A police training session has prompted an internal investigation after live ammunition suddenly exploded when a bullet cartridge was removed from a weapon. The incident sent shrapnel from the cartridge into a police officer's protective equipment, though there were no injuries.
The accident happened last week as an Amsterdam tactical unit was training in Ossendrecht, Noord-Brabant. The explosion took place when a clip fell to the ground, police confirmed to both nu.nl and newspaper AD.
The Dutch police are now using a computer system developed by the Amsterdam police that uses large amounts of data to better anticipate and more actively respond to crime as well as to better manage available resources, ANP reports.
The Amsterdam police need 545 extra police officers in order to effectively deal with the increasingly busy city, assassination investigations and terrorism threats, according to Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aabersberg. Mayor Eberhard van der Laan sent a letter in which Aalbersberg details the need of the Dutch capital's police force, to the government in The Hague, Het Parool reports.
Police officer and former parliamentarian Hero Brinkman was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of breaching professional secrecy, his lawyer Richerd van der Weide confirmed, according to Het Parool and AD. Van der Weide only had brief contact with his client, so does not yet know exactly what is going on. Brinkman's home was also searched.
The Amsterdam police force needs at least another 500 officers in order to accommodate the city's growth, police chief Pieter-Jaap Albersberg said in the AT5 program Het Verhoor. According to him, the current police force, about 5,000 officers since 2011, is drowning in the work. "The force is built on 800,000 Amsterdam residents, while there are currently nearly 1.5 million on a daily basis", Aalbersberg said to the Amsterdam broadcaster.
