Amsterdam ends stop-and-frisk trial because of police overreach

Amsterdam decided to stop its stop-and-frisk trial with immediate effect after the police carried out “some unauthorized weapons checks” in November, mayor Femke Halsema said in a letter to the city council, also on behalf of the city’s police and Public Prosecution Service. “Unauthorized” searches happened outside the designated areas, she said, NH Nieuws reports.

In September, Halsema and the city’s authorities designated five security risk zones where the police could stop and search people for weapons to see if the method was effective. From October to December, the police could do 25 searches in parts of Noord, Zuid, Zuidoost, and Nieuw-West.

But some of the searches happened outside the designated areas and were therefore “unauthorized,” Halsema said. “One of these checks occurred outside the security risk areas in a youth center.” The police also searched people in public buildings in the security risk zones. “This did fit within the legal framework, but due to searches in buildings, the actions were taken differently than we had agreed.”

Amsterdam, therefore, halted the stop-and-frisk trial with immediate effect. The authorities will also investigate the unauthorized searches.

According to Halsema, the police have already apologized to the people in the youth center. “The apology has been well received.” Halsema also visited the center. “The young people are shocked by the weapons check, but also want to look ahead together with the organization and partners in the area.”