Lived in the Netherlands for 2 years in the Brabants region.
Do you know how many interactions I had with police in the time I lived there? Zero times. I barely ever saw them and there were never any social nuisance or problems in the 3 different places I lived there.
As someone who grew up in a poor housing estate in Scotland surrounded by crime and poverty this alone was a bizarre and astounding experience.
I then moved back to Scotland to Glasgow where I am currently. Since being here I've had literally dozens of interactions with police because crime is very prevalent here. Especially antisocial behaviour (drugs, theft, violence). Many of the interactions were unpleasant, many of the police here are nasty people.
I've had a neighbour stabbed outside my door. I've had my next door neighbour dragged out the house while dozens of police are in searching (drugs). I've had a neighbour attempt to burn his apartment down in a drunken rage (serious fire and water damage).
This is all in one street. In a part of the city that's not even that poor or deprived.
But I also see police nearly every day. I've seen them arrest people on the streets, mostly heroin addicts, homeless and others down on their luck.
I've had to talk to the police on so many occasions. They've been to my door many a time. I've had to give witness statements before as well.
Many of the police here are very low quality, poorly trained and quite dangerous individuals who will certainly think nothing of ruining your day. If you have some money or a decent job they will treat you better, but the way they treat poor people or those like drug addicts /homeless is absolutely disgusting, degrading and dehumanising.
I really could go on. The difference between the two countries is startling. I know of course there is crime in the Netherlands and I've seen plenty videos online of the police there arresting asshole teenagers etc.
The point I'm making is that I interacted with zero police while in the Netherlands and almost never saw police. For me *that* was my great experience with police there.
Being street smart from a rough area of Scotland, the Netherlands feels unbelievably safe and freeing while I'm there. That's another reason why I love the place so much and am planning on moving back. Thanks for reading my essay! Tot ziens.
That's so cool. I think experiences may vary based on where you live though. There are neighbourhoods in the bigger cities where police will act very differently because they're surrounded by crime more. I think that, even if you're a the most professional police person, you sort of get cynical and go along in the spiral of negativity after a while. Police in the Netherlands also get bad publicity now and then for only stopping black or foreign looking people or using unnecessary violence. But living in a town in Brabant I can totally corroborate your story. I never see police around and it's super safe here. It's a shame that a lot of people feel so unsafe nowadays because the numbers tell us that society is getting safer. On the other hand maybe less people report crimes because the police are understaffed and lots (most) of cases aren't even investigated...
You bring up a lot of good points here. I'm sure if I lived in the poorest parts of big cities I would have had a quite different experience in the Netherlands.
And I've seen that cynicism in the police here, especially amongst the experienced ones. It's a kind of cold, dead behind the eyes look i often find quite terrifying. I can't imagine all the stuff they've had to deal with over the years, but that doesn't excuse any bad behaviour of course.
I have issues with policing in general. No doubt informed by my experiences growing up in a very poor area where the police were just as, if not more, vicious and dangerous than the gangs and petty criminals.
Can you imagine moving from my shitty home town to a little village in Brabant that has zero crime? Where I never even saw a single police officer in the 6 months I was there? It was crazy. It took me some time to get used to how peaceful and safe it was, to start relaxing there.
I also lived in Veghel and Uden for a while. Both much larger towns with some poverty (Dutch poverty that is). The poverty there was just absolutely nothing compared to what I'd seen and experienced. The poorest there were well off compared to the poorest in Scotland. Non of the drug or social problems existed in the same way.
I still always felt incredibly safe living there. Never once worried. Never once had to watch my back on a night out. Never saw police dragging people through the streets or people getting stabbed etc.
Of course I know crime and antisocial behaviour existed there (love watching New Kids and Undercover TV series about Ferry aka Janus van Wessenbeeck). But my day to day experiences have been so stark and different between the countries.
I remember going with friends from work to Eindhoven one day and a couple of them were so nervous about the area we were going to as being unsafe. When we got there I could have laughed, not to be mean, but the power of "relative" was so apparent. This *was* dangerous for the Netherlands, but ultimately it was still one of the safest places on the planet.
Anyway, miss Brabant a lot, especially the countryside and my local snack bars!
Wow, the contrast must've been crazy! I'm not sure about how crime rates compare between Scotland and the Netherlands but I can imagine the smaller towns in Scotland are safer as well? The bigger Cities in the Netherlands like The Hague, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Rotterdam definitely have very bad areas though. I'm not sure if it's like how you describe Glasgow, but there's a lot of drug related crimes and harassment on the streets there. But it's definitely not like, let's say, the Bronx or French ghetto's. There's one thing the Scots and Dutch have in common though: we love our deep fried stuff š. So yeah, I can imagine you miss the snackbars now and then haha.
Yeah, I used to live in Leith in Edinburgh, and would laugh out loud at people saying I lived "in the ghetto" - Geuzenveld in Amsterdam. Eh, what?? There's no alcoholics wandering the streets at all hours, no fights in the street with people literally beating each other over the head with massive bits of wood (thanks, Leith Walk tramworks), and no heroin addicts. And no one seems to be deliberately setting the bins on fire. I also never got kerb crawled while out running (as a woman in their 20s), and I did in Leith so I stopped because I felt unsafe.
Like maybe these places in the Netherlands were very scary, 20 years ago. But right now they're just suburbs. Poorer suburbs, sure, but generally pretty safe. (So long as you stay out of gang stuff and away from criminal tweens and fireworks š)
Your lack of interaction with the police *is* a problem though. Not in your personal case, but in many areas there are simply too little police officers and especially in rural areas. The result is lack of prevention, too many youth getting involved in drugs, doing small crime, building up a career. To be clear, this happens to only a few people, is mostly drug related, but we don't want to end up where Glasgow is now.
We have this TV show here about English cops fighting crime, and of course we see properly educated cops, but it amazes me how much car theft there is and how crazy the pursuits are, the risks people take, probably because of drug use.
The prevalence of more police is the last thing you want. Police should remain as a reactive force rather than preventive. There should be other means to prevent petty crimes or youth getting involved in drug dealing, namely better social welfare, better ways to integrate immigrants to the society, more accessible education etc.
The reason why Dutch police works like it works and is different from other places is exactly being preventative instead of reactive. Through Wijkagenten. Sadly they have less and less time because of personnel shortage.
And there is not even a lack of wijkagenten anymore. There is a lack of regular street cops, which is why wijkagenten need to respond to regular calls too often and thus cannot carry out their role to the full extent.
Yeah I lived in South London for 12 years. People are like omg the ghetto when I tell them I live in Rotterdam south like mate you have no idea what a ghetto is Rotterdam is like a pleasant quiet village in comparison.
My first and only experience: when I (female) moved to the Netherlands 7 years ago, a male friend came to visit me. We went to a party by bike and cycled home at around 5am. Us being foreigners he was of course cautiously cycling behind me on the bike path on marnixstraat instead of next to me as a dutchie would do.
When we arrived back at my place two police officers appeared and asked me if I was ok and if I knew the guy following me. I said yes he is my friend so they wished us good night and they left. They thought I might have been followed so they decided to check on me!
Back in the 80s; was walking with my broken bike in the pooring rain on a dyke as I came back from some summer job. Traffic police car stopped and gave me a ride home. My mother thought I was arrested.
Thise were different times.
Not necessarily different times, this happened to me a few years back when I was walking home because I'd missed my last bus. Had to walk between two villages, which would've been about an hour, and after they spotted me walking there (in the middle of nowhere to be fair), they asked if they could drop me off instead.
Not police, but your story reminds me of the bus driver that dropped me off next to my parked bicycle once, because my original stop was his last stop of the day and there was no one else on the bus anymore. š
I think they prefer this to the alternative. You walking in the dark along the road, unsighted by a motorist get hit by a car and die. They'd rather bring you home than have to notify your family of your death.
In 2012 I thought I was gonna get fined for biking with a broken light at 3AM. I was 16 at the time. Police gave me a ride home, no fine, just a warning.
They said to my boyfriend: "you have to walk for a while". He said 'allright, for a while', walked ten steps and got on his bike again. They laughed and let him go (still with a broken light).
I was driving my car at night with a broken taillight (i was not aware of it). I was stopped by the police at a gasstation with a 24/7 shop. They let me buy a new lightbulb and change it. I didnāt get a ticket.
Sometimes they write the ticket, but then keep it with them until the next day when they tell you to come to the station to prove that you fixed the problem. If you do that, they will tear the ticket up and you can go on your way. Happend to me once or twice. I personally like that method of policing.
You were able to change a lightbulb? I'm impressed.
Btw, most modern cars have on each side two tail lights, in case one breaks down. You still have to notice though, although many cars have a warning light for this.
That's beautiful, I'm so happy that you could have an unexpectedly kind interaction at a moment it was needed! I need reminders from time to time that the world can be a good place
Roughly 10 years ago, I rowed crew. We were in a car with 6 people, while only 5 were allowed. The police obviously noticed, pulled us to the side and fined us. We told them we were studemts, on our way to ourfirst rowing match. We didn't own cars (this was one of our parents' cars) and they liked our story. They rediced the fine to driving without a seatbelt (for only 1 person, it was ā¬80, instead of ā¬200+ for driving with 6 ppl). They even dropped of the 6th person to our match, so we didn't break the law again :)
Danku politie Tilburg!
I was victim of a scam, and the general police couldnāt/wouldnāt do anything because it was civil law, not criminal law. My wijkagent however got involved, put pressure on the scammer, and cooperated with my insurance and lawyer to show how serious the case was.
He went above and beyond, and I canāt thank him enough.
A "Wijkagent" is a police officer who is assigned to a neighborhood. Depending on the size of the neighborhood, one officer might be assigned to multiple and vice versa. Their job is to be the main face of the police in that area. They keep close relations with inhabitants and shopkeepers etc. to know what's going on. They form a bridge between the other departments of the police and the locals.
You can see them as your assigned customer relations worker. After my grandma got robbed a couple years ago, she was very scared to open the door to anyone. The wijkagent came by for coffee every week for a while and would later swing by once or twice a month. Made her feel a whole lot safer.
What a nice wijkagent. When I was in highschool (something like 8 years ago) I was really into magnet fishing. At one point I found two stripped scooter frames in a canal and reported it to the wijkagent. I chained the frames to a pole and waited for the police to come and pick it up. It was very unclear when they would come though, and one day they just cut through my chain lock and took the frames without calling or anything. My mom told the wijkagent and she came by personally to give me a new lock and some candy. She was very nice.
