Uniforms, firearm stolen from Groningen, Friesland cops

Three police officers from the Noord-Nederland police lost their uniforms in home burglaries. One's service firearm was also stolen. The police did not make these incidents public, but they were mentioned in documents about the preparation for Sinterklaas' arrival in Dokkum that were released after an appeal to the Freedom of Information Act, Dagblad van het Noorden reports.

The burglaries were committed over a period of a few weeks at the officers' homes during the autumn. Two of the officers live in the province of Groningen, the third in Friesland. Each time the officer's uniform, or part thereof, was stolen. In one case a service firearm was also stolen.

Based on the burglars method and analysis of other burglaries in the area, the police believe that these burglaries are not connected, Ramona Venema, spokesperson for the Noord-Nederland police, said to the newspaper. According to Venema, the burglars likely did not even know that their victims were police officers and encountered the uniforms while searching for valuables. "For people who have something bad in mind, a police uniform can be interesting. We've seen that often in the past."

The officer whose firearm was stolen, had it stored in a safe. "The colleague did everything according to protocol when storing the weapon", Venema said.

The police are still investigating the burglaries. They have no suspects in sight, according to the newspaper.