Dutch police detective shortage increases to record 1,500 openings
The Dutch police force has a shortage of 1,500 detectives. The understaffing in the criminal investigation department has risen to a national record of 15 percent, EenVandaag reported based on figures from the police.
“It’s mainly due to a shortage of general detectives. And this problem is likely to worsen rather than diminish,” Geurt Veurink, police chief for the Oost Nederland unit and in charge of the investigation portfolio, told the program. Due to the aging population and limited advancement of regular officers, the shortage is increasing. “If this isn’t addressed, soon we will not have any adequate investigative services left.”
The detective shortage means that more and more cases are going uninvestigated, from rape to cybercrime, Veurink said. “Far too much is being left unprocessed; we’re submitting fewer and fewer cases. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is also complaining about this.”
Veurink stressed that capital crimes like murder will always be investigated. “Blood on the wall always takes priority, we sometimes say,” he said. But theft and complex cybercrime cases are increasingly less of a priority. “Sexual offenses also sometimes have less priority. Or other cases that have a major impact.
The National Police will need a new influx of 1,563 full-time detectives by 2028. “That means we need an additional 500 employees per year,” Veurink said. “So we’d like to recruit them. But it has to be feasible.”
The focus is currently primarily on recruiting people looking for a career change. Already, 400 career changers are working in the force thanks to pilot projects. “There’s an incredible amount of interest,” Veurink said. “We often talk about a tight labor market, but a lot of people are interested in law enforcement.” Nearly 200 people are also currently enrolled in the three-year Bachelor’s degree program in criminal investigation.
So recruits are available, but Veurink worries about the security of these pilot programs’ funding. The police said earlier this week that they need a structural annual budget of €350 million to properly perform all their tasks.
“With this financial pressure on the police, I hope they won’t soon say that the police can no longer recruit people from outside. That there will be a hiring freeze or something like that. The consequences would be incalculable. We wouldn’t be able to maintain high-quality investigative work in the Netherlands.”