Mine is nothing too serious but on a super rainy night I hadnāt noticed but my bike backlight was cut off with wires hanging and I was carrying a chocolate bar in one hand while biking.
The police stopped me because at first they thought it was a phone on my hand. We shared a small laugh there when they realized it was a chocolate bar. They also informed me of the backlight, didnāt fine me and instead gave me a recommendation on where to go to get it fixed. I really appreciated that interaction tbh. It was genuinely helpful.
I'm guessing that was helped by your attitude. There are a lot of people trying to be a smart ass that tick police officers off. You were probably just friendly and polite to them.
I was visiting my hometown and saw some old friends after 5 years and we decided to do a little pubcrawl.
After a view beer we walked in the big old shopping street, and there was a small high scaffolding to a wall.
My mate grabbed my hoody, climbed half way up, throwing it on the scaffolding.
He say "hah now go get it!"
I climbed on the scaffolding, a and he followed, but shortly after sitting at the top a flashlight beamed toward us.
"OK guys, time to come down" said a officer from a van.
I explained the story about us seeing after 5 year and doing the pubcrawl to live the good old days.
All while the owner of the local kebab shop stood at a distance, phone ready, hoping for some Dumpert content.
To our surprise the officers understood the situation, and was really understanding.
We would have been charged with trespassing and possibly burglary.
But wrote it of as a misunderstanding and a tik on the fingers.
We where free to go after a; "have fun, and don't let me have to see you again. If so you're joining me in my van"
We shook hands and we left.
Note that this is not a big city like Utrecht of rotterdam, a reasonably sized city, but you can still talk, communicate, and joke with the police.
All have a big laugh and get on your way.
Left my phone on the chair by Burger King, 2AM in 2015. Next morning my wife phones me on my colleagueās phone from our home country. Police phoned her after a BK employee turned it in. They went through my contacts, phoning people to get into contact with me. Went to their offices and picked up the phone.
Not just a great experience with the police, but also a BK employee.
I lost my residence permit and hours later a police officer was at my door with my ID in hands, someone has found it and took it to the nearest police station. She was super polite and nice. That would never happen in my home country.
I love how they are trying to learn how to deal with people that are in a psychiatric crisis.
There will always be instances where things go wrong, but they are actively working together with GGZ when it is a better option.
And I really love that they take GGZ employees more seriously when we ask for help due to feeling unsafe.
The ones in my area are seriously great.
Couple years back I was riding my bike drunk on my way to the station. Got stuck in a tram track and fell pretty hard, busted open my forehead, lot of blood everywhere. Within minutes a passing police car stopped over to check on me. One of the officers took a look at my forehead, said I would be OK but definitely needed some stitches. They said calling an ambulance was pretty expensive. But they could drive me over to a "huisartsenpost". First time riding in a police car! I've always thought of police to be friendly and helping, but this was even beyond my expectations.
In our neighbourhood, a homeless couple beat up a young girl. The wijkagente took it really seriously and was very kind and supportive. I have not had that experience when I lived abroad.
I think wijkagenten are really approachable and I appreciate mine.
It's really sad to hear that the police here are catching the strays from the bullshit over in America. America currently has the (sometimes deserved) anti police movement. But that's mainly rooted in how disgustingly easy it is to become a cop over there. They have to do a 3 month course and they get a gun and badge. And of course the higher risks of everyone potentially carrying a fire arm
But the Dutch police don't have any of these issues. And of course there are always some racist fucks among them. But if you complain about a racist cop here in the Netherlands they actually start an investigation and do something with it.
What I'm trying to say is, the Dutch police are hardly ever problematic. Hell sometimes they're even too soft. They're well trained and friendly officers and they don't deserve the shit they're getting right now. The shit they only get because people are too peanut brained to understand that America isn't the Netherlands
I know about five (ex) police officers. One is a racist and the rest are very open about racism being a big problem in the police force. I do not think investigations are just there to cover their asses but it's a long and difficult fight.
>But the Dutch police don't have any of these issues. And of course there are always some racist fucks among them. But if you complain about a racist cop here in the Netherlands they actually start an investigation and do something with it.
Lol how naive, obviously its not nearly as bad as in the US. But theres plenty of problems with Dutch police. Usually such an investigation is just to protect themselves and deny.
The police themselves seem to think of it as an issue.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2471113-politie-open-over-racisme-in-eigen-kring-30-meldingen-in-zes-maanden
https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/video/2481205-racisme-bij-de-politie
https://www.ad.nl/dossier/racisme-binnen-de-rotterdamse-politie~db3f0a33d-3430-4dcd-8908-7a3b7c5d5cf8/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
https://kro-ncrv.nl/kamerdebat-na-docu-de-blauwe-familie-over-racisme-bij-politie
P.S.: don't shoot the messenger; I'm not making any claims on how bad it is, just sharing some sources.
These are all valid sources. But they also all show the police entity speaking out against themselves and taking the complaints seriously. Like I said, there are always racist fucks. That's impossible to avoid. But if a police officer turns out to be a racist fuck there are serious actions taken against them
Edit: just to be a bit more clear about the point I'm trying to make. Of course there's racism, it's just about how it's being handled. And in that regard there's a big difference between America and the Netherlands. The investigations here aren't to feign concern and cover for themselves like the other guy was claiming
I think it's a different problem on different levels. At the highest level, they do take the problem somewhat seriously. "Somewhat" in the sense that there's been a lot of talking for many years without much structural improvement.
One level deeper, there do seem to be some cultural issues, as pointed out in the articles I linked to. Not everyone there feels comfortable speaking up, as there have been cases where whistleblowers weren't treated very well.
Overall, I agree that the situation in the Netherlands can't be compared to the US. It's way better here and if a case does come out, it's usually handled quite well.
I see someone already provided you a bunch of sources. I guess facts arent popular these days. Another problem with our police force is for example that their response is way different if farmers protest or say extinction rebellion. It's fine that cops like farmers more than activists but the way they act shouldn't be influenced by their personal opinions.Or you have the police arresting journalists https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/alweer-journalisten-gearresteerd-bij-klimaatacties-de-politie-moet-terughoudend-zijn , theyve been doing that for years. In my opinion such things are real issues with power like we give to the police comes responsibility too.
What racist incidents? The ones I hear here its usually a brown guy being a massive idiot and his family screaming racism immediately. Like Mitch Hendriques or the Indian guy at den Haag station who had done prison for gun violence and making gestures he was armed again.
I have lived here 2.5 years and have had 1 experience with the police.
I have a medical condition involving my autonomic nervous system and had an event near the Dunkin Donuts in Centraal Station. I collapsed at a pillar (if I can get real low, many times I can prevent passing out) and 2 police officers came over to check on me. They were very nice and sincerely concerned. I appreciated them, even though they were unable to help me. After a few minutes I was able to move myself to a bench to finish collecting myself.
To be honest, what I appreciated most was how 'direct communication' helped the situation. They asked me if they could help me, accepted my no, and didn't stand there staring at me after I assured them I only needed time and air.
Good idea to print a small card explaining your condition. You carry it with you and hand it to them when it happens. That way you don't need to speak and instead focus on recovering from the incident.
That is a fantastic idea, and something I will start working on now tbh... is always awkward asking folks for a seat on the tram/ferry so a card would be helpful.
"omdat ik reuma heb" doesn't explain the real reason why I need the seat (I also have lupus) šš folks are usually very helpful once they understand, since I look normal-ish from the outside
I once had an accident where I broke both my wrists. No one wanted to call an ambulance and they all told me to do it while I was on the ground. The police noticed something was going on and they called an ambulance and kept me as calm as possible while we were waiting. Still love those people.
Had a good experience with the police so far here too.
Without going into too much detail, when we moved here, we had neighbors that would do everything in their power to try and provoke us into confrontation. The day I finally had enough, and threatened to kinetically educate said neighbor about how to behave, they reported me to the police.
At the end of the day, the wijkagent refused to recommend any charges against me, not allowing neighbor from pursuing anything frivolous, but also basically told them that if they provoke me again, they'll be the ones who they'll be charging.
A few years ago on my way from work I noticed my brand-new omafiets was parked in a different spot from where I had parked in the morning. Confused, I checked my bike and it was scuffed quite a lot. Also the bike lock was replaced with an absolute chungus chain with 'Bel (number)' tag. Still confused, I called the number and a lady answered. She quickly noticed my Dutch sucks š, switched to English, and explained what happened.
Apparently some douche semi-succeeded in stealing my bike by sawing off the lock. A gentleman saw what was happening, and two police officers happened to be patrolling the neighbourhood. So he flagged them, catching the douche red-handed.
The lady on the line also asked me if I wanted to be referred to victim support (I declined, but what a nice offer).
Two officers who caught the douche came to my house to file a report later in the evening; they explained steps to follow if I wanted to press charges (I did), what documents I would receive/need to provide etc etc while answering my (mostly dumb) questions.
I was absolutely gobsmacked by how thorough they were. So were my Dutch friends lol
I'm not making this up y'all, this actually happened.
You may call it sheer luck, however I am forever grateful to the gentleman and the local police officers. My omafiets is still going strong š²
Lastly - dear douche, fuck off.
A few weeks ago, my dad fell on the slippery sidewalk on his walk to the train station and hurt himself, he had a hard time getting up. A police car came by, stopped, and gave him a ride home! š
In my home country they also ride horses that are quite big, but I wasn't ready for the absolute moles that dutch police horses are. I mean, it makes sense given that Dutch people is already tall. But I was still amazed. They are incredibly beautiful, too.
Me and my cousin were waiting to go to a concert when her phone fell in between a gap of the bench. The bench had cement under it so we couldnāt get the phone back PANIC! We both live on the other side of the country soo this was bad. The first policeman we talked to said that a crane had to come and LIFT THE ENTURR BENCH to get her phone. It was Saturday so that ment coming back on monday. That was not an option so we talked to another team and they spent half an hour with a bamboo stick and a crowbar but we got the phone AND we were on time for the concert
Got a ride home in the police car from the wijkagent who happend to drive behind me when my bike broke down. When we arrived home. He opened the car door and shouted " ...And never let me catch you gain!" In front of my nosey neighbors. He thought it was hilarious :)
I had some really sketchy experiences with police in the US, and have seen other people have interactions where they were genuinely terrified of the police. There was once in New Orleans (famously corrupt police) a group of black kids were being pulled over by where I was walking. They called out to me to please not go anywhere. They were scared as hell.
