Holland: Major police scandal
01 January 1991
Holland: Major police scandal
artdoc July=1994
The Dutch police are currently in turmoil after a series of press
disclosures and an official inquiry about the use of
unconventional police methods in fighting organized crime. The
affair started in January 1994, when newspapers published stories
on how a inter-regional semi-permanent detective squad (the
"Interregionaal Recherche Team", IRT) had been shut down in
December 1993 as a result of serious mismanagement and
controversies over its methods & tactics. These included the
importation and distribution of some 25,000 kilos of soft drugs
by a criminal police informer/infiltrator, and plans to have him
import and distribute about 100 kilos of cocaine in an attempt
to establish his credentials with a major criminal organization.
An investigation commission (the Wierenga Commission) published
an 750-page report in March in which many prominent police and
Justice Department officials were quoted extensively criticizing
their colleagues and revealed what seems like a structural lack
of cooperation and control. During the parliamentary debate on
7 April, the Ministers of Justice and the Interior only managed
to hold on to their positions because the governing coalition
parties where unwilling to let a political crisis undermine their
chances in the May 3 elections. In the weeks that followed, none
of the senior officials shown to have failed in giving guidance
to and overseeing the IRT have suffered any consequences from the
affair - a situation which has contributed to cynicism both among
the public and the police rank and file.
Parallel to the `IRT affair', leaks to the press and journalist
investigations brought more sensitive and embarrassing
information in the open. The police were shown to have resorted
to clandestine burglaries to check whether a formal house search
would produce any incriminating evidence. This practice was
initially denied by senior Justice Department officials who later
had to concede that such practices did take place, but were
mostly limited to storehouses, sheds and garages; houses were
seldom searched in this way they said.
Newspapers and published a taped telephone conversation in
which two police criminal intelligence (CID) officers discussed
how the CID department in Haarlem had advance knowledge of a
fatal bomb attack on a drug dealer but had refrained from
intervening. According to one source, the hit was ordered by the
IRA because the drug trafficker had sensitive information about
Republican arms transports, but other newspaper reports suggested
that certain police officers were deeply involved in illegal
practices, and cooperated with major drug traffickers to put the
competition out of business. On May 13, a television program
featured a list, which is circulating among criminals and
lawyers, with the names and addresses of several hundred police
informers operating in the south of the Netherlands. Apparently
the list originated from a highly secret police source. The
Justice Department would only comment that the list was three to
five years old and had no official status, and that some of the
names on it referred to non-existing persons.
The IRT scandal and these subsequent exposures have left the
public image and integrity of the Dutch police severely damaged -
even if some of the information is incorrect or exaggerated.
Parliament has decided to initiate an investigation into police
tactics and techniques to decide what should be legally allowed.
The public prosecutors' offices in the meantime have decided to
set up a central commission to check individual cases and give
permission to use certain sensitive methods in an attempt to
establish national standards in this field. The Justice
Department has cleverly exploited the situation by introducing
a permanent national police team which will `support' regional
teams in organized crime investigations and provide an ad