Dutch Parliament wants to better arm forest rangers
A majority in the Tweede Kamer is demanding that forest rangers, known as green enforcement officers, receive heavier equipment and better communications tools after reports of dangerous encounters involving violence, human trafficking, and drug dumping in remote nature areas, RTL reports.
Lawmakers backed two motions from VVD legislator Claire Martens calling on Justice and Security Minister David van Weel to improve the equipment available to the rangers. Martens said a flaw in existing regulations forces some officers to choose between carrying a service dog or a firearm while on duty. “Ridiculous,” she said. “The green enforcement officers should simply get both.”
The proposal is supported by D66, CDA, and JA21, giving it majority backing. 50PLUS leader Jan Struijs also backed the measures, saying aggression and violence are increasing. “The forest ranger must be able to defend himself,” Struijs said. “It should only concern self-defense, because the monopoly on the use of force belongs to the police.”
Martens said forest rangers working alone and unarmed during nighttime have encountered fights, sometimes involving firearms, as well as human trafficking cases and other incidents where they could not intervene. “That is dangerous,” Martens said. “We are sending them out with nothing. That cannot continue.”
Martens also criticized the fact that forest rangers do not have access to the same communications systems used by police and fire services, which can lead them to miss emergencies occurring within the areas they patrol. She explained that rangers often find people who have fallen from horses or mountain bikes after they have already called the emergency number 112, but the alert never reaches the nearest ranger.
“Such a report does not reach a forest ranger who is probably closest by,” Martens said. “That can lead to police arriving at the scene of the accident much later than the green enforcement officer could have.”
