Air marshals and making the sky safe

The Federal Air Marshal Service FAMS is a US federal government law-enforcement agency. Established in 1968, the service was given its statutes by Congress in 1985. After 9/11, President Bush ordered the rapid expansion of the service and the marshals now serve as primary law enforcement personnel within the Transportation Security Administration, under the Department of Homeland Security.

In the US, the Air Marshals are employed by the Federal Air Marshal Service under the Department of Homeland Security. In Israel, they are hired by the airlines.

WHERE

Apart from the US, Israel, Canada, Germany and Australia deploy air marshals on flights. Only Israel, though, has had a practice of marshals El Al, the national carrier, now has women too on all flights every day for the past three decades. The UK is also toying with the idea of deploying armed guards 8220;where appropriate8221;, meaning whenever there is a threat perception to the British passengers.

HOW

Their job is to resist any threat perception to the civil aviation system, i.e. aircrafts, airports, passengers and

crew. They mingle with the passengers and protect them on the basis of investigative techniques, firearms proficiency, close quarters combative skills, terrorist behaviour recognition and other defence skills. The team of two or four must operate without back-up and are trained to have the best standards in handgun accuracy in the Federal services.

US marshals carry SIG-Sauer P229 service pistols and are trained to shoot to stop, aiming at the chest or head to incapacitate any hostile element. Their dress code was defined to be strict, but they are now allowed to wear casuals for camouflaging themselves in the crowd. They can be deployed in or under an hour8217;s notice and board the aircraft before other passengers to scan for firearm or explosives.

WHEN

On December 7, 2005, marshals shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar, a US citizen, on a boarding bridge at Miami airport. There were conflicting reports on what had happened; some versions say he ran out of the aircraft, which had just landed, shouting that he had a bomb in his bag. His wife, who was on the plane, said he was mentally disturbed and never mentioned the word 8220;bomb8221;.

WHY

The Amsterdam incident sums it up: They will, pun not intended, jump the gun on occasion; their brief is to shoot first, ask questions later. It may lead to mistakes, errors of judgment, but the consensus is that it is a reasonable price to pay.

6th WHAT NEXT

Air marshals are seen as the important last line of defence. However, security experts also believe that potential attackers ought to be stopped before they board a plane by increased, and better, detection systems. Other long-term, more expensive options include installing defence systems in aircrafts.

8212;Aritro Ganguly