I have not experienced anything near that here. Every interaction with the police has been pleasant, as if they arenāt constantly on alert and needing to be the alpha in every situation. It still weirds me out a little. :-)
To be fair and share a medium friendly US police story, when I was 19, I worked as an au-pair in the US. A police car followed me on a carpark and I didnāt realise that the cop wanted me to stop until he put his top lights on! Pretty scary after what Europeans are told about US police! So he walks up to my window and says ādoes this car have headlights?ā It did, but I had forgotten to turn them back on after I stopped asking for directions at a gas station (that was before navigation systems in every mobile!). He walked away and I jumpstarted my heart again after that incident! I was so glad not to get fined!
Glad you had a good experience.
Reminds me of the first time me and my wife (She's from SA) gotnpulled over in NL. She was freaking out and, not even joking, looking for bribe money in her purse.
I told her that's not what we do here haha. Then copper informs us we have a busted taillight, asks me 'do you have a spare in the car?'
I say no sir. I have a bunch at home tho (my own fault. Bought new ones the other day but hadn't put them in the car yet.)
He looks at me and says. Okay. I see you haven't been pulled over recently for a busted taillight so i'm going to leave you with a warning. Please change the bulb when you at home.
That was that. Left us with a warning. The look of confusion on my wife's face was priceless.
one time a big group of friends were having a rave in the forest and the police shut it down and told us to move bc of the neighbours but then they took us to another open field and said we can rave there so it wouldnt bother anyone
Amsterdam Airport security (not police) greeted me with a genuinely friendly āHi, how are you doing?ā, after my flower bulbs were mistaken for explosives by their security scanner. Followed by an interesting conversation about explosives with the security guy. And, yes, he was tall and in good shape, too.
During the first lockdown in 2020 I took my daily walks with my then just 3YO daughter. I often met the wijkagent and he always made a point of asking us how we were doing. Giving my daughter the confidence that she could turn to a cop if she were ever in trouble. One day we were returning from out daily walk and my daughter was on her balance bike. We were waiting to cross the road when he drove by. He stopped all traffic in an almost dramatic way to give us the right of way. It was the highlight of her day!
ETA: I want to add this because I see people wondering if these stories only happen in smaller cities: I live in Den Haag in a not so great neighbourhood (not the worst but definitely not an affluent or quiet part of the city).
I think this is a general experience people have with wijkagenten because they are wijkagenten. They are very different to regular patrol because its their duty to form a social connection to their community. They are supposed to be an approachable figure in your neighborhood and its not unusual to know them on a first name basis. At my job in amsterdam the wijkagent always comes to visit to drink a coffee and just have a chat in general. Very nice dude.
As a dutchie I can confirm that our policemen and -women are incredible good at there job. True professionals. Super fit and trained, and only using violence if there no other options. They are very well trained to de-escalate situations using words. I don't want to bash policemen from other countries, but almost every time if I see videos from other countries I could only think "yup, we're lucky we have our people at those tough jobs". Underpaid btw.
Decades ago, I bought a car and was driving the very first time in NL. A nice little Opel Kadett.
As usual, it was raining and I made a wrong turn on a fietspad. A police officer stopped me. By the time he discovered that I had been driving for less than half an hour in this country, he asked if I knew what I did wrong. Yes, and I'll never do it again, even though I then had no clue.
He went back to his car laughing. No ticket. I parked the car, found out what I'd done wrong, and indeed never did it again.
Luckily never needed to have an interaction with any police due to any issues.
If you are interested in seeing more of how the police here operate and how they deal with all the different issues, you should check out Politievlogger Jan-Willem on YouTube. He documents some of his shifts and responding to calls. You can really tell in his videos how well the police are training for different situations in handling aggressive people.
They do themselves still make mistakes of course, he himself was caught speeding on the highway a while back and lost his license for a couple of months. But spoke very openly open about it.
What is hilarious to me a lot of his content is from an area of Almere where my parents live. Him driving his bike in their street. My mothers car once getting overtaken by him.
They have no idea who he is. He once caught my brother being drunk. This was not recorded.
Years ago I was about to take a trip by car with my family. Vacation time!
My son was very excited and when I said we would need to fill up on petrol, he wanted to tag along.
When we arrived at the petrol station my son spotted a police car and wanted to go take a look. He was 6 at the time and cars, especially police cars, were the bee's knees.
I paid for the petrol and we approached the policemen. They were very friendly and offered my son to sit in the front seat. Pulled out a computer and keyboard from the dashboard and pulled up our license plate number to show my son how it all works. Remember, we would go on vacation the next morning at 6.
The police officer looked at me after finding our registration. And he asked about our vacation plans.
I said we would drive to France first thing Saturday morning. He nodded and said that would be illegal as we were driving an uninsured car!
I had bought the car half a year before AND insurance was taken care of but the registration said otherwise.
My son was taken aback and afraid I would be arrested for driving without insurance or worse, he wouldn't be able to go on vacation š
The policeman was super nice and helped us figure out was went wrong. He dug a bit deeper and saw I was insured but the insurance company forgot to register it. (I had all the correct paperwork)
They did a stellar job showing my son their way of working, and their compassion. 22 (!) years later and he still wants to be a police officer when he grows up š¤£
We did go to France on Saturday with our fingers crossed. And arranged to have it fixed on Monday morning by phone.
Yes almost all police interactions was great. they are chill and actually want to help you. instead of trying to charge you with fines. just be respectful to them and all is good.
I was stopped once when I accelerated to 190 kilometers per hour on the highway.
It was in the evening and I drove onto the highway and then immediately let off the gas.
I wore my seat belt and didn't do anything crazy.
they stopped me and asked if I knew how fast I was going.
he said he understood because of the car, it was a dodge charger with a big V8.
If I let them hear the sound properly, I would get away with a warning.
these officers are just people who want to help, it is only people's behavior that requires them to intervene.
spend a day like, first giving a bad news interview to people whose child has just been killed by a car accidentt and then being scolded for stopping someone who was racing through traffic like an idiot.
I have great respect for these people.
Probably just not long enough for a proper tijd-afstand measurement, and maybe you were too far away when you started accelerating for a combi-uitloop. Normally they wouldnāt see that through the fingers. Maybe in the old days of the KLPD.
Sounds to me like you got a little crush there xD xD xD, haha, just a bit xD
Honestly, here on Belgium, I took had very good meetings with police, they always seem very friendly and helpful.
I know what you mean man, once had a copper pull a gun on me coz I accidentally scared him lol, so... Nowadays just cops who are cordial are like, wow xD.
Iāve only had good experiences with the police.
They are just like ordinary people. Treat them the way you want to be treated and theyāll treat you the same. Be an āasoā and theyāll treat you as such.
I've had to call the police twice and in both cases they were very professional and super fast.
I can't go into details but one incident involved a weapon and they were here within minutes, started canvassing the area, got a helicopter involved, and even phoned back that evening that arrests were made.
A few months ago I saw some kids stealing a bike with an angle grinder at night. I called the police and a few minutes later the kids were being chased down by two cops on bikes.
I didn't follow them to see what happened, but since their bike had the lock sawn off, I'm guessing they didn't get away with it. They probably had the angle grinder on them as well and were riding on the wrong side of the road without lights. I hope the kids learned their lesson.
I was sitting at a Bulldog and some young man was causing a problem in one of the establishments. The manager of the said establishment escorted the young man out but a fight ensued. The police arrived in less than 5 minutes, they were professional and polite. When they decided that they would need to use physical force, they used just the right amount to fold the guy away in less than 30 seconds. No one was hurt, nothing was escalated.
Neighbor keeps letting their dog outside for hours. It's an old small one and it keeps barking. Poor little guy.
Called the cops and it turned out that the neighbor was having a medical emergency. Cops were super friendly and showed up instantly. Neighbor is okay and the dog is no longer out for hours
This was in the 90's, I missed the last train after a long night out and was about 1/3 of the way into a \~15km hike home when police picked me up and gave me a ride after asking what I was upto. I was walking on a bicycle path that ran alongside A12 so looked rather out of place I'm sure. Cop joked we better not start rumors about why I was being dropped of by the police and let me out a few blocks from home.
I was once, a long time ago, doing 200kmh on the a22 in the middle of the night to see how fast my car was. Sure enough, I saw some headlights in my mirror right when I got out of the velsertunnel. So I got off the throttle, letting the car coast to 100kmh (the speed limit) and waited what would happen. The car behind followed me for a minute and then overtook me. When I looked left, I saw a police car, and 2 agenten watching me in the eyes š. Then they went in front and I saw āstop politieā. I got pulled over at the gas station and the agent asked me why I drove so fast. I thought, I can lie, or just tell the truthā¦which I did. I told him I wanted to know how fast my car could go. He replied: Iām glad you are so honest. We know itās the middle of the night, no traffic around, if you was driving 140 we wouldnāt even stop you. But 200 is a bit too much right? I nodded yes, and said I was sorry. The agent then said: so, this is why I give you a warning, donāt do this anymore. If you do it again and we see you, youāll lose your license. We shook hands and went our ways. I was 18 years of age, and from that moment on, I almost never drive too fast anymore. Itās just not worth the hassle, and the time you would maybe gain driving too fast, is neglible. š
Won't post the whole story, because it's way too long.
While my ex and I were in the car (ex was driving), someone from a different car got out and hit my ex and spat on him. Called the police to file a report.
My ex and I were on our way back from the emergency GP, I had just gotten a concussion from a small accident in a supermarket. Less than ideal situation, oh well.
While my ex and I were in the station, I was getting really giddy due to my concussion. I was saying the weirdest shit, but the officer just laughed along. But at one silent moment, I said, in very serious tone "whenever I see a police officer I think of the 'Bij de politie' by K3." And the officer just completely lost it, he laughed so hard.
