31 dec 2023 om 05:15
The chance that New Year’s Eve will be a “successful” is zero. This is what the police told NU.nl. She already knows that officers are going to get hurt. “That’s terrible and unpalatable.”
No major incidents. No children are victims of fireworks. And no officers with hearing damage or other injuries. That would be the ideal New Year’s Eve, according to Peije de Meij, New Year’s coordinator within the police. “But that’s not going to happen,” he realizes.
“The chance of a successful New Year’s Eve is nil,” De Meij continues. “If you have worked for the police for a long time, you have experienced very intense situations and you are happy if it is manageable. If there is not too many millions in damage. If not too many police officers sustain injuries or hearing damage. Then we find It’s already manageable, while it’s still craziness at its finest.”
Tens of thousands of officers will be deployed next night during New Year’s Eve. De Meij does not want to give a specific number, but it is the same as last year. “About half of the total number of operational agents.”
De Meij already knows that of those tens of thousands, a number return to the station injured. With hearing damage due to fireworks or other injuries. “Terrible and unpalatable,” he calls it. “I find it unacceptable to expose people to that. But it will have to be done.”
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The police officer is particularly vocal against illegal fireworks, such as cobras. “If a cobra explodes a short distance from you, it will by definition cause hearing damage.”
According to De Meij, the cobras are also used in criminal circles. For example, with the many explosions in recent months in Vlaardingen and Rotterdam, among others. “It’s an alternative to a hand grenade. The consequences are almost as serious. You just blow out a facade with it.”
To prevent hearing damage, officers receive tailor-made hearing protection. “But you can’t plug your ears. You’re going to have to listen to your walkie-talkie.”
De Meij previously called New Year’s Eve “a kind of war zone”. And he doesn’t feel like celebrating New Year’s Eve. “If you know that colleagues are going to get injured, you can no longer say: it is good police work and we are going to have an exciting night. These are simply risks that you do not want to take.”
Image: ANP
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2023-12-31 04:15:00
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