In order to cope with the increasing personnel shortage at the Amsterdam police, a reorganization is planned at the Infrastructure Service. Agents of that service who are engaged in, among other things, checks in the port and safety in public transport are transferred to the basic police teams active in the neighborhoods.
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In a letter to the city council, Mayor Halsema writes that after consultation of the triangle (Mayor, police and Public Prosecution Service), it was decided to intervene. The Amsterdam police have been struggling with a capacity shortage for some time. From 480 full-time jobs in November 2019, that shortfall increased to 551 FTEs in June this year. Despite the measures that are now being taken, the mayor expects that police capacity will only be restored in 2024.
‘Measures hurt’
The triangle recognizes that some of these measures will hurt. This is particularly the case where specialist tasks are transferred to the basic teams, as will be the case in public transport, ‘Halsema writes. The special Public Transport Safety Team, which helps enforcers with safety incidents on the bus, metro and tram, will cease to exist. The basic police teams will take over that task.
The police team that works with enforcers to tackle problems such as traffic nuisance on a project basis no longer exists. The police deployment within the detention center and the so-called ‘integrated personal approach’ is also being cut. Finally, surveillance of vulnerable and threatened institutions makes more use of cameras and uses regular instead of armored vehicles.
Extra work
Because many of the transferred tasks will soon be borne by the ‘ordinary’ police officer on the street, it remains to be seen whether that work can still be done. The additional tasks will be part of the general weighting of the use of available capacity.
Due to the removal of the specialist teams, 405 full-time police jobs can be shifted to the basic teams. The deficit is thus largely compensated for, the mayor writes.
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