Wrongful convictions, police criminality possible in many Limburg cases

The Rijksrecherche is investigating over a thousand police files in the Limburg town of Horst for criminal offenses committed by police officers. If it turns out that the cops committed crimes in these cases, the case files may become unusable in litigation, or it could mean that people were wrongfully convicted, the Public Prosecution Service confirmed to NOS.

This investigation revolves around nine employees of the Horst/Peel en Maas base team, who were suspended earlier this year. They are suspected of serious neglect of duty, harassment, undermining behavior, intimidation, breach of official secrecy, and abuse of power. Last month, five of them were dismissed. The other four were punished internally.

The Rijksrecherche, the department that performs internal investigations at government services, is now checking all files in which these nine officers were involved between 2015 and 2019. The Public Prosecution Service said on Tuesday that so far 15 files have raised questions about the cops' actions. An in three cases, possible criminal offenses by cops have come to light. 

The investigation is still ongoing, and the Public Prosecutor expects that it will not be done by the end of this year.