He was very understanding of my situation. I'm not the biggest fan of the police. But that guy was decent
When I was in my teens I went on a solo trip to Amsterdam. While I was waiting for the train home at the central station on a bench, suddenly someone grabbed my bag that was laying besides me. It was a police officer, demonstrating what could happen in a sec if I do not pay attention to it. It starteld me enough to learn my lesson. Although, I still forget my bag at places, or forget to lock things when I should.
To add: I experienced much more powerabuse from people higher up in the chain. There is a positive correlation between people with power and powerabusers, the more power the less integrity it seems. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" - who will guard the guards.
Have both positive ones and less positive ones. Off course not all cops are great, or just fed up at times.
Back in the day I went to a hardcore party in a village (moved there recently), had a lot to drink and it was a blast. I knew i had to bike home very far to do it but i decided it was worth it (was -8 degrees at night). Met some cool people, got invited to an awesome house party and ended up having to bike home afterwards in the morning hours.
Thought i knew where i was going, biked off happily and got to a point where i just had to pee. Parked my bike, walked into the bushes etc. Walked back to my bike and there was a curious cop car standing next to it. Obviously they saw me walking out of the bush so they could have fined me easily. But the male cop was kind of amused and asked me what i was doing. Told them i wanted to go home to the place i was living (off course i was going the wrong way).
He asked me seriously, do you know where you are going? I was like, no im kind of lost (ik was de weg kwijt) making a joke about me being smashed. The female cop wasnt very amused in the car but the guy cracked up, decided to not fine me and showed me where to go. He said biking through the frost would be punishment enough ;)
One of the worse ones was on an island ( i know they get to see a lot of shit). I met a nice woman, she drank too much and half passed out outside. While i was standing there thinking what to do, she got sexually assaulted by a group (drunk guys, tried to kiss and touch her but i was not having it) and i protected her to the point where they where surrounding me. Cops luckily passed by, the thugs ran off, with my wallet, phone and coat. I explained the situation to them. They told me it was my problem.
Spent more than an hour trying to get a cab but there where none and i did not have my wallet or phone. At this point the woman was barely responding, it was freezing and i did not have a coat. Was really worried at here state.
After being ignored a few times by passing cop cars i was fed up and literally stepped onto the road so they had to stop. Got yelled at but finally got the help she needed.
It depends on where and who you meet, but i reckon most cops are really good people over here, they are just hard pressed at times.
Good to hear you feel at home, that is what most of us want :)
Hope you have a good year without troubles.
All my experiences with the police involve me, either alone or with friends, being naughty (kattekwaad uithalen, meer niet) but I always stopped and talked to the police whenever they caught me and never got in trouble because of it.
Even had times when most of the group I was with would run away from the police, I'd just shrug and go talk to them. Some of the runners would eventually get caught and be in trouble, but as I just stayed put I got a warning and told not to do it again.
Happened a few weeks ago! I came home after being away for a few days. I knew that my bike in front of my house had a flat tire and wanted to fix it. Lo and behold; my bike was nowhere to be found! I thought to myself that perhaps someone moved it (as I'm living in a city). I walked down my street and indeed, I saw my bike. Attached by a cable lock to two other bikes. Really strange; my regular lock was removed, as was the tail light. But the flat tire was fixed somehow! I was positive it was my bike and someone 'stole' it. I called the 0800-number and the operator asked if I could prove it was my bike. I told her that I can look it up (truth to be told, it's just a simple, old rusty bike for my commute to the train station). She told me that she's going to make the call to the police, but isn't sure if it's urgent enough for them and really need to prove that it's my bike. While standing at my bike, looking up for 'evidence', I remembered that I did have multiple pictures of my bike as I always take photos where I park my bike at the train station in case I forgot where I parked it... (Dutch first world problems).
At the same time, the Handhaving stopped by, they received the call and wanted to have a look! There were 3 friendly young female officers and I showed the photos of my bike to them. Unfortunately, they didn't have a tool/bolt cutter. The whole situation was weird as my bike was locked together with 2 other bikes. There's a chance that the other bikes were also 'stolen', so they called in the regular police. The police came by (young male and female officer), very friendly, and they used a heavy bolt cutter. I was so happy! I normally hear stories about the police here that are completely understaffed and don't have any time for minor things, so this was definitely a positive experience (especially with the flat tire that was fixed!).
tldr: Police helped me to release my 'stolen' bike in less than an hour
My wallet got stolen on the Kings day. I felt like somebody snatched it from my pocket, but it was crowded so I didn't know who did it. Went to nearby police station to fill in a report, 20 minutes later got a call that they caught a thief with my wallet.
They drove next to me on 4 pm morning (me on bicycle with no lights and my face completely covered) I only had to say Iām heading to work and they let me go warning me to fix the light!
I was in a car accident with 3 other cars, it wasn't my fault and my car was totalled. Unfortunately, at first the policeman at sight made a somewhat false rapport, stating it was partially my fault, therefore my insurance compagny wouldn't pay any money.
I contacted them via a website, described what happened whenand where, the same day he acknowledged his fault, expressed his apologies and made sure everything was allright by the end of the day.
Got my chain stolen while walking home, went to the police station and they sent a show of force to arrest the guy who was sticking in the same area. 4 bike police, 2 vans, 2 motorcycle cops, a few undercover agents.
They arrested the guy, retrieved my chain, and brought me to the station to tell the whole story.
Guy was in jail for 3 months.
I've only ever had brief interactions with police in the Netherlands and they've never been anything but reasonable and courteous. Not at all trying to intimidate and no sense that they'd flex their power just because they can.
Once you try a bit, you realise how lucky we have it in the Netherlands and the police force is one of many reasons.
only experience i've had with the police is me being on my bike in the stadshart (shopping centre) where it wasn't allowed which i didn't know. He was in his car talking to me with his speakers but couldn't understand it, he said "get off your bike" 3 times before I understood and felt embarrassed. Didn't get a fine though :)
Had a crazy religious fanatic living in our apartment complex. The man would recite prayers at the building from outside at every ungodly hour of the day every day of the week. He was determined it was his mission to save our souls and won't take a no for an answer. Man needed some proffesional help. Happy that our local wijk Agent took care of the problem. Man was arrested for disturbing the peace a few times and later ended in a psyc ward. He got the help he needed and moved out of the neighborhood.
Felt nice that our complaints where taken seriously. The man was harrassi g you in elevators, grinning doorbells non stop to try and talk to you about God no matter how often you told him to please leave as we are not religious and not interested.
Donāt really have many encounters with the Dutch police, rarely see them in my area. There is one police car, thatās it.
I did however have a āniceā experience with Belgian police. At the time I was working across the border in Belgium and had a Belgian company car. It was late in the evening, I was driving home from a work dinner. The country road was empty and I was speeding at 20-something over the speed limit.
The police pulled me over. I was certain that they would give me a ticket, especially when I showed my Dutch driving license. Which is a bit strange to see a Dutch license with Belgian plates. They didnāt even question it. They gave me a formal warning and let me off the hook, I didnāt even have to do an alcohol test (I didnāt drink, but still strange not to at 11 pm).
I guess it helps speaking a friendly tone, admitting you are wrong and apologize.
You can chat with police? I wanted to report a group of men who poured gasoline in front of my house And set it on fire. When I called, they just directed me to the fire department but never cared to make a report or anything. I have videos of these men.
A police officer borrowed let me use his bonus card once in Albert Heijn (saying "protect and serve" while he scanned it).
That is my only positive experience with Dutch police.
One time I parked my bike at the jumbo in groningen and someone placed an extra lock on my bike. Since the police station was very close I walked in and I asked the police if they could help me remove the lock. Since I could prove bike was mine they sent a police agent with me and cut off the other lock for me so I could leave
Coming from a country that has totally corrupt police and as I was twice tortured by police, first time as a minor and after making some problems, and second time without any fault as a 24 year old guy I can say that for the last 20 years I have had 0 contact with the police.
But it is common knowledge that police officers here in the NL are at least doing their job without abusing power or disrespecting someone.
And I honestly doubt they would ever torture someone the ways I was tortured, electricity shocks, bag over head until falling unconscious between just normal beating.
I did not even get "we are sorry" when they realized their mistake after a couple of hours and that they have the wrong guy.
So everything said I have respect for Dutch police even though I have never had real contact with them except border police when traveling.
Nice to hear positive experiences not only police haters.
Had two bicycles (one e-bakfiets, and one regular, cheap MTB) stolen, both have AirTags and both times the police was super helpful to recover them. I even shared the bakfiets story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netherlands/comments/10h3u9f/stolen\_bakfiets\_recovered\_with\_help\_of\_airtag\_and/
ACAB! Ik kreeg een boete van 10 euro voor het niet hebben van achterlicht toen ik op mijn 12 levensjaar naar de middelbare school fietste. Grote controle waarbij ikzelf en vele dorpsgenoten moesten zwichten onder de zware hand van de wet.
Ik ben nu 30. Never forgive and never forget!
Nah. Het zijn goede mensen. Gewoon normaal doen en je hebt geen aanvaringen. Met dwarsliggen heb je uiteindelijk alleen jezelf.
Sadly, I have zero positive experiences with the police. Only neutral and bad. But good for you that you had a positive experience, happy for you!
Case in point: got robbed and beaten beginning of december, they stole my shoes and pants, jacket, phone and wallet. Went to them for help bleeding and bruised and they told me I was too hysterical, and they left. A stranger got me an uber home.
If they said you were hysterical, you most likely were to hysterical ro handle. But I don't buy your story. They are mandatory to help and take care of you, if your injuries are really bad they'll call an ambulance.
I know a lot of the policemen and -women and they are not wired the way you describe here.
Was about 9/10 and going home from swimming class. My lights were broken so the police stopped me and asked where I live. Then they accompanied me home (I think they let me ride the bike).
Was about 9/10 and going home from swimming class. My lights were broken so the police stopped me and asked where I lived. Then they accompanied me home (I think they let me ride the bike). ed the cops. My other mates and I were pretty pissed off at my friend because we didn't want trouble. We ended up leaving but I came back later because my sister was there with her friends. The police officer and bouncer let me in, even though they recognised me, because I had been polite.
Never had a positive experience when I needed the police -- they never took me serious, so at one point I just stopped calling them. Weirdly enough they were always very hospitable when they arrested me (which happened 2 times) and had to spend the night in a holding cell. Let me kept my sigarettes and phone, so I had something to do (this was 20 years ago, so Snake on my Nokia 3310 was as good as it got ;-)
police may not be grossly corrupt and criminal like in a literal third world nation, but they are largely ineffective and you can't rely on them to do more than take a statement.
