Probation employees feel unsafe at work

The Dutch probation service no longer wants to work with convicts who are guilty of death threats, or who are themselves threatened with death. The service's employees don't feel safe at their jobs. "I do not want to run the risk that our probation officers are shot at", chairman Sjef van Gennip said to the Volkskrant.

According to Van Gennip, who is retiring this week, his staff members are sometimes faced with convicts dressed in bulletproof vests because they are worried about being assassinated. Some convicts even threaten the probation officers. "During their probation talks they are guilty of violence, furniture throwing and death threats", he said to the newspaper. Enough is enough, he said. "Serious death threats are not park of our work."

The service has the duty to carry out all assignments given by judges or the Public Prosecutor. "But we are now considering the moment when we are going to say: we do not do this type of client anymore", Van Gennip said.

A number of measures were already implemented to increase the sense of security for the probation service workers. For example, no home visits are allowed for some clients. Van Gennip wants to go further and have compulsory reporting interviews happen at a police station.