Controversial Proposal to Hire Unemployed as "Rail Marshals"

Long-term job seekers in Germany could soon be put to work patrolling local busses and trains for possible terror threats. Transportation minister Wolfgang Tiefensee suggested last week that employing long-term job-seekers in domestic anti-terror efforts might be a way to create much needed jobs and help passengers feel safer.

The two-birds-with-one-stone proposal has unleashed a torrent of controversy among politicians and transportation officials.

Proposal met with criticism

Secretary general of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Dirk Niebel called the idea "populist nonsense," while Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy director of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said that security should be left to security officials, reported the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Transportation and passenger associations have expressed concern about the patrols not being trained well enough to be effective.

Rail marshal pilot project underway

Tiefensee, a member of the Social Democratic Party, defended his proposal Monday.

"We are looking for employment possibilities for long-term job seekers," said Tiefensee, as reported by AFP. It's about making passengers feel safer, not about sending welfare recipients to fight terrorism or even al Qaeda, he added.

Tiefensee said that a pilot "rail marshal" project is in the works in Leipzig. "We'll have to see if it can then be multiplied," he said.

Fellow party member Ludwig Stiegler, deputy chairman of the SPD, was cautious in discussing the initial plan to employ the unemployed to patrol trains and busses, calling it "one of many ideas that need to be tested."

Safety for public transportation passengers

More extensive video surveillance is being heatedly discussed as another domestic anti-terror technique.

Tiefensee's rail marshal proposal came just several weeks after a failed terrorist attack in two German trains. On July 31, two bombs in suitcases were brought on to trains with the intention that they detonate simultaneously.

Police arrested Friday the third suspect in the attempted bombing and believe a terrorist organization was behind the plan.