Rotterdam police stopped and searched three times more people last year

The number of times people were stopped and searched in Rotterdam last year almost tripled compared to a year earlier. In 2022, 11,443 people were stopped and searched. A year earlier, it was still 4,353, the office of mayor and aldermen wrote to the city council.

According to the office, part of the increase was due to the end of the coronavirus pandemic that raged in 2020 and 2021, which meant that more people were on the street. Last year’s number, however, is almost more than double higher than the 5,400 people searched in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus. The number of preventively checked vehicles was also over three times higher than a year earlier. With the rise in searches, the number of arrests (from 51 to 145) and weapons seized (from 160 to 420) also increased.

According to the office of the mayor and aldermen, the increase in searches in recent years can further be explained by better registration. The number of areas where preventive searches were carried out has also expanded somewhat since 2019.

Eight areas in Rotterdam - Charlois, Feijenoord, IJsselmonde, Centrum, Delfshaven, parts of Noord and Kralingen Crooswijk, and the Spaanse Polder business park - are designated as safety risk areas. In these areas, the police are allowed to stop and search people.

The city council asked the mayor and alderman to explain why certain areas are designated as risk areas. The council also wants the police to always demonstrate that they don’t perform preventive body searches without deviating behavior.