National Police unit needs manpower, money: Central Works Council

The national unit of the Dutch police is in desperate need of money and staff, and can not perform its work properly in the current situation, Richard Bronswijk, chairman of the Central Works Council, said in an interview with newspaper AD. The current situation resulted in serious criminals not being arrested in some cases, he said.

"There is a disadvantage in terms of people and organization", Bronswijk said to the newspaper. "The reorganization of the National Police was disastrous for us." He's taking the issue to the press, because otherwise nothing changes.

According to Bronswijk, the calculations for the National Police were based on the situation in 2012. But the national unit received a whole heap of new duties in the meantime, including the ongoing fight against terrorism. "Al in all, we have a shortage of 500 men."

The organization itself is also facing problems. Some operations had to be stopped, because it took too long to arrange passports and visas for police officers, Bronswijk said. And a number of departments have no idea where they are, or what they should be doing, including the national water police team and explosive specialist department Centerx, he said. "The departments have simply been forgotten."