NOS | Yvonne Witte
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 17:09
Remco Andringa
editor Police and Justice
Remco Andringa
editor Police and Justice
Police capacity problems will persist for years longer than expected. The police hoped to be back at full strength in 2025, but now expect that there will still be a shortage of 1,500 officers in 2027.
At the request of the NOS, the police provided data on the current understaffing and the forecast for the coming years. This shows a persistent shortage of personnel in the operational part of the police: in the basic teams (the “blue on the street”), in the criminal investigation department, the information departments and in some specialist services.
The police currently have almost 1,800 fewer police officers than planned, out of a total of 48,000 operational employees.
In 2027, this understaffing will hardly be less, while the police hoped to be out of the red by then.
View the expected shortages per police unit for the coming years here:
According to the police, there are several reasons why it is not possible to solve the capacity problems.
Firstly, the police force is becoming empty due to an aging population. In the coming period, approximately 1,500 (operational) police officers will retire every year. These places all need to be filled with new staff.
But there is a great shortage on the labor market, which makes hiring new, experienced people difficult. Moreover, more police employees than before are switching to a new job. There is now a lot of competition from other employers. Attracting lateral entrants, such as financial specialists, is only partially successful.
Police academy is full
At the same time, the police want to expand. There is room for 1,400 additional officers. The police may grow to 49,500 operational employees in the coming years. This means that the total number of vacancies is greater than ever.
For this reason, the police are also training more new officers than ever. From next year, the police academy will be completely full with 2,500 aspirants per year. The basic training has been shortened to deliver officers more quickly. According to the police, training even more officers than is currently being done is not possible.
Due to the growth, the uncertain labor market and the fact that the new recruits will only be fully employable in a few years, there will always be a shortage of around 1,500 agents. This concerns a shortage of the current formation; In fact, the police say they need many more staff to handle all the work.
Lending agents
The lack of personnel in the police is evident at all levels, according to the most recent figures. Basic teams are understaffed throughout the Netherlands. These local teams include local police officers and officers who respond to 112 reports.
In Hoofddorp, for example, the police currently have 17 fewer people than budgeted. Zoetermeer is missing no fewer than 27 officers and Heerlen has 21 too few. These are always teams with room for around 150 employees, so on average fifteen percent of the officers are missing.
In addition to this, the lending of agents to other units is also necessary. This year, for example, many police officers from other parts of the country had to be deployed in The Hague due to the many demonstrations.
Football matches also require a lot of staff, as does security during, for example, the Marengo process. In addition, there are many sick people in some places and the police spend a lot of time on more than 100,000 reports per year about people with confused behavior.
Filling holes
The result is that staff are being removed everywhere to fill gaps. Community police officers are forced to participate in other services. The so-called ‘flex teams’, a kind of backup teams for the local police, have largely been emptied.
The district police, which investigates smaller crimes, is also permanently understaffed in most places. Things are not much better at the regional investigation service, which focuses on the more serious forms of crime.
Units such as Amsterdam, Central Netherlands and East Netherlands each have almost 100 fewer detectives than anticipated, about 10 percent of the intended total.
View the current staff shortages in the basic teams and the criminal investigation department here:
NOS
Other major shortages exist in a number of specialist services, such as the Infrastructure Service (the police on road and rail, among other things) and the Specialist Operations Service. The latter department is involved in, among other things, eavesdropping on suspects and undercover operations.
Because some police departments have slightly too many staff on paper, this compensates for a small part of the shortages.
Constantly new demands
The consequences of the persistent capacity problems are major, says Liesbeth Huyzer, member of the force leadership. “Reports are not being filed because we always have a new priority. In the longer term, this will be at the expense of our reliability. I am really concerned about that.”
The current malaise is a legacy of the past, she explains. First there were major cuts to the police, and then more money was added. “Due to the erratic policy of dismantling and then rebuilding, we are lagging behind the facts.”
She therefore hopes that the next cabinet will be able to look ahead longer than one term of government, and that politicians will not keep making new demands, such as more local police officers or a tougher approach to discrimination. “Because that means we always have to get people from somewhere else.”
According to her, appointing even more police officers, such as the 10,000 extra that the PVV has wanted for years, is not a solution. “We have now asked for money for better resources and for digitalization. This will make the work more efficient and effective.”
2023-11-19 16:09:30
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