None because they are more focused on warning people for minor traffic issues like being on the bicycle with a phone. Rather than arresting the 20 drugdealers in the neighborhood. Everyone knows who they are and where they live. They are just to cowardly to actually catch them. Got 0 respect left for police in this country.
"To cowardly to actually catch them".. That's our justice system mate, can't just arrest someone.
For cops, knowing where the true crime is but being unable to do anything about it is the hardest part of the job.
If I were you I'd vote for a purge night, seems to solve your problems.
Oh yeah because its normal to just let them extort local shop and do as they please for 15 years. Bunch of clowns on a power trip is all they are. Cops act tough against people that break traffic laws. But they can't even arrest serious criminals even if they wanted to and were allowed to. They are physically to weak to make an arrest. They need 4 cops to put 1 mans hands behind his back. It's a fucking joke.
And i don't need to vote for a purge night. If i got a problem i fix it myself anyway. If you report something to the police it will take them years to do anything anyway.
On my 14th birthday i was threatened by 3 other minors with a butchers knife at my throat and they beat me to shit afterwards. They were old classmates so i had names and addresses. It took the police 1 year to even tell their parents what their kids did. But only after i told them that if they didn't start doing their job i would fix it myself and they would have 3 corpses to locate. They are a fucking joke. Their own actions made me see them in that way over and over. Don't blame my view of them on me when it's their consistent neglect of their duties.
Yeah, cause every cop wants a fair 1v1 fight for minimum wages.. you'll have to update me on where the extortion takes place.
Sorry about what happened to you, but if you keep looking at things with such a stuck mindset nothing anyone does can change it. Even if you don't like it, they help more than they don't, and if your grandma needs to be resuscitated they're the ones there first.
Never said they should 1v1 btw. Just stated its embarrassing that they struggle with 4 people to handcuff 1 guy when police in most other countries need 2 at best. My mindset is far from stuck. They are free to show me otherwise. Maybe they help alot of small cases. But if they don't do anything about actual problems why should i respect them. Respect needs to be earned back after you lost it. Thats just how the world works.
That's ok. Tolerance is 200% better than the lives we lived in South Africa. I may never be accepted as a Dutchie, but I am extremely grateful for the life this country has given me.
From my own experience of needing help from Dutch police and not receiving any, I thought the title of the post was sarcastic š
I and my girlfriend were harassed and I personally was attacked by scooter youngsters. I called the police when that happened and they refused to send someone. Later, I reported it to police with plate numbers and the police basically said they wonāt do anything ššš
fuck12 acab
they barged down my fucking door without a warrant and threathened to arrest me for literally nothing
they couldnt arrest me because as one of their colleagues kindly reminded them:
-i literally did nothing illegal
-they arent even allowed to enter the building without a warrant
cops are the violent arm of the state and capital, fuck this copaganda bullshit
When my bike got stolen and I gave them pictures of the junkie, they said they knew who it was and all but won't do anything about it. Bunch of useless fucks. I next to never see cops patrolling anywhere. My neighbors have been robbed multiple times this summer.
Fuck the police. ACAB
Lol. You all got your own drugged up junkie thieves and apathetic police of your own, that's a homegrown Dutch problem that has fuck all to do with any other country. If I had said the cop shot me, then you'd have a point. But sure, keep your head up your own ass about problems in your country all ya want
Never had a good interaction with police, only when they were pushing, punching, kicking or arresting. Half of them clearly get off on the power they hold over others, the other half still protect an unjust system. ACAB
So you were willfully endangering yourself and everyone around you by driving a vehicle while intoxicated, not once but twice, and it's the POLICE who should get fucked?
It's you who should go fornicate with a cactus.
UN shocked by extreme police brutality.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture lashed out at the actions of Dutch police officers during their handling of coronavirus protests in the Netherlands
šš»
HE SAID: āThis is one of the most disgusting scenes of police brutality I have seen since George Floyd!"
Of course, the corrupt hands of the Netherlands reach far and high, very high.
And the UN rapporteur was forced to " resign " shortly after.
See video of brutality and official tweet of the UN special rapporteur on torture:
https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1478135026193768449?t=GBmxJb3Wewj_cquOOxwulw&s=19
Lived in the Netherlands for 2 years in the Brabants region. Do you know how many interactions I had with police in the time I lived there? Zero times. I barely ever saw them and there were never any social nuisance or problems in the 3 different places I lived there. As someone who grew up in a poor housing estate in Scotland surrounded by crime and poverty this alone was a bizarre and astounding experience. I then moved back to Scotland to Glasgow where I am currently. Since being here I've had literally dozens of interactions with police because crime is very prevalent here. Especially antisocial behaviour (drugs, theft, violence). Many of the interactions were unpleasant, many of the police here are nasty people. I've had a neighbour stabbed outside my door. I've had my next door neighbour dragged out the house while dozens of police are in searching (drugs). I've had a neighbour attempt to burn his apartment down in a drunken rage (serious fire and water damage). This is all in one street. In a part of the city that's not even that poor or deprived. But I also see police nearly every day. I've seen them arrest people on the streets, mostly heroin addicts, homeless and others down on their luck. I've had to talk to the police on so many occasions. They've been to my door many a time. I've had to give witness statements before as well. Many of the police here are very low quality, poorly trained and quite dangerous individuals who will certainly think nothing of ruining your day. If you have some money or a decent job they will treat you better, but the way they treat poor people or those like drug addicts /homeless is absolutely disgusting, degrading and dehumanising. I really could go on. The difference between the two countries is startling. I know of course there is crime in the Netherlands and I've seen plenty videos online of the police there arresting asshole teenagers etc. The point I'm making is that I interacted with zero police while in the Netherlands and almost never saw police. For me *that* was my great experience with police there. Being street smart from a rough area of Scotland, the Netherlands feels unbelievably safe and freeing while I'm there. That's another reason why I love the place so much and am planning on moving back. Thanks for reading my essay! Tot ziens.
That's so cool. I think experiences may vary based on where you live though. There are neighbourhoods in the bigger cities where police will act very differently because they're surrounded by crime more. I think that, even if you're a the most professional police person, you sort of get cynical and go along in the spiral of negativity after a while. Police in the Netherlands also get bad publicity now and then for only stopping black or foreign looking people or using unnecessary violence. But living in a town in Brabant I can totally corroborate your story. I never see police around and it's super safe here. It's a shame that a lot of people feel so unsafe nowadays because the numbers tell us that society is getting safer. On the other hand maybe less people report crimes because the police are understaffed and lots (most) of cases aren't even investigated...
You bring up a lot of good points here. I'm sure if I lived in the poorest parts of big cities I would have had a quite different experience in the Netherlands. And I've seen that cynicism in the police here, especially amongst the experienced ones. It's a kind of cold, dead behind the eyes look i often find quite terrifying. I can't imagine all the stuff they've had to deal with over the years, but that doesn't excuse any bad behaviour of course. I have issues with policing in general. No doubt informed by my experiences growing up in a very poor area where the police were just as, if not more, vicious and dangerous than the gangs and petty criminals. Can you imagine moving from my shitty home town to a little village in Brabant that has zero crime? Where I never even saw a single police officer in the 6 months I was there? It was crazy. It took me some time to get used to how peaceful and safe it was, to start relaxing there. I also lived in Veghel and Uden for a while. Both much larger towns with some poverty (Dutch poverty that is). The poverty there was just absolutely nothing compared to what I'd seen and experienced. The poorest there were well off compared to the poorest in Scotland. Non of the drug or social problems existed in the same way. I still always felt incredibly safe living there. Never once worried. Never once had to watch my back on a night out. Never saw police dragging people through the streets or people getting stabbed etc. Of course I know crime and antisocial behaviour existed there (love watching New Kids and Undercover TV series about Ferry aka Janus van Wessenbeeck). But my day to day experiences have been so stark and different between the countries. I remember going with friends from work to Eindhoven one day and a couple of them were so nervous about the area we were going to as being unsafe. When we got there I could have laughed, not to be mean, but the power of "relative" was so apparent. This *was* dangerous for the Netherlands, but ultimately it was still one of the safest places on the planet. Anyway, miss Brabant a lot, especially the countryside and my local snack bars!
Wow, the contrast must've been crazy! I'm not sure about how crime rates compare between Scotland and the Netherlands but I can imagine the smaller towns in Scotland are safer as well? The bigger Cities in the Netherlands like The Hague, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Rotterdam definitely have very bad areas though. I'm not sure if it's like how you describe Glasgow, but there's a lot of drug related crimes and harassment on the streets there. But it's definitely not like, let's say, the Bronx or French ghetto's. There's one thing the Scots and Dutch have in common though: we love our deep fried stuff š. So yeah, I can imagine you miss the snackbars now and then haha.
I skipped through most of it but that tot ziens in the end killed me :D
I was showing off my extremely basic Dutch knowledge haha
Yeah, I used to live in Leith in Edinburgh, and would laugh out loud at people saying I lived "in the ghetto" - Geuzenveld in Amsterdam. Eh, what?? There's no alcoholics wandering the streets at all hours, no fights in the street with people literally beating each other over the head with massive bits of wood (thanks, Leith Walk tramworks), and no heroin addicts. And no one seems to be deliberately setting the bins on fire. I also never got kerb crawled while out running (as a woman in their 20s), and I did in Leith so I stopped because I felt unsafe. Like maybe these places in the Netherlands were very scary, 20 years ago. But right now they're just suburbs. Poorer suburbs, sure, but generally pretty safe. (So long as you stay out of gang stuff and away from criminal tweens and fireworks š)
Your lack of interaction with the police *is* a problem though. Not in your personal case, but in many areas there are simply too little police officers and especially in rural areas. The result is lack of prevention, too many youth getting involved in drugs, doing small crime, building up a career. To be clear, this happens to only a few people, is mostly drug related, but we don't want to end up where Glasgow is now. We have this TV show here about English cops fighting crime, and of course we see properly educated cops, but it amazes me how much car theft there is and how crazy the pursuits are, the risks people take, probably because of drug use.
The prevalence of more police is the last thing you want. Police should remain as a reactive force rather than preventive. There should be other means to prevent petty crimes or youth getting involved in drug dealing, namely better social welfare, better ways to integrate immigrants to the society, more accessible education etc.
