Netherlands:police & security agencies
01 January 1991
Netherlands:police & security agencies
bacdoc July=1995
The information in this country file was first published in the
handbook "Statewatching the new Europe" (November 1993). It was
compiled by Peter Klerks and extracted from a longer report which
is available from: The Domestic Security Research Foundation, PO
Box 11178, 1001 GD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The NETHERLANDS
Total no. of police officers (1992 estimate): 40,000. Women in
the police: less than 13% of the force consists of women, most
of them serving in the lower ranks. No. of police officers per
100,000 inhabitants: 267 (EC av. 338)
The police are presently going through the most far-reaching
reorganisation process since World War 2. The present government
is in the process of replacing the 148 Gemeentepolitie (municipal
police) forces (totalling 32,600 personnel), the Rijkspolitie
(state police for the rural areas, some 13,400 strong) and a
handful of national specialised services by 25 regional forces
(varying in strength from 450 to 4,500) and an integrated
National Police Service Agency. The formal structure is broadly
as follows: if the police act in a community to maintain public
order or lend assistance, they come under the authority of the
mayor (appointed by the Crown for six years); if involved in the
maintenance of legal order or acting in a judicial capacity, they
come under the jurisdiction of the public prosecutor, unless the
law determines otherwise.
The regulation of authority in the new structure is the same,
except for the new regional police forces. For them, general
responsibility at a national level lies with the Minister of the
Interior; at a regional level, with the mayor of a provincial
capital or of the largest municipality in the police region who,
as regional director, will be supported the local police chief.
Administration will be the responsibility of the `regional
authority', chaired by the regional director. While the latter
can make important decisions, in consultation with the Chief
Public Prosecutor, the regional authority has the final say.
Critics believe that the `democratic base' of the police
under the new system is inadequate. Most mayors, though
accountable for policing in their territory, will have little
influence. They will only meet twice a year; the chair of the
`regional authority', together with the regional police chief and
the Chief public prosecutor, will make all daily decisions.
The new National Police Service Agency (also referred to as
`the 26th corps') will include the present Centrale Recherche
Informatiedienst (CRI, Central Criminal Intelligence Service),
a 600-strong police support service for information management
and retrieval with expertise in criminal investigations, which
also runs the Interpol NCB. Other elements of the new National
Agency will be the Water Police, the national Traffic Police, the
VIP protection service, the police aviation service, the central
police logistics and telecommunications service etc.
The Landelijk Coördinatie Centrum (LCC) at the Ministry of
the Interior in The Hague is the crisis centre used to coordinate
large-scale emergencies and events (eg: during the Pope's visit
and during the Gulf War it ran anti-terrorist security
operations).
The police system also includes a gendarmerie force, the
Koninklijke marechaussee (Kmar, about 4,000 strong), a
paramilitary force under the Ministry of Defence which is
responsible for border controls (ie: only airports after the
Schengen Agreement is fully operational) and identity controls
on aliens in the larger cities, as well as policing duties on
military establishments. Kmar personnel also provided support to
the Hague and Amsterdam municipal police forces to compensate for
shortages of personnel, and functions as a back-up Third Force
for riot control and other large-scale operations.
The Rijksrecherche (State Detectives), som