

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Marc Ludwig (19), International Business Administration from Germany<\/h3>\n

\u201cI use the train about once a month to travel home to Germany and never witnessed any violence on Dutch trains. Dutch trains feel safer than the German ones, mainly because the people who\u2019re travelling here are better behaved. In Germany you can drink on the trains, so there\u2019s often a lot of drunk people, but here it\u2019s not like that. When you go over the border, police often enter trains with drug dogs, and you expect them to carry weapons. Giving regular staff batons and pepper spray would probably be a bit much, seeing weapons being carried could even provoke people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mike Gunawan (21), International Business Administration from the Netherlands<\/h3>\n

\u201cIssuing NS staff with batons and pepper spray could prove counterproductive. If there was only one aggressor it would probably be fine, but what if it was a group? They could overpower the conductor and get hold of those weapons. A better idea would be to bring back the special train police we used to have, they were trained to deal with these exact situations. The problem seems to lie mostly with people who don\u2019t pay, and perhaps this should be addressed first. If gates were installed at all stations passengers would have to check-in, so staff wouldn\u2019t need to check tickets on board anymore. This would probably be a better solution as you wouldn\u2019t have the added expense of training staff.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Do rail staff need weapons?<\/h2>\n

Following a number of violent incidents in recent weeks, consideration is being given to issuing batons and pepper-spray to NS staff. EM asked students how they feel travelling on rail services and whether staff need better protection. <\/p>\n\n\t

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