NS wants to arm security guards with batons

The Dutch rail company NS plans to conduct an experiment in which 75 of its own security staff will be temporarily equipped with batons. NS submitted a request for this to the Ministry of Justice and Security, the company said on Thursday.

The trial aims to “investigate whether the carrying and use of the short baton by Safety & Service employees contributes to the effectiveness and safety of the network.” According to Itai Birger, director of social safety at NS, these employees are increasingly confronted with violence and injuries. “This conflicts with the resources and authorities they have to perform their work properly.”

According to Birger, NS has already taken many measures to improve employee safety. “We must explore all available resources to achieve this. At the same time, it’s challenging that we, as a train company, are now forced to investigate the use of batons as well.”

NS currently employs 680 Safety & Security employees. They are special enforcement officers and work at stations and on trains. They are authoroized to arrest supsects, verify people’s identity, draw up reports, and issue fines. They are also authorozied to use force and handcuffs. They wear safety vests and gloves, as well as a body camera. According to NS, these employees “have different opinions about whether a baton is appropriate for their work.”

The Ministry of Justice and Security’s screening authority, Justis, will determine whether to allow this experiment. The decision period is 13 weeks. “If the decision is positive, the trial will be supervised and evaluated by an external research agency,” NS said, adding that the exact design of the experiment is yet to be determined.