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Recent News
Bomb-Sniffing Dogs used for Jerusalem City Buses
After months of bureaucratic delays, a new security plan for public buses across the country is currently underway, including the unprecedented use of bomb-sniffing dogs on Jerusalem City buses to snuff out Palestinian suicide bombers, a senior official in the Internal Security Ministry said Sunday.
As part of the bus security plan, sixteen specially trained dogs are being used to safeguard city buses in Jerusalem, with the number of dogs expected to triple in the coming months as the program expands nationwide, said the deputy director general of the internal security ministry, Eliezer Rosenbaum.
The dogs, which undergo a five-month training period by the 'Pups for Peace' Organization before being handed over to security officials for use on public buses, include German Shepherds, and Labradors.
The dogs are used by security guards to sniff out explosives at bus stops, bus stations, and bus queues.
The army and police routinely use bomb-sniffing dogs for their work, but the dogs' deployment to search for bombers on select Jerusalem city bus lines this month was the first time they have been specifically used on public transportation anywhere in the country, security officials said.
If proven successful, the number of dogs used in the bus security project could increase even further by next year, Rosenbaum added.
The usage of the bomb-sniffing dogs for city buses is part of a nationwide increased bus security plan aimed at preventing Palestinian suicide bombers from blowing up city buses.
The $7 million project, which is being sponsored in part by the Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, has provided the more than 900 bus security guards with hand metal detectors to frisk passengers boarding popular city and intra-city bus lines.
Nearly all of the bus security guards should be in possession of such metal and explosives detectors by the end of the week, six months after the program was first announced by Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi.
Some 1.7 million commuters ride the 5,500 public buses in service nationwide on an average day, making the nations buses one of the primary targets for Palestinian suicide bombers.
164 people have been killed and 777 others wounded in 21 bus bombings during the last four years of Palestinian violence, according to police statistics.
The nearly 1,000 security guards currently employed on public buses have heretofore proved unsuccessful in thwarting bus bombings owing to the large number of buses in operation at any given time, a shortage of guards, and the ability of the bombers to blend in with the crowd.
In a separate development, the Transportation Ministry is currently testing 20 public buses equipped with a new security system designed to detect and prevent suicide bombers from boarding.
The 20 "anti-bomber" buses are undergoing trials in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to determine their efficiency.
This system consists of a security barrier at the bus's front door, and a back door that can be used only for exiting the bus. The turnstile at the front entrance is similar to that found in subway stations around the world, with an added safety latch allowing passengers to board the bus only when the driver presses a release button. A red or green light alerts passengers to board the bus. If anyone arouses the driver's suspicions, he can press a button to lock the turnstile to keep the person off the bus.
In future stages of the system, expected in the coming months, an electronic metal detector will be added to the front turnstile.
