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NOS News•today, 07:18
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Paul Houthuijs
editor Online
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Remco Andringa
editor Police and Justice
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Paul Houthuijs
editor Online
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Remco Andringa
editor Police and Justice
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From the murders of Peter R. de Vries and Derk Wiersum to the annual seizure of dozens of tons of cocaine: subversion is a word that invariably comes up in reports of serious crime. As of this year, the government will invest around half a billion euros annually in tackling subversive crime. But experts are critical of its effectiveness.
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First of all, the problem is very complex. Experts emphasize that progress has certainly been made in the fight against organized crime in recent years. For example, cooperation between authorities and investigative services has improved considerably.
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Nevertheless, according to researchers, the parties involved are still too often working at cross purposes. The approach is also regularly limited to short-term projects and often lacks concrete goals. Furthermore, the concept of undermining is so broad that it stands in the way of an effective approach.
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The term undermining has a paralyzing effect in practice.
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“It has taken on a life of its own,” says Bob Hoogenboom, professor forensic business studies. “It is used by Jan and everyone to put topics on the agenda and to bring in budgets, while it is no longer clear to anyone what exactly falls under it.”
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The police define undermining as “the constant beating of organized crime on our society”. Rijksoverheid.nl talks about the interconnectedness between the underworld and legal companies and services. “As a result, standards are blurring and the feeling of safety and quality of life decreases.”
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Paralyzing effect
According to Hans Boutellier, security and society expert, undermining is also a somewhat vague term. “As a result, it has a paralyzing effect in practice.”
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The question is how effectively the budget is spent. According to professor of criminology Emile Kolthoff, experience shows that in the end it is difficult or impossible to find out exactly what the money was spent on. “And sometimes it just turns out to be money wasted.”
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The Multidisciplinary Intervention Team (MIT), founded in 2019, which is considered a failure, symbolizes the things that go wrong in the national approach. Tens of millions went to this partnership between the police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Marechaussee, the tax authorities, customs and FIOD.
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To put together the team of 400 people, specialists were ‘bought away’ from other services that also suffer from shortages, executives complained to the police. After heavy criticism from experts, a restart was announced in May this year under a new name and with fewer tasks.
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‘Horrible road was continued’
Justice Minister Yesilgöz stated that it was mainly a matter of talking: “Given the situation in the Netherlands, however, it is necessary to switch to a model in which results are achieved.”
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A wise decision to intervene, Kolthoff thinks. “There are so many people who have said it was a deadly road and yet it was continued for political reasons. That joke has cost millions.”
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A police check in collaboration with the tax authorities in Rotterdam –
Nevertheless, Kolthoff believes that the nationwide offensive against organized crime is bearing fruit. He clearly sees improvement in Brabant. “Substantially more has been traced, arrested and seized there.” As a result, Kolthoff sees criminals fleeing: motorcycle clubs move to Belgium and drug labs are increasingly popping up above the major rivers.
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He also calls hacking criminal messaging services a great success in tackling organized crime. “It provides a lot of information, arrests and convictions. But every successful action is followed by a reaction from the criminal world to prevent eavesdropping by the police. It remains a kind of arms race.”
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In that arms race, the investigative services have seized more and more drug shipments. Last year, more than 70,000 kilos of coke were found during checks in the port of Rotterdam, a record.
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According to Hoogenboom, there is too much focus on these kinds of statistics. Despite a decades-long war on drugs the use of illegal drugs among part of the population has normalized, he emphasizes.
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“Law enforcement is only accountable in a Jip-and-Janneke way. Namely in terms of the number of arrests, kilos of drugs taken and money seized. But there are numerous reports and investigations showing that organized crime is much less efficient and effective than the policy words lead one to believe.”
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Much sown, little harvested
The Court of Audit recently concluded that in the hunt for criminally acquired assets, in ten years’ time “much sown and limited harvest“Despite more liberal legislation and additional budget, the results were disappointing according to the Court (see graph 3 above).
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Ultimately, it is a matter of perseverance in order to really make a difference in this comprehensive problem, concludes Boutellier. Despite the setbacks, he feels that the approach is getting better and better. “People are now learning how to best tackle a criminal business model.”
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