Enforcement officers held actions in eight cities on Tuesday to protest against the violence they encounter during their work. They feel that recent incidents show why enforcement officers need to be armed with 'defensive equipment' like batons and pepper spray. Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security is against arming enforcers, but for equipping them with bodycams and emergency buttons.
enforcers
May 26 '20 12:40
May 22 '20 09:33
Two enforcement officers were attacked by a group of young people on the beach in IJmuiden on Thursday afternoon. One was taken to hospital with an injury to his face. The police arrested two suspects and are looking for a third.
Apr 14 '20 11:10
Some Rotterdam residents found it difficult to adhere to the social distancing measures in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus over Easter weekend. A group of young people attacked enforcement officers when they were fined, hurting five enforcers. And a barbecue on a Rotterdam roof ended up costing the 17 attendees a total of nearly 7 thousand euros in fines. Rotterdam is using camera equipped cars to find groups faster.
Mar 24 '20 07:57
The Netherlands' mayors are pleased with the new packet of measures the government implemented against the spread of the coronavirus on Monday. The new measures give them "clear rules" and the possibility to intervene.
Jan 6 '20 13:30
An enforcement officer employed by the municipality of Rotterdam was accused of forcing a female colleague to perform unwanted sexual acts with him in 2018 and early in 2019, according to a confidential report from the National Complaints Committee on Undesirable Behavior for the Decentralized Government, which newspaper AD has in its possession. The accused man denies all allegations, according to the newspaper.
Dec 16 '19 16:20
In a Christmas card sent to parliamentarians, police officers, enforcers and other aid workers called for a ban on firecrackers. First responders always face violence and aggression over New Year's, the first responders said. "We are there for the citizen when needed. Are you there for us?"
Nov 12 '19 16:10
From next year Rotterdam will equip all 400 of its enforcement officers with bodycams. The Rotterdam office of mayor and aldermen allocated 250 thousand euros for this, expanding an experiment the municipality started last year by equipping 50 enforcers with these small cameras, NOS reports.
May 30 '19 09:00
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema agreed to equip enforcers working in the city with pepper spray. She submitted a request to Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security to approve this, NU.nl reports.
May 15 '19 12:50
Enforcement officers are planning more protest actions in their long ongoing campaign to be armed with batons and pepper spray, to defend themselves against the violence they face during the course of their duties, enforcers' union NBB said to Nieuwsuur.
Apr 26 '19 16:40
A strike organized by two enforcement officers' unions in Amsterdam on King's Day will not happen, the court in Amsterdam ruled on Friday. The municipality filed summary proceedings on Tuesday to prevent the strike, NU.nl reports.
Apr 24 '19 13:30
The municipality of Amsterdam is going to court in an attempt to prevent a strike by enforcement officers on King's Day. The enforcers plan to strike between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday. But according to the municipality, King's Day is not the appropriate time for this action, NOS reports.
Apr 23 '19 13:40
Enforcement officers in Amsterdam will strike for three hours on King's Day, unless the municipality meets their demands for more equipment with which to defend themselves before then. The strike will take place between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Dutch enforcement officers' union NBB said during a protest on Dam Square, the Telegraaf reports.
Apr 8 '19 07:51
All types of scooters, even the slower ones with blue license plates, are banned from most Amsterdam bike paths from today. But the ban, as well as the obligation to wear a helmet, will not be immediately enforced. The 500 enforcement officers in the Dutch capital are threatening to strike if the municipality does not meet their demand for better equipment, the Volkskrant reports.
Feb 11 '19 11:20
Rotterdam will give more of its Stadbeheer enforcement officers extra investigative powers to tackle nuisance on the streets. These special enforcement officers will be allowed to issue fines for 10 criminal offenses, mainly focused on nuisance, NOS reports.
Currently around 40 Rotterdam enforcers already have these powers. The municipality will now train another 80 enforcers to also write tickets. The expectation is that they can be used from May 1st.
Feb 6 '19 13:30
Enforcement officers in Amsterdam will soon be equipped with bodycams, mayor Femke Halsema agreed with the unions. The enforcement officers working in the city center will also receive extra support from the police, effective immediately, the municipality announced in a press release.
Feb 6 '19 09:19
Amsterdam is doing too little to address nuisance in its neighborhoods, the audit office for the Amsterdam Metropolis concluded after research. According to the office, the municipality wants to do a lot, but the use of its resources does not match those ambitions, AT5 reports.
Dec 11 '18 11:50
If it is up to the police, enforcement officers will not be armed. The police want to cooperate more and better with enforcement officers, but "the monopoly on using force, that remains with the police as far as the police are concerned", National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, RTL Nieuws reports.
Dec 4 '18 07:36
Municipal enforcers are very concerned about New Year's and the increasing number of firework-free zones they have to enforce, without means to defend themselves if they are in trouble. "This can easily go wrong", Eric Lakeman of the Dutch enforcers' union NBB said to newspaper AD.
In the Netherlands enforcers are rarely equipped with batons. This means that they have to make sure no one light fireworks in areas they are not allowed to completely unarmed. The NBB pleads for all enforcers to be equipped with batons, pepper spray and bodycams before New Year's.
Aug 9 '18 12:20
A motorist tried to hit a enforcement officer in Den Bosch with his car shortly after he was fined for illegal parking. The municipality's enforcement officer managed to get out of the way in time and was not hurt, ANP reports.
The officer "miraculously" managed to jump out of the way just in time as the car came at him at high speed, the police said.
Mar 7 '18 08:20
The measures the Amsterdam municipality is taking against crowds in the city center are not reducing problems for residents, Amsterdam Ombudsman Arre Zuurmond said in a new report. The inner city is "a jungle at night, in which survival of the fittest applies and in which the government is intolerably absent", the Ombudsman said, Het Parool reports.
Nov 30 '16 17:00
The Amsterdam mayor and aldermen want to hire more undercover officers to police the Red Light District, mayor Eberhard van der Laan wrote to the city council. The council previously agreed that no more than 25 external undercover officers will be hired, but the mayor believes that more is necessary, Het Parool reports.
