Nearly two thirds of Amsterdam crime reports ignored: report
A massive 64.8 percent of crime reports in Amsterdam get no follow up investigation - they end up in the trash immediately after screening, according to figures LocalFocus got from the police. This percentage is significantly lower in other large Dutch cities like Rotterdam and The Hague, 54 percent and 48.5 percent respectively, Het Parool reports.
No follow-up investigation means that there was no search for perpetrators, no neighborhood investigation, and no surveillance camera footage was reviewed, according to the newspaper. Of the nearly 921 thousand crimes in the Netherlands last year, 56 percent did not lead to further investigation.
The high number of rejected crime reports in Amsterdam, can partly be attributed to 'big city problems'. As example, the Amsterdam police themselves name "developments such as radicalization, terrorism and the influx of asylum seekers" as "a fundamental increase of police tasks in the city", according to the newspaper.
A spokesperson for the Amsterdam police also told the newspaper that the Dutch capital can not really be compared to other Dutch cities like Rotterdam and The Hague. According to the spokesperson, Amsterdam has a number of specific factors that don't apply to other cities. Such as the high growth in inhabitants, and increasing numbers of tourists and other visitors to Amsterdam.
"Amsterdam has about 17 million visitors per year", the spokesperson said, according to Het Parool. "With all due respect, cities like Rotterdam and The Hague will not reach that kind of numbers any time soon." People like tourists and visitors are also more likely to fall victim to a crime. "Think of robbery, missing items, stuff stolen from their hotel room."
The police's priorities in Amsterdam are also different than priorities elsewhere in the country, the spokesperson said. As example, he mentioned the large number of events and demonstrations in the Dutch capital, new enforcement issues such as street harassment and loutish traffic behavior, and tackling gang related problems.