Dutch police to stop using appearance, origin as reason to stop and check people

Dutch police officers are no longer allowed to use appearance or country of origin as a reason to stop and check someone. The police have changed its guidelines to that effect in order to eliminate discrimination by employees, the police told NU.nl.

The step followed a ruling by The Hague Court of Appeals last year, finding the Koninklijke Marechaussee guilty of ethnic profiling because its officers selected people for checks based on their skin color, country of origin, or ethnicity, and without further cause for a check. The police’s decision to change its guidelines following this ruling, which was against a different organization, is extra remarkable because the Koninklijke Marechaussee did not change its guidelines as a result.

NU.nl looked at the old and new versions of the Police Professional Monitoring Framework. The 2020 version focused on when police officers were allowed to check someone based on their appearance, ethnicity, or origin. The new version says this is “never” allowed in proactive checks, which take place without a direct reason. The police are only allowed to check someone based on appearance, ethnicity, or origin if they are looking for a specific suspect that has the same characteristics.

The newspaper also looked at the Koninklijke Marechaussee’s Professional Checking Framework. According to NU.nl, it looks very similar to the police’s but has not changed after the court ruling and the government’s ban on ethnic profiling.

The Koninklijke Marechaussee is a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military. It is a separate entity from the regular police and is responsible for border security, including at airports and seaports.

Controle Alt Delete, a human rights organization that fights against ethnic profiling, called the police’s new guidelines a good start. “The policy is now in line with human rights. The next step is to make it clear to all officers,” a spokesperson told NU.nl. According to the organization, there is still “a lot of resistance” among cops about this change.