Zaandam expands stop-and-search to more neighborhoods in response to rising violence

The scope of "stop-and-search" zones in Zaandam, where police can conduct preventive checks for weapons possession without specific cause, is being expanded to include two additional residential neighborhoods, NOS reported on Wednesday. This expansion allows the police to randomly frisk any individual on the street in these areas for weapons.

Stop-and-search operations in Zaandam began in 2018 and were initially limited to the city center and the Poelenburg neighborhood. The municipality decided to extend these searches to the Burgemeesters and Rosmolen neighborhoods, two residential areas situated between the city center and Poelenburg.

Deputy Mayor Van der Laan cited 180 new violent incidents that occurred in Zaandam last year as the reason for this expansion. "Unfortunately, there are still frequent violent incidents involving weapons," he told NH Nieuws. "We think we should do everything possible to remove as many weapons from the streets as possible."

Last year, 21 weapons were seized during preventive searches. According to the deputy mayor, in the Zaandam-Centrum security risk area, the intercepted weapons included ten knives, five screwdrivers, and an electric shock weapon. In the Poelenburg security risk area, police confiscated two bats and three knives.

The practice of "stop-and-search" in the Netherlands is controversial. Criminologist Marc Schuilenburg noted in 2022 that these checks often tend to single out the same people, with skin color seemingly playing a role.

In September 2021, Amsterdam conducted a trial of preventive stop-and-search in response to a rise in youth gun crime. The police were allowed to frisk people on the streets to see if the method was effective. The plan was criticized by Amnesty International, which pointed out the risks of ethnic profiling.

Amsterdam decided to stop the trial with immediate effect in November 2022 after the police carried out “some unauthorized weapons checks.”