Dutch police make it difficult, confusing to recover seized items: report

Items seized by the police are often too difficult to trace and recover, according to a study done by National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen. According to him, seized items often end up in "a sort of black hole", never to be seen again, AD reports. "You don't know where the object is and what happens to it. Sometimes it is sold or destroyed without you knowing", Van Zutphen said. He calls this improper and insufficiently regulated. The Ombudsman wants citizens to be better informed about their legal protection and how to go about finding out what happened to seized items. "Citizens often do not know that they can take a complaint to court against seizure or that they, for example, have to suspend their license plate if a car has been seized", according to Van Zutphen.