The police regularly manipulate crime figures, according to a study among police officers by investigative journalism platform Investico. Criminal offenses are kept off the books, police officers try to discourage citizens from filling reports, and cases are marked as 'resolved' when they are not, according to the study published in De Groene Amsterdammer.
The platform surveyed nearly 1,500 police officers and conducted interviews with dozens of cops and others involved.
Dutch citizens are generally more positive about the police than the police officers themselves, according to a reputation survey carried ut by the police. The worst score the police received came from police officers themselves on employership and leadership. According to the report, these scores are "deep into the danger zone", NU.nl reports.
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.
The Dutch police make note of the origin of all police employees to make sure that diversity increases within the corps, Lute Nieuwerth, head of diversity at the police, said in an interview with the Volkskrant.
According to Nieuwerth, the origin of employees is stored in such a way that it can not be traced back to individuals. The registration is to gain insight into how diverse the police force is, he said.
A 46-year-old woman from Gouda was sentenced to institutionalized psychiatric treatment for stalking National Police Chief Erik Akerboom and his wife. The court in The Hague considered it proven that the woman sent the couple over 2,500 threatening emails. They sometimes received 50 per day, NOS reports.
In one email she wrote: "Do not come near me in my neighborhood Erik, because I will really break you". Another read: "No, I will not give you an extra day. Can I kill you or just wait like your predecessor?"
The Dutch police unions are calling on their members to only respond to emergency reports in the weekend of September 14th to 16th, and to perform no other of their duties. This forms part of long ongoing labor actions for a better collective bargaining agreement for the police, NOS reports.
This is the most severe labor action ever taken by the police, a spokesperson for the unions said to NOS. "But we have to take this step. If noting changes now, we will soon not be able to be there when citizens need us." The action will have major consequences, according to the unions.
The falling crime figures in the Netherlands sometimes clash with reality, National Police chief Erik Akerbom said on Wednesday at the presentation of the police's annual results for 2017. Last year crime figures fell by 11 percent, the fifth year in a row that there's been a decline.
National Police Chief Erik Akerboom thinks that the use of drugs in the entertainment circuit has become too normalized and he wants to get rid of the "normal image" of this type of consumption, he said at an international police summit in Rotterdam on Tuesday, NU.nl reports.
Drug fighters from 120 countries are gathered in Rotterdam to learn from each other and make agreements on an international approach to fighting drug trafficking and production.
Dutch police officers are en masse expressing sympathy and praise for French officer Arnaud Beltrame, who gave his life to save a cashier during a hostage situation at a supermarket in Trebes on Friday, AD reports.
"Respect and sympathy for our French colleague's family", National Police Chief Erik Akerboom said on Twitter.
The Dutch police plans to extend its contribution to international police missions. National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wants to send dozens of extra police officers abroad in the coming years, he said in a statement on the police site on Friday.
A police officer was assaulted and choked in Amersfoort during the early hours of Saturday morning. She was taken to hospital with a severe concussion and injuries to her face. Six young people were arrested, the police said in a statement.
National Police Chief Erik Akerboom expressed his disgust over the incident. "Aggression, alcohol and drugs are too often the cause. Harsh punishment is the only thing that fits", he said on Twitter. He called it "shocking and unacceptable".
An autopsy was scheduled to determine what killed a 39-year-old Den Haag man who appeared to be repeatedly punched when police tried to apprehend him, prosecutors said Friday evening. Paul Selier, a father of two children living in The Hague, was identified in media reports as the victim.
National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wants a mental health worker available in every neighborhood in the Netherlands. The police increasingly have to respond to emergency situations involving people with mental health problems, and this can be avoided if they get the help they need before things get out of hand, he said in an interview with newspaper AD.
Five years after the regional police forces in the Netherlands reorganized into the National Police, there are still numerous problems, the Kuijken committee concluded after investigating the state of affairs in the police reorganization. It is still a work in progress, the committee said its report, ANP reports.
Non-existent supervision on police expenses from the police leadership and the Ministry of Security and Justice was one of the main factors that resulted in exorbitant spending by the National Police's Central Works Council (CWC), a committee led by Maarten Ruys concluded. For years the police leadership acted "insufficiently" against overruns on the CWC's budget, ANP reports.
Since the establishment of the National Police in 2013, some 3 thousand police officers were placed on long-term sick leave and are now sitting at home with hardly any contact with their employer, Jan Struis, chairman of Dutch police union NPB, said on EenVandaag on Thursday. According to him, many of these cops were put on sick leave after expressing criticism about the police, ANP reports.
Someone within the police deliberately leaked the personal information of a man who crashed his car into a group of pedestrians at Amsterdam Central Station in June to website Geenstijl, National Police Chief Erik Akerboom said in an email to all police officers on Thursday, NU.nl reports.
Gerard Bouman, former chief of the National Police, passed away on Monday at the age of 64, his family announced. According to a statement from the family, Bouman never regained consciousness after suffering a severe heart attack while on vacation in the United States in June.
Bouman's family asked the media to respect their privacy in this time. "We want to guide Gerard calmly and peacefully to his last resting place."
If the Dutch police officers have their way, people caught throwing fireworks at police officers and other first responders will henceforth be charged with attempted murder. The police also want a ban on exploding fireworks and rockets, National Police chief Erik Akerboom said on Monday, NU.nl reports.
Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg is visiting all the stations and officers under his command this week to talk about his proposal to allow headscarves with the police uniform. He hopes to soothe tempers and regain support, AD reports.
The Amsterdam top cop cleared his schedule until Thursday so that he can visit all police teams in the Dutch capital. In 15 sessions of 1.5 hours he will talk to officers and address the fierce criticism that arose after he made the headscarf suggestion.
National Police chief Erik Akerboom decided to maintain the ban on headscarves with police uniforms for the time being. He is shocked by the uproar caused by Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg suggesting that headscarves be allowed in an effort to boost diversity in the police, the National Police chief wrote in an internal memo, AD reports.
Five police chiefs were caught using police funds to visit football matches and concerts, newspaper AD reported on Friday. The Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at the police, launched an investigation. National Police Chief Erik Akerboom fears that more "integrity scandals" will come to light, he said to AD.
National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wants the police force to be more diverse. For that reason 13 extra positions will be created in the police leadership this year for "diverse" talent, he said in an interview with the Volkskrant.
"The police must be recognizable to everyone. The outside world changed enormously, and the police is not changing with it", Akerboom said. He wants the culture in the police to change quickly.
Registered common crimes in the Netherlands, including burglaries, violence and theft, dropped by 20 percent between 2012 and 2016, according to Statistics Netherlands on Wednesday. Crime experienced by Dutch, registered in the national victimization survey Safety Monitor, reduced by 13 percent. People living in the Netherlands also feel safer, ANP reports.