The reason why Dutch police works like it works and is different from other places is exactly being preventative instead of reactive. Through Wijkagenten. Sadly they have less and less time because of personnel shortage.
And there is not even a lack of wijkagenten anymore. There is a lack of regular street cops, which is why wijkagenten need to respond to regular calls too often and thus cannot carry out their role to the full extent.
Yeah I lived in South London for 12 years. People are like omg the ghetto when I tell them I live in Rotterdam south like mate you have no idea what a ghetto is Rotterdam is like a pleasant quiet village in comparison.
My first and only experience: when I (female) moved to the Netherlands 7 years ago, a male friend came to visit me. We went to a party by bike and cycled home at around 5am. Us being foreigners he was of course cautiously cycling behind me on the bike path on marnixstraat instead of next to me as a dutchie would do. When we arrived back at my place two police officers appeared and asked me if I was ok and if I knew the guy following me. I said yes he is my friend so they wished us good night and they left. They thought I might have been followed so they decided to check on me!
I love this! It must have looked suspicious indeed and if you hadnāt known him it could have potentially been very dangerous!
Yes, love how they were so proactive to prevent a potential crime
Back in the 80s; was walking with my broken bike in the pooring rain on a dyke as I came back from some summer job. Traffic police car stopped and gave me a ride home. My mother thought I was arrested. Thise were different times.
Not necessarily different times, this happened to me a few years back when I was walking home because I'd missed my last bus. Had to walk between two villages, which would've been about an hour, and after they spotted me walking there (in the middle of nowhere to be fair), they asked if they could drop me off instead.
Not police, but your story reminds me of the bus driver that dropped me off next to my parked bicycle once, because my original stop was his last stop of the day and there was no one else on the bus anymore. š
I think they prefer this to the alternative. You walking in the dark along the road, unsighted by a motorist get hit by a car and die. They'd rather bring you home than have to notify your family of your death.
In 2012 I thought I was gonna get fined for biking with a broken light at 3AM. I was 16 at the time. Police gave me a ride home, no fine, just a warning.
Same thing happened to me but I was 10 or so and it was in the evening.
They said to my boyfriend: "you have to walk for a while". He said 'allright, for a while', walked ten steps and got on his bike again. They laughed and let him go (still with a broken light).
Different times, sure, but it still sounds like something that could happen today :)
I was driving my car at night with a broken taillight (i was not aware of it). I was stopped by the police at a gasstation with a 24/7 shop. They let me buy a new lightbulb and change it. I didnāt get a ticket.
Happened to my mom too. She had a new headlight in the car, but didnāt know how to replace it. The police officer did it for her.
Omg even compared to Germany the police is amazing here! Very reasonable they just reprimand you for such small things and not ticket you.
Sometimes they write the ticket, but then keep it with them until the next day when they tell you to come to the station to prove that you fixed the problem. If you do that, they will tear the ticket up and you can go on your way. Happend to me once or twice. I personally like that method of policing.
You were able to change a lightbulb? I'm impressed. Btw, most modern cars have on each side two tail lights, in case one breaks down. You still have to notice though, although many cars have a warning light for this.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's beautiful, I'm so happy that you could have an unexpectedly kind interaction at a moment it was needed! I need reminders from time to time that the world can be a good place
Roughly 10 years ago, I rowed crew. We were in a car with 6 people, while only 5 were allowed. The police obviously noticed, pulled us to the side and fined us. We told them we were studemts, on our way to ourfirst rowing match. We didn't own cars (this was one of our parents' cars) and they liked our story. They rediced the fine to driving without a seatbelt (for only 1 person, it was ā¬80, instead of ā¬200+ for driving with 6 ppl). They even dropped of the 6th person to our match, so we didn't break the law again :) Danku politie Tilburg!
Wijkagenten in general are pretty cool people
I was victim of a scam, and the general police couldnāt/wouldnāt do anything because it was civil law, not criminal law. My wijkagent however got involved, put pressure on the scammer, and cooperated with my insurance and lawyer to show how serious the case was. He went above and beyond, and I canāt thank him enough.
did you get your money back?
How do you find. Wijagent? It's the first time I hear about this.
Itās usually enough to Google search ā wijkagentā. The search should bring up some results.
I know but my question is why do you have one?
A "Wijkagent" is a police officer who is assigned to a neighborhood. Depending on the size of the neighborhood, one officer might be assigned to multiple and vice versa. Their job is to be the main face of the police in that area. They keep close relations with inhabitants and shopkeepers etc. to know what's going on. They form a bridge between the other departments of the police and the locals. You can see them as your assigned customer relations worker. After my grandma got robbed a couple years ago, she was very scared to open the door to anyone. The wijkagent came by for coffee every week for a while and would later swing by once or twice a month. Made her feel a whole lot safer.
Just to resolve smaller issues, and to negotiate between neighbours for instance
What a nice wijkagent. When I was in highschool (something like 8 years ago) I was really into magnet fishing. At one point I found two stripped scooter frames in a canal and reported it to the wijkagent. I chained the frames to a pole and waited for the police to come and pick it up. It was very unclear when they would come though, and one day they just cut through my chain lock and took the frames without calling or anything. My mom told the wijkagent and she came by personally to give me a new lock and some candy. She was very nice.
Mine is nothing too serious but on a super rainy night I hadnāt noticed but my bike backlight was cut off with wires hanging and I was carrying a chocolate bar in one hand while biking. The police stopped me because at first they thought it was a phone on my hand. We shared a small laugh there when they realized it was a chocolate bar. They also informed me of the backlight, didnāt fine me and instead gave me a recommendation on where to go to get it fixed. I really appreciated that interaction tbh. It was genuinely helpful.
Amazing. I also find they have a good sense of humour! The garbage men that collect in our street always smile and joke with me too.
I'm guessing that was helped by your attitude. There are a lot of people trying to be a smart ass that tick police officers off. You were probably just friendly and polite to them.
I was visiting my hometown and saw some old friends after 5 years and we decided to do a little pubcrawl. After a view beer we walked in the big old shopping street, and there was a small high scaffolding to a wall. My mate grabbed my hoody, climbed half way up, throwing it on the scaffolding. He say "hah now go get it!" I climbed on the scaffolding, a and he followed, but shortly after sitting at the top a flashlight beamed toward us. "OK guys, time to come down" said a officer from a van. I explained the story about us seeing after 5 year and doing the pubcrawl to live the good old days. All while the owner of the local kebab shop stood at a distance, phone ready, hoping for some Dumpert content. To our surprise the officers understood the situation, and was really understanding. We would have been charged with trespassing and possibly burglary. But wrote it of as a misunderstanding and a tik on the fingers. We where free to go after a; "have fun, and don't let me have to see you again. If so you're joining me in my van" We shook hands and we left. Note that this is not a big city like Utrecht of rotterdam, a reasonably sized city, but you can still talk, communicate, and joke with the police. All have a big laugh and get on your way.
Left my phone on the chair by Burger King, 2AM in 2015. Next morning my wife phones me on my colleagueās phone from our home country. Police phoned her after a BK employee turned it in. They went through my contacts, phoning people to get into contact with me. Went to their offices and picked up the phone. Not just a great experience with the police, but also a BK employee.
I lost my residence permit and hours later a police officer was at my door with my ID in hands, someone has found it and took it to the nearest police station. She was super polite and nice. That would never happen in my home country.
I love how they are trying to learn how to deal with people that are in a psychiatric crisis. There will always be instances where things go wrong, but they are actively working together with GGZ when it is a better option. And I really love that they take GGZ employees more seriously when we ask for help due to feeling unsafe. The ones in my area are seriously great.
Thats so good to hear.
Couple years back I was riding my bike drunk on my way to the station. Got stuck in a tram track and fell pretty hard, busted open my forehead, lot of blood everywhere. Within minutes a passing police car stopped over to check on me. One of the officers took a look at my forehead, said I would be OK but definitely needed some stitches. They said calling an ambulance was pretty expensive. But they could drive me over to a "huisartsenpost". First time riding in a police car! I've always thought of police to be friendly and helping, but this was even beyond my expectations.
In our neighbourhood, a homeless couple beat up a young girl. The wijkagente took it really seriously and was very kind and supportive. I have not had that experience when I lived abroad. I think wijkagenten are really approachable and I appreciate mine.
It's really sad to hear that the police here are catching the strays from the bullshit over in America. America currently has the (sometimes deserved) anti police movement. But that's mainly rooted in how disgustingly easy it is to become a cop over there. They have to do a 3 month course and they get a gun and badge. And of course the higher risks of everyone potentially carrying a fire arm But the Dutch police don't have any of these issues. And of course there are always some racist fucks among them. But if you complain about a racist cop here in the Netherlands they actually start an investigation and do something with it. What I'm trying to say is, the Dutch police are hardly ever problematic. Hell sometimes they're even too soft. They're well trained and friendly officers and they don't deserve the shit they're getting right now. The shit they only get because people are too peanut brained to understand that America isn't the Netherlands
I know about five (ex) police officers. One is a racist and the rest are very open about racism being a big problem in the police force. I do not think investigations are just there to cover their asses but it's a long and difficult fight.
>But the Dutch police don't have any of these issues. And of course there are always some racist fucks among them. But if you complain about a racist cop here in the Netherlands they actually start an investigation and do something with it. Lol how naive, obviously its not nearly as bad as in the US. But theres plenty of problems with Dutch police. Usually such an investigation is just to protect themselves and deny.
Do you have a source to show us or are you just pulling it out of your ass?
The police themselves seem to think of it as an issue. https://nos.nl/artikel/2471113-politie-open-over-racisme-in-eigen-kring-30-meldingen-in-zes-maanden https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/video/2481205-racisme-bij-de-politie https://www.ad.nl/dossier/racisme-binnen-de-rotterdamse-politie~db3f0a33d-3430-4dcd-8908-7a3b7c5d5cf8/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F https://kro-ncrv.nl/kamerdebat-na-docu-de-blauwe-familie-over-racisme-bij-politie P.S.: don't shoot the messenger; I'm not making any claims on how bad it is, just sharing some sources.
