Yesterday, the Dutch Railways released figures on the number of violent incidents and aggression. Nearly a thousand incidents were reported in the past year.
Unfortunately, employee Dylan can relate to this. He gives an example: “Three boys were busy kicking down gates. When we approached them and asked for ID, things quickly escalated. There was no talking to them. One of the boys threatened me with death .”
Dylan and his colleague have to distance themselves for their own safety, allowing the boy to escape. The incident has a major impact: the employees do not dare to come to the station where the incident took place for a while. “That fear has slowly subsided.”
But it sometimes also leads to physical violence. Like last year, when a boy was on the train without a ticket. He quickly became aggressive and immediately tried to hit. The police had to get involved.
Tetanus shot and antibiotics
This incident also had an aftermath: Dylan had to go to the hospital because he was scratched and bitten. “I had to get a tetanus shot and do a course of antibiotics. That really hurts.”
NS employees want more powers to prevent these kinds of incidents. They want to be able to enter the driving license register of the RDW to establish identity, and a baton and pepper spray.
