Ministers of the federal and Flemish governments have launched the ‘Stop Aggression’ action plan to tackle the problem of aggression on public transport in Belgium. The 10-point list includes a bus ban for troublemakers, while the demand for controller body cams will be examined.

Public railway company NMBS/SNCB received 1 900 reports of aggression against train staff in 2022. At Flemish public transport company De Lijn, there were 338 acts of physical aggression against drivers and controllers last year. Discussions about tickets are often at the root of this.

Aggression is rising

To put a check on that violence – verbal and physical – Flemish Minister for Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) convened a round table with, among others, federal Ministers of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), and Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld).

Also present were De Lijn director-general Ann Schoubs, sector federation FBAA (Federation of Belgian Bus and Coach Operators), the federal police, and the College of Public Prosecutors-General.

It resulted in a 10-point action plan. Several preventive measures, such as closed steering posts in all De Lijn buses and the recruitment of 67 extra inspectors at the company, had already been known for some time.

Images of body cam

But at the same time, there is the finding that one in three cases has to be dismissed because the offender is unknown or because there is too little evidence. “This is why all facts must be reported to the police immediately, accompanied by as much evidence as possible such as camera images,” says Minister Van Quickenborne. “After all, too often, it is still word against word.”

The action plan, therefore, includes training for line inspectors on how to make a report and improving the exchange of camera images. Digital reporting should also become possible. Evidence could be collected better by equipping inspectors with body cams. Belgian public transport companies, for example, have been asking for this for some time.

According to them, body cams are good for registering situations that get out of hand and work preventively. After all, discussions are less likely to become violent if a body cam is present.

Home Affairs Minister Verlinden will now include the issue in the working group on body cams – the federal government is introducing body cams in the police. Although she also made it clear that there are issues such as privacy and that it must be handled with care.

Bus ban

Justice Minister Van Quickeborne also calls on local authorities to apply the temporary bus ban for troublemakers in more places, such as in his hometown of Courtrai.

This includes counseling for the person concerned. Such a bus ban has only been effectively pronounced once in Belgium. Its advantage is that the person involved can be punished quickly.

Van Quickenborne pointed out that violence against people with a social function, such as policemen and aid workers, train conductors, bus drivers, and inspectors, will be punished more severely with the new penal code.

Shelved?

The unions at De Lijn see positive points in the action plan against aggression on public transport, but they remain apprehensive about body cams for inspectors. “We fear that this will be shelved,” they say.

The unions stress that the body cams are a bit of the missing final piece for the control teams. Many potential conflicts are expected to be defused when the controller warns that he will turn on his body cam.

According to them, the privacy element is a fallacy. “People are filmed everywhere: on the street, in buses… But with body cams, privacy is suddenly an issue,” they say. “They are not toys, but it must be possible to make good agreements.” It is said that there are cameras on 80% of buses and trams of De Lijn.