Wednesday, August 23, 2006

On GERMAN transport safety...

A little bit of my opinionated thoughts and experiences on the matter….

After just missing the London bombings last summer, I noticed immediately that the police officers in the London area started carrying guns for the first time. I remember seeing a quote in the paper that read, “The officer pulled out a gun – it must have been an automatic.” I was amazed with how different the gun culture (or rather lack-there-of) is in the United Kingdom from that in the United States. Last week a few faulty bombs were found on a regional train in Cologne. Having been riding around on regional trains straight for the past month in Germany, I am again finding myself grateful for my personal safety. Similarly to my experiences in Britain last summer, I am noticing changes here in Germany. I am sitting on a regional train going from Stuttgart to Freiburg and have been watching two armed marshals walking up and down the train.

Not to say that I equate armed marshals with increased security by any means, but I definitely have some thoughts on overall security issues in relation to public transport. Recent attempts to harm the public from airplanes in London to trains in Germany serve as a reminder of the importance of transportation safety. While it is impossible to find an unsecured wi-fi network anywhere in this country, the media here has been bringing to the public’s attention that Germany’s level of surveillance in public places such as train stations is far less than that of the United Kingdom’s due to the country’s privacy laws. I was very impressed to hear that UK security officials were able to pick up on the explosive threats to several airlines from Heathrow to the US, and it is clear that this was a result of increased surveillance and database collection. It will be interesting to see how Germany responds to this threat which seems to have drawn much attention to the lack of the country’s immunity to terrorists as previously believed.

It seems there is now a big debate over Germany’s national security and how to balance public privacy with safety. The irony is that everyone wants to feel safe on the trains, but at the same time no one wants to go through the hassle of security checks or increased surveillance.

posted by lolo loves bikes @ 8:53 AM

2 Comments:

At 10:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lauren--

I believe their is a great deal of difference between rail and air security. "You can bomb a train, but you can use a plane AS a bomb." Therefore, I've never been one to believe trains deserve similar security to planes. However, one train bombing in this country, and everything will change.

I was intrigued by the German privacy laws. The other day I saw the pivotal security camera at the corner of 9th and I Streets (in sight of your new home) quite obviously following an attractive woman through the crosswalk. Security cameras are creepy.

 
At 7:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No need to increase security. Even with recent bombings, public transport is still just as safe as it was, and still safer than driving a car. The main thing is not over-reacting to terrorist plots. If they are making people afraid, they don't even need to blow anything up. As soon as there is a new attack, people forget this common sense for a while.

 

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