Dutch police register cops' origin to increase diversity: report

The Dutch police make note of the origin of all police employees to make sure that diversity increases within the corps, Lute Nieuwerth, head of diversity at the police, said in an interview with the Volkskrant.

According to Nieuwerth, the origin of employees is stored in such a way that it can not be traced back to individuals. The registration is to gain insight into how diverse the police force is, he said.

National Police Chief Erik Akerboom's aim is for a quarter of the new recruits to be of a minority background. Currently about 20 percent of the inflow have a non-Western background.

Officially it is illegal in the Netherlands to register employees' origin. But a spokesperson or the Dutch Personal Data Authority told the Volkskrant that such data may be stored if it really is not traceable to individuals.