Labour Inspectorate imposes penalty on police for problems with C2000

The Dutch Labor Inspectorate has imposed a penalty on the police for its malfunctioning C2000 communication system. According to a spokesperson for the inspectorate, the police are doing too little to solve the problems.

The penalty amounts to 325,000 euros and will be collected if the requirements of the inspection have not been met after 16 weeks. The amount can increase every two months to a maximum of almost 1 million euros. According to the inspection, in certain areas in the Netherlands, officers cannot communicate with the C2000 system. The system also became overloaded in major crisis situations.

The police indicate that the penalty is intended to take (safety) measures for employees as long as the C2000 system does not work properly, and not to improve the system itself. The police are disappointed about the imposed penalty because they believe that they are already "fully busy improving the education, information, and training on the correct use of C2000".

Furthermore, the police argue that the penalty is contrary to the postponement previously granted by the labor inspectorate for the introduction of technical improvements to peripheral equipment and for training and information for employees, which includes improving employees' ability to act, the police said in a statement.

Overall, the police have started improving the way officers must act in the event of risks. The police are considering a possible objection to the imposed penalty. They also state that they are working on updating 60,000 walkie-talkies and more than 10,000 mobile phones. This update will be completed this year and will then provide better coverage.

"It is good that the police now have the urgency to get things in order. This should have happened years ago," Ramon Meijerink responded on behalf of the police unions to the imposition of the penalty. "The fact that the inspection takes the report about C2000 seriously is reassuring. Police officers must be able to trust that their employer will prepare them well for situations in which the system does not work properly. The employer has made significant steps in recent months, but these still appear to be insufficient."

The inspection threatened a penalty in June. The police had to take immediate measures "to create a safe working environment for its employees" and were given a year to structurally improve the communication system itself. According to the inspection, the first has not been done sufficiently. The technology and range of C2000 must have been improved by 8 June 2025 at the latest.