"Sovereign" cops and soldiers causing headaches for police, Defense
Police and defense are struggling with cops and soldiers calling themselves “sovereign” and placing themselves above the law, RTL Nieuws discovered. The police force management has informed staff that “acting according to sovereign ideology” goes against the oath officers take but has not yet dismissed anyone. The military intelligence service MIVD has taken “appropriate measures.”
“Sovereigns” don’t recognize the government and believe they can determine for themselves which laws do and do not apply to them. They sometimes refuse to pay taxes, insurance, or fines, for example, so they get frequent visits from bailiffs and the police. It is remarkable that cops and soldiers declare themselves sovereign against the government that employs them.
According to the police force management, there have been five cases of police officers declaring themselves sovereign in 2023 and 2024. “These employees have expressed the sovereign ideology, otherwise they would not have been noticed,” a spokesperson told the broadcaster. The police launched internal investigations against two of them but found no dereliction of duty. One received a warning. Investigations are still ongoing against the other three cops.
The police force management has warned the staff that expressions of sovereign ideology don’t fit in with the organization and “can result in a conflict with our core values and responsibilities,” RTL found in internal police documents obtained through the Open Government Act.
“Everyone is free to think what he or she wants,” the police force management told RTL Nieuws. “However, all police officers have sworn allegiance to the king, the constitution, and the laws of our country when taking the oath of office.” That makes the sovereign ideology “incompatible” with being a police officer.
A MIVD report from 2023 stated that the armed forces also have “anti-institutional extremists” who believe there is an “evil elite in power that seriously oppresses the people.” For security reasons, the Ministry of Defense wouldn’t tell RTL how big a problem this is. The MIVD told the broadcaster that “appropriate measures” were taken against the extremist soldiers discovered in 2023, but did not elaborate. “We can, however, conclude that the propagation of anti-institutional ideology and working in Defense are fundamentally at odds with each other,” a spokesperson said.
According to Luuk de Boer, a university lecturer in legal science, sovereign employees in the police and armed forces do not necessarily pose an immediate danger, but there is a high risk of them causing escalation. “There are different degrees of sovereignty, with a large group that only has a healthy distrust of the government. But there are also more extreme groups that do not rule out violence. If an employee were to radicalize, there would be a toxic cocktail in the police or defense, where sensitive information and weapons are available,” he told RTL Nieuws.
In April last year, the general intelligence service AIVD estimated that “several tens of thousands of people in the Netherlands adhere to the sovereign ideology to a greater or lesser extent.” The intelligence service raised concerns about this movement growing. “Some sovereigns are preparing for a violent confrontation with the government and are threatening violence. In combination with the expected growth of the sovereign movement as a whole, it is likely that this threat will also increase in the future.”
