Chief national police inspector suspected of organized crime involvement

A 47-year-old chief inspector of the national unit of the Dutch police force was arrested on Friday on suspicion of violating breaking confidentiality rules, corruption and participation in a criminal organization. He was arrested by the Rijksrecherche, an independent body under the Public Prosecution Service (OM), which investigates criminality within the government.

The policeman likely leaked highly confidential information to a criminal organization, the OM said. He was removed from office last May.

The Rijksrecherche is investigating the allegations against the police officer. He was released after questioning on Friday, pending further investigation.

He worked as a team leader at the Dienst Speciale Operaties, which handles undercover cases, said Gerrit van de Kamp, the chair of the ACP police union. In his role, Van de Kamp has knowledge of police undercover operations. The ACP leader calls the arrest and the allegations "an enormous shock."

"It is absolutely unacceptable. This is not just something small. We are talking about the most confidential operations that we do, which criminals are now also aware of," Van de Kamp said. "There are no words for it and it is very serious." He added that the investigation is still ongoing and must continue to its completion.

The allegations are quite solid, said Xander Simonis, the chair of the ANPV police union. "I feel sad about these kinds of posts and then I wonder what makes colleagues tick and why do they do it? This is a Chief Inspector, but he should be treated internally and criminally the same as other colleagues suspected of criminal offenses from top to bottom."

Simonis said it was "very annoying" for the police and especially the National Unit, which has been under a magnifying glass for some time. Just last month, the Justice and Security Inspectorate concluded in a new report that the division of the police, tasked with combating organized crime and terrorism is poorly managed, and that teams do not cooperate sufficiently.

Last year's investigations also revealed organizational problems with negative consequences for police work and staff. "All reports were negative," Simonis said.