Police intelligence services unlawfully spied on whole population groups

The police intelligence services unlawfully monitored entire population groups, the Supervisory Committee of the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD) said. In the four-month period between February 23 and July 1, 2022, they crossed that line three times, NOS reports.

All police units throughout the Netherlands have their own intelligence service. They work with the general intelligence service AIVD and monitor people who could pose a threat to national security. According to the CTIVD, these intelligence services sometimes receive a signal “about a person or a few persons” and then decide to investigate an entire community based on that.

There are strict requirements in Dutch law for monitoring an entire community due to the massive invasion of privacy that entails. The intelligence service must first look into obtaining information about suspects in a different way and carefully consider whether such a broad investigation is a proportionate matter.

Between February 2023 and July 1, 2022, that did not happen in three investigations, the CTIVD said. The supervisory body did not say which communities were involved but did explain that by “community,” it means a population group “based, for example, on ethnicity, religious belief, or occupational group.” So, theoretically, the police intelligence services may have been spying on visitors to a certain mosque or protesting farmers. The CTIVD did tell the “Stiekem Committee” - the parliamentary committee that supervises the CTIVD - which communities were involved.

Harm Trip of the CTIVD told NOS that the police intelligence services monitor communities more often, but in these three cases, they did not give proper substantiation for why they needed to do so.

Responsible Minister Hugo de Jonge (Home Affairs) said the police need to properly justify why they monitor entire communities. But he added: “I would like to emphasize that the approach of the investigations in all cases is focused on a threat perspective.” And then it may be necessary to get a picture of an entire community, which is allowed under certain conditions, he said. “It is inevitable that the ethnic background of people who are part of a particular community will be taken into account, but it is not the purpose of the investigation,” he said.

In response to the CTIVD revelation, D66 parliamentarian Joost Sneller demanded a broader debate in parliament about better supervision of the intelligence and security services. SP parliamentarian Michel van Nispen is also critical. “We already knew that individuals have been followed in a sloppy manner, but it is even worse for entire communities,” he said.