Could stewards and stewardesses form the first line of defence against people smugglers and kidnappers?

Deputy Justice Minister Fred Teeven thinks it’s a great idea and plans to ask the Dutch embassy in Washington to find out how the US handles the issue.

It was Dutch MP Coskun Çörüz who got the ball rolling. During a parliamentary debate on child abduction, he pointed out that special courses on the subject were taught in the United States and incorporated into the training of airline cabin crew to help them recognise cases of kidnapping and people smuggling on board their flights.

Expert eye
Mr Çörüz explains that companies such as American Airlines work with NGO Innocents at Risk to train their stewards and stewardesses to develop an expert eye. “And results have already been achieved.”
Roland van de Kerkhof has been working as a steward and purser for Dutch airline Transavia for over 20 years. He sees potential in making this an additional duty for cabin crew:

"It strikes me as a good idea. It makes sense when we have the chance to observe passengers on board for a number of hours. Suspicious circumstances can catch the eye of cabin crew and that could lead to action being taken."

Abandoned
Suspicious circumstances might take the form of a child being watched over too rigorously by a fellow passenger or a youngster who seems lost or abandoned. Coskun Çörüz explains:

"Our police and airport police develop an eye for certain situations through training and experience over time. A similar process can lead cabin crew to conclude that there might be something wrong in a particular case. A combination of behaviour and factual information can lead to additional questions being asked of passengers once they have left the plane."

A steward at work

Photo: Melissa Maples

If suspicions arise, it is already possible for the cockpit to request further information on the passengers in question. Airport police could then decide to intervene once the plane has landed.
Mr Çörüz readily admits that training cabin crew is not the holy grail, but he sees it as a useful additional measure which need not be complex or expensive to implement. “Every child we can save from a life of prostitution makes a little extra effort on the part of the airlines worthwhile.”

Air marshal
Purser Ronald van de Kerkhof thinks that sound additional training would be needed and should be geared towards experienced personnel, which usually means the purser: “Their years of experience mean they can often sense when something doesn't seem quite right.”

But he believes that if properly handled, it can make a worthwhile addition to the anonymous air marshal now present on every flight:

"I’m at the front of the plane and can look everyone in the face, while an air marshal is in among the passengers and has his back to many of them. I think that we as cabin crew have a better overview, simply due to our physical position on board."

Coskun Çörüz now wants the authorities to investigate how an anti-people-smuggling course for Dutch cabin crew might be organised. He points out that the Netherlands is not exactly ahead of the game: Portugal, Greece, Italy, Belgium and Ukraine are already taking their lead from Washington.
(dd/rk)