Police refuse direct contact with terror suspects

Terror suspects who have to report to the police on a daily basis, are no longer allowed in police stations. This is because police personnel are afraid of being targets for attack after the attacks in Paris, AD reports. In The Hague, these suspects have to report via the intercom. Several dozen suspected terrorists in the Netherlands are required to report at a police station every day. This mostly involves Foreign rebel fighters in Syria who have returned or were prevented from traveling to Syria in the first place. They are not in custody, but Justice continues to keep an eye on them. It now appears that police officers are not happy with these daily visits, especially after the attacks in Paris early this year. They fear becoming the victims of a similar attack. For this reason several suspected terrorists in The Hague are now denied access to the station. "I now have to report via the intercom at the back of the station", one of the suspects told the newspaper. According to the AD, the police does not have a set policy on how to handle suspected terrorists who have a reporting obligation and it differs from station to station. "We are not afraid." a police spokesperson told RTL Nieuws in response to the AD's report. Gerrit van de Kamp of the police union ACP told the news paper that there are "special procedures" for a small number of suspected terrorists, but denies that suspects were banned from the stations. The AD reports that judges also appear to prefer the rather safe than sorry approach. Terrorism related cases are still exclusively handled in high-security courtrooms at Schiphol instead of in the Palace of Justice in The Hague. "There is no specific threat, but it still involves a certain risk." a spokesperson for the Council for the Judiciary told the newspaper.