Netherlands: Major police scandal
01 May 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 additional safeguard against illegal police activities.
Many officials, MPs and others have expressed their a