(de-news.net) – Jochen Kopelke, the head of the German Police Union, has called for a substantial and urgent increase in the number of officers serving in both the Federal and State Police forces, following the fatal attack on a train conductor in a regional service in Landstuhl. He emphasized that the Federal Government must act immediately in coordination with the conferences of the Interior and Transport Ministers to implement concrete and timely measures, in light of the heightened concerns among railroad employees, passengers, and law enforcement personnel. Kopelke further noted that the Federal Police, which holds primary responsibility for security at railway stations, has been awaiting additional reinforcements for several months, highlighting a structural vulnerability in the current allocation of resources.
In response to these challenges, he proposed an emergency program that would assign 14 additional police units to both federal and state authorities. Kopelke underscored that ongoing operational commitments, including extensive border control responsibilities, have constrained the ability of the Federal Police to respond flexibly to incidents on trains and at stations. He argued that bolstering personnel in this manner would allow security measures to be deployed more efficiently and with greater adaptability across the country, mitigating risks in high-traffic and high-risk areas. The union also criticized the chronic understaffing of Federal Police personnel in railway zones, noting that these officers are tasked not only with station security but also with conducting patrols on trains that have been identified as presenting elevated safety risks. Furthermore, Kopelke observed that state-level police forces are generally limited in their capacity to provide additional support, intensifying the burden on federal officers.
The attack itself occurred on Monday evening during a routine ticket inspection on a Regional Express service in Rhineland-Palatinate, when a 26-year-old passenger assaulted the conductor, inflicting injuries that proved fatal. In response, the Federal Interior Minister has called for significantly harsher minimum sentences for assaults of this nature, framing the issue as a matter of both deterrence and public safety. The suspect has been placed in pretrial detention while authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident, reflecting a broader concern about the need for preventative measures and the adequacy of current staffing and procedural protocols within the rail security apparatus.
