Two-thirds of cops find NATO summit in The Hague irresponsible

Two-thirds (67 percent) of police officers in the Netherlands think hosting the NATO summit in The Hague is irresponsible. Their main concerns include the failing C2000 communications system, cyber attacks, large demonstrations, and police capacity issues in other places, EenVandaag found in a survey of almost 1,200 members of the Dutch Police Union (NPB).

World leaders will come to The Hague for a NATO summit on June 24 and 25. To protect the dignitaries and other people in the city, police officers from all over the Netherlands will travel to The Hague. But many cops are worried about this.

Their biggest concern is the emergency services’ communication system, C2000. 83 percent of cops worry that it will fail during the summit due to known issues with the system and cyber attacks. “On ‘normal’ days, we already experience disruptions and cybercrime aimed at the organization on a very regular basis, so with such a large event, the chance is even greater,” one officer said.

63 percent are worried about a demonstration getting out of hand during the summit. “In the Netherlands, we cannot even handle a small demonstration like XR’s normally and tightly. Let alone a mega demonstration.” The officer was referring to climate action group Extinction Rebellion, which regularly blocks highways and access to buildings and runways to protest against the government and companies’ continued use of fossil fuels.

Officers are also worried about police capacity, not for the summit, but whether there will be enough police in the rest of the Netherlands. 7 out of 10 cops think that more and less urgent police work will come to a standstill in the rest of the Netherlands during the summit. “There is already no police presence in small villages. By catching up on overtime and vacations, this will only get worse,” one cop said.

Many cops (51 percent) also expect the summit to further increase their already sky-high workload. They also find the appreciation from the police organization insufficient. 57 percent find their monetary compensation too low, and 62 percent think the same about non-financial appreciation.