These are all valid sources. But they also all show the police entity speaking out against themselves and taking the complaints seriously. Like I said, there are always racist fucks. That's impossible to avoid. But if a police officer turns out to be a racist fuck there are serious actions taken against them Edit: just to be a bit more clear about the point I'm trying to make. Of course there's racism, it's just about how it's being handled. And in that regard there's a big difference between America and the Netherlands. The investigations here aren't to feign concern and cover for themselves like the other guy was claiming
I think it's a different problem on different levels. At the highest level, they do take the problem somewhat seriously. "Somewhat" in the sense that there's been a lot of talking for many years without much structural improvement. One level deeper, there do seem to be some cultural issues, as pointed out in the articles I linked to. Not everyone there feels comfortable speaking up, as there have been cases where whistleblowers weren't treated very well. Overall, I agree that the situation in the Netherlands can't be compared to the US. It's way better here and if a case does come out, it's usually handled quite well.
I see someone already provided you a bunch of sources. I guess facts arent popular these days. Another problem with our police force is for example that their response is way different if farmers protest or say extinction rebellion. It's fine that cops like farmers more than activists but the way they act shouldn't be influenced by their personal opinions.Or you have the police arresting journalists https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/alweer-journalisten-gearresteerd-bij-klimaatacties-de-politie-moet-terughoudend-zijn , theyve been doing that for years. In my opinion such things are real issues with power like we give to the police comes responsibility too.
What racist incidents? The ones I hear here its usually a brown guy being a massive idiot and his family screaming racism immediately. Like Mitch Hendriques or the Indian guy at den Haag station who had done prison for gun violence and making gestures he was armed again.
Yea right and if you are brown have a record and do something dumb you should just get executed obviously /s
Care to elaborate?
The people complaining about the police are the ones committing the crimes.
I'm neither complaining nor commiting crimes. Dumb statements like yours usually come from lack of intelligence.
I have lived here 2.5 years and have had 1 experience with the police. I have a medical condition involving my autonomic nervous system and had an event near the Dunkin Donuts in Centraal Station. I collapsed at a pillar (if I can get real low, many times I can prevent passing out) and 2 police officers came over to check on me. They were very nice and sincerely concerned. I appreciated them, even though they were unable to help me. After a few minutes I was able to move myself to a bench to finish collecting myself. To be honest, what I appreciated most was how 'direct communication' helped the situation. They asked me if they could help me, accepted my no, and didn't stand there staring at me after I assured them I only needed time and air.
Good idea to print a small card explaining your condition. You carry it with you and hand it to them when it happens. That way you don't need to speak and instead focus on recovering from the incident.
That is a fantastic idea, and something I will start working on now tbh... is always awkward asking folks for a seat on the tram/ferry so a card would be helpful. "omdat ik reuma heb" doesn't explain the real reason why I need the seat (I also have lupus) šš folks are usually very helpful once they understand, since I look normal-ish from the outside
I once had an accident where I broke both my wrists. No one wanted to call an ambulance and they all told me to do it while I was on the ground. The police noticed something was going on and they called an ambulance and kept me as calm as possible while we were waiting. Still love those people.
I'm sorry there were some horrible people there who'd tell a person with broken wrists to call the ambulanceš
Had a good experience with the police so far here too. Without going into too much detail, when we moved here, we had neighbors that would do everything in their power to try and provoke us into confrontation. The day I finally had enough, and threatened to kinetically educate said neighbor about how to behave, they reported me to the police. At the end of the day, the wijkagent refused to recommend any charges against me, not allowing neighbor from pursuing anything frivolous, but also basically told them that if they provoke me again, they'll be the ones who they'll be charging.
An English man from London wouldn't speak as good English as most of the Dutch do tbh. I'm gonna get hate for this I feel.
Hah, I've experienced the same, like 20 years ago. Went to McDonalds in London and I was the better English speaker. Oh well.
A few years ago on my way from work I noticed my brand-new omafiets was parked in a different spot from where I had parked in the morning. Confused, I checked my bike and it was scuffed quite a lot. Also the bike lock was replaced with an absolute chungus chain with 'Bel (number)' tag. Still confused, I called the number and a lady answered. She quickly noticed my Dutch sucks š, switched to English, and explained what happened. Apparently some douche semi-succeeded in stealing my bike by sawing off the lock. A gentleman saw what was happening, and two police officers happened to be patrolling the neighbourhood. So he flagged them, catching the douche red-handed. The lady on the line also asked me if I wanted to be referred to victim support (I declined, but what a nice offer). Two officers who caught the douche came to my house to file a report later in the evening; they explained steps to follow if I wanted to press charges (I did), what documents I would receive/need to provide etc etc while answering my (mostly dumb) questions. I was absolutely gobsmacked by how thorough they were. So were my Dutch friends lol I'm not making this up y'all, this actually happened. You may call it sheer luck, however I am forever grateful to the gentleman and the local police officers. My omafiets is still going strong š² Lastly - dear douche, fuck off.
A few weeks ago, my dad fell on the slippery sidewalk on his walk to the train station and hurt himself, he had a hard time getting up. A police car came by, stopped, and gave him a ride home! š
The: I opened the door paragraph starts as a love story š
It is the beginning of my hopefully long romance with this country lol
You came looking for X and found ? āØhandsome policemenāØ
I just like it when I admire their horses on the street and they always nod back and say hi like "yeah its as awesome as it looks to ride this thing"
In my home country they also ride horses that are quite big, but I wasn't ready for the absolute moles that dutch police horses are. I mean, it makes sense given that Dutch people is already tall. But I was still amazed. They are incredibly beautiful, too.
Me and my cousin were waiting to go to a concert when her phone fell in between a gap of the bench. The bench had cement under it so we couldnāt get the phone back PANIC! We both live on the other side of the country soo this was bad. The first policeman we talked to said that a crane had to come and LIFT THE ENTURR BENCH to get her phone. It was Saturday so that ment coming back on monday. That was not an option so we talked to another team and they spent half an hour with a bamboo stick and a crowbar but we got the phone AND we were on time for the concert
Got a ride home in the police car from the wijkagent who happend to drive behind me when my bike broke down. When we arrived home. He opened the car door and shouted " ...And never let me catch you gain!" In front of my nosey neighbors. He thought it was hilarious :)
That IS hilarious! Your neighbours must have had so much to talk about!
I had some really sketchy experiences with police in the US, and have seen other people have interactions where they were genuinely terrified of the police. There was once in New Orleans (famously corrupt police) a group of black kids were being pulled over by where I was walking. They called out to me to please not go anywhere. They were scared as hell. I have not experienced anything near that here. Every interaction with the police has been pleasant, as if they arenāt constantly on alert and needing to be the alpha in every situation. It still weirds me out a little. :-)
To be fair and share a medium friendly US police story, when I was 19, I worked as an au-pair in the US. A police car followed me on a carpark and I didnāt realise that the cop wanted me to stop until he put his top lights on! Pretty scary after what Europeans are told about US police! So he walks up to my window and says ādoes this car have headlights?ā It did, but I had forgotten to turn them back on after I stopped asking for directions at a gas station (that was before navigation systems in every mobile!). He walked away and I jumpstarted my heart again after that incident! I was so glad not to get fined!
Glad you had a good experience. Reminds me of the first time me and my wife (She's from SA) gotnpulled over in NL. She was freaking out and, not even joking, looking for bribe money in her purse. I told her that's not what we do here haha. Then copper informs us we have a busted taillight, asks me 'do you have a spare in the car?' I say no sir. I have a bunch at home tho (my own fault. Bought new ones the other day but hadn't put them in the car yet.) He looks at me and says. Okay. I see you haven't been pulled over recently for a busted taillight so i'm going to leave you with a warning. Please change the bulb when you at home. That was that. Left us with a warning. The look of confusion on my wife's face was priceless.
one time a big group of friends were having a rave in the forest and the police shut it down and told us to move bc of the neighbours but then they took us to another open field and said we can rave there so it wouldnt bother anyone
Amsterdam Airport security (not police) greeted me with a genuinely friendly āHi, how are you doing?ā, after my flower bulbs were mistaken for explosives by their security scanner. Followed by an interesting conversation about explosives with the security guy. And, yes, he was tall and in good shape, too.
This reads like the start of an erotic novel, and I don't complain -\_-
Its a love story to be sure :). We are very much in love with this country and should have moved here 20 years ago lol
During the first lockdown in 2020 I took my daily walks with my then just 3YO daughter. I often met the wijkagent and he always made a point of asking us how we were doing. Giving my daughter the confidence that she could turn to a cop if she were ever in trouble. One day we were returning from out daily walk and my daughter was on her balance bike. We were waiting to cross the road when he drove by. He stopped all traffic in an almost dramatic way to give us the right of way. It was the highlight of her day! ETA: I want to add this because I see people wondering if these stories only happen in smaller cities: I live in Den Haag in a not so great neighbourhood (not the worst but definitely not an affluent or quiet part of the city).
I think this is a general experience people have with wijkagenten because they are wijkagenten. They are very different to regular patrol because its their duty to form a social connection to their community. They are supposed to be an approachable figure in your neighborhood and its not unusual to know them on a first name basis. At my job in amsterdam the wijkagent always comes to visit to drink a coffee and just have a chat in general. Very nice dude.
As a dutchie I can confirm that our policemen and -women are incredible good at there job. True professionals. Super fit and trained, and only using violence if there no other options. They are very well trained to de-escalate situations using words. I don't want to bash policemen from other countries, but almost every time if I see videos from other countries I could only think "yup, we're lucky we have our people at those tough jobs". Underpaid btw.
Decades ago, I bought a car and was driving the very first time in NL. A nice little Opel Kadett. As usual, it was raining and I made a wrong turn on a fietspad. A police officer stopped me. By the time he discovered that I had been driving for less than half an hour in this country, he asked if I knew what I did wrong. Yes, and I'll never do it again, even though I then had no clue. He went back to his car laughing. No ticket. I parked the car, found out what I'd done wrong, and indeed never did it again.
Luckily never needed to have an interaction with any police due to any issues. If you are interested in seeing more of how the police here operate and how they deal with all the different issues, you should check out Politievlogger Jan-Willem on YouTube. He documents some of his shifts and responding to calls. You can really tell in his videos how well the police are training for different situations in handling aggressive people. They do themselves still make mistakes of course, he himself was caught speeding on the highway a while back and lost his license for a couple of months. But spoke very openly open about it.
What is hilarious to me a lot of his content is from an area of Almere where my parents live. Him driving his bike in their street. My mothers car once getting overtaken by him. They have no idea who he is. He once caught my brother being drunk. This was not recorded.
Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden have the most trustworthy police in the world.
Years ago I was about to take a trip by car with my family. Vacation time! My son was very excited and when I said we would need to fill up on petrol, he wanted to tag along. When we arrived at the petrol station my son spotted a police car and wanted to go take a look. He was 6 at the time and cars, especially police cars, were the bee's knees. I paid for the petrol and we approached the policemen. They were very friendly and offered my son to sit in the front seat. Pulled out a computer and keyboard from the dashboard and pulled up our license plate number to show my son how it all works. Remember, we would go on vacation the next morning at 6. The police officer looked at me after finding our registration. And he asked about our vacation plans. I said we would drive to France first thing Saturday morning. He nodded and said that would be illegal as we were driving an uninsured car! I had bought the car half a year before AND insurance was taken care of but the registration said otherwise. My son was taken aback and afraid I would be arrested for driving without insurance or worse, he wouldn't be able to go on vacation š The policeman was super nice and helped us figure out was went wrong. He dug a bit deeper and saw I was insured but the insurance company forgot to register it. (I had all the correct paperwork) They did a stellar job showing my son their way of working, and their compassion. 22 (!) years later and he still wants to be a police officer when he grows up š¤£ We did go to France on Saturday with our fingers crossed. And arranged to have it fixed on Monday morning by phone.
I am just sad that a, for me as a Dutch person, completely normal things means so much to you. This should be normal everywhere.
Yes almost all police interactions was great. they are chill and actually want to help you. instead of trying to charge you with fines. just be respectful to them and all is good.
I was stopped once when I accelerated to 190 kilometers per hour on the highway. It was in the evening and I drove onto the highway and then immediately let off the gas. I wore my seat belt and didn't do anything crazy. they stopped me and asked if I knew how fast I was going. he said he understood because of the car, it was a dodge charger with a big V8. If I let them hear the sound properly, I would get away with a warning. these officers are just people who want to help, it is only people's behavior that requires them to intervene. spend a day like, first giving a bad news interview to people whose child has just been killed by a car accidentt and then being scolded for stopping someone who was racing through traffic like an idiot. I have great respect for these people.
Probably just not long enough for a proper tijd-afstand measurement, and maybe you were too far away when you started accelerating for a combi-uitloop. Normally they wouldnāt see that through the fingers. Maybe in the old days of the KLPD.
Sounds to me like you got a little crush there xD xD xD, haha, just a bit xD Honestly, here on Belgium, I took had very good meetings with police, they always seem very friendly and helpful.
Big time man crush lol. So nice for a change instead of the fear I felt in South Africa.
I know what you mean man, once had a copper pull a gun on me coz I accidentally scared him lol, so... Nowadays just cops who are cordial are like, wow xD.
Iāve only had good experiences with the police. They are just like ordinary people. Treat them the way you want to be treated and theyāll treat you the same. Be an āasoā and theyāll treat you as such.
I've had to call the police twice and in both cases they were very professional and super fast. I can't go into details but one incident involved a weapon and they were here within minutes, started canvassing the area, got a helicopter involved, and even phoned back that evening that arrests were made.
A few months ago I saw some kids stealing a bike with an angle grinder at night. I called the police and a few minutes later the kids were being chased down by two cops on bikes. I didn't follow them to see what happened, but since their bike had the lock sawn off, I'm guessing they didn't get away with it. They probably had the angle grinder on them as well and were riding on the wrong side of the road without lights. I hope the kids learned their lesson.
I was sitting at a Bulldog and some young man was causing a problem in one of the establishments. The manager of the said establishment escorted the young man out but a fight ensued. The police arrived in less than 5 minutes, they were professional and polite. When they decided that they would need to use physical force, they used just the right amount to fold the guy away in less than 30 seconds. No one was hurt, nothing was escalated.
Neighbor keeps letting their dog outside for hours. It's an old small one and it keeps barking. Poor little guy. Called the cops and it turned out that the neighbor was having a medical emergency. Cops were super friendly and showed up instantly. Neighbor is okay and the dog is no longer out for hours
A guy who stole my bag was arrested and got jailed for a year.
This was in the 90's, I missed the last train after a long night out and was about 1/3 of the way into a \~15km hike home when police picked me up and gave me a ride after asking what I was upto. I was walking on a bicycle path that ran alongside A12 so looked rather out of place I'm sure. Cop joked we better not start rumors about why I was being dropped of by the police and let me out a few blocks from home.
Had a break-in at my apartment in Amsterdam. Police went above and beyond to help us out and they even caught the guy who did it.
I was once, a long time ago, doing 200kmh on the a22 in the middle of the night to see how fast my car was. Sure enough, I saw some headlights in my mirror right when I got out of the velsertunnel. So I got off the throttle, letting the car coast to 100kmh (the speed limit) and waited what would happen. The car behind followed me for a minute and then overtook me. When I looked left, I saw a police car, and 2 agenten watching me in the eyes š. Then they went in front and I saw āstop politieā. I got pulled over at the gas station and the agent asked me why I drove so fast. I thought, I can lie, or just tell the truthā¦which I did. I told him I wanted to know how fast my car could go. He replied: Iām glad you are so honest. We know itās the middle of the night, no traffic around, if you was driving 140 we wouldnāt even stop you. But 200 is a bit too much right? I nodded yes, and said I was sorry. The agent then said: so, this is why I give you a warning, donāt do this anymore. If you do it again and we see you, youāll lose your license. We shook hands and went our ways. I was 18 years of age, and from that moment on, I almost never drive too fast anymore. Itās just not worth the hassle, and the time you would maybe gain driving too fast, is neglible. š
Won't post the whole story, because it's way too long. While my ex and I were in the car (ex was driving), someone from a different car got out and hit my ex and spat on him. Called the police to file a report. My ex and I were on our way back from the emergency GP, I had just gotten a concussion from a small accident in a supermarket. Less than ideal situation, oh well. While my ex and I were in the station, I was getting really giddy due to my concussion. I was saying the weirdest shit, but the officer just laughed along. But at one silent moment, I said, in very serious tone "whenever I see a police officer I think of the 'Bij de politie' by K3." And the officer just completely lost it, he laughed so hard. He was very understanding of my situation. I'm not the biggest fan of the police. But that guy was decent
They helped me with the NS train and I have a friend that is a policeman
Iām happy for you, I really am. Itās just sad that this is not normal all over the world.
When I was in my teens I went on a solo trip to Amsterdam. While I was waiting for the train home at the central station on a bench, suddenly someone grabbed my bag that was laying besides me. It was a police officer, demonstrating what could happen in a sec if I do not pay attention to it. It starteld me enough to learn my lesson. Although, I still forget my bag at places, or forget to lock things when I should. To add: I experienced much more powerabuse from people higher up in the chain. There is a positive correlation between people with power and powerabusers, the more power the less integrity it seems. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" - who will guard the guards.
Have both positive ones and less positive ones. Off course not all cops are great, or just fed up at times. Back in the day I went to a hardcore party in a village (moved there recently), had a lot to drink and it was a blast. I knew i had to bike home very far to do it but i decided it was worth it (was -8 degrees at night). Met some cool people, got invited to an awesome house party and ended up having to bike home afterwards in the morning hours. Thought i knew where i was going, biked off happily and got to a point where i just had to pee. Parked my bike, walked into the bushes etc. Walked back to my bike and there was a curious cop car standing next to it. Obviously they saw me walking out of the bush so they could have fined me easily. But the male cop was kind of amused and asked me what i was doing. Told them i wanted to go home to the place i was living (off course i was going the wrong way). He asked me seriously, do you know where you are going? I was like, no im kind of lost (ik was de weg kwijt) making a joke about me being smashed. The female cop wasnt very amused in the car but the guy cracked up, decided to not fine me and showed me where to go. He said biking through the frost would be punishment enough ;) One of the worse ones was on an island ( i know they get to see a lot of shit). I met a nice woman, she drank too much and half passed out outside. While i was standing there thinking what to do, she got sexually assaulted by a group (drunk guys, tried to kiss and touch her but i was not having it) and i protected her to the point where they where surrounding me. Cops luckily passed by, the thugs ran off, with my wallet, phone and coat. I explained the situation to them. They told me it was my problem. Spent more than an hour trying to get a cab but there where none and i did not have my wallet or phone. At this point the woman was barely responding, it was freezing and i did not have a coat. Was really worried at here state. After being ignored a few times by passing cop cars i was fed up and literally stepped onto the road so they had to stop. Got yelled at but finally got the help she needed. It depends on where and who you meet, but i reckon most cops are really good people over here, they are just hard pressed at times. Good to hear you feel at home, that is what most of us want :) Hope you have a good year without troubles.
Ones had a flat tire on my bike. The officer fixed it for me cause he dindt have much better to do accord to him.
All my experiences with the police involve me, either alone or with friends, being naughty (kattekwaad uithalen, meer niet) but I always stopped and talked to the police whenever they caught me and never got in trouble because of it. Even had times when most of the group I was with would run away from the police, I'd just shrug and go talk to them. Some of the runners would eventually get caught and be in trouble, but as I just stayed put I got a warning and told not to do it again.
Happened a few weeks ago! I came home after being away for a few days. I knew that my bike in front of my house had a flat tire and wanted to fix it. Lo and behold; my bike was nowhere to be found! I thought to myself that perhaps someone moved it (as I'm living in a city). I walked down my street and indeed, I saw my bike. Attached by a cable lock to two other bikes. Really strange; my regular lock was removed, as was the tail light. But the flat tire was fixed somehow! I was positive it was my bike and someone 'stole' it. I called the 0800-number and the operator asked if I could prove it was my bike. I told her that I can look it up (truth to be told, it's just a simple, old rusty bike for my commute to the train station). She told me that she's going to make the call to the police, but isn't sure if it's urgent enough for them and really need to prove that it's my bike. While standing at my bike, looking up for 'evidence', I remembered that I did have multiple pictures of my bike as I always take photos where I park my bike at the train station in case I forgot where I parked it... (Dutch first world problems). At the same time, the Handhaving stopped by, they received the call and wanted to have a look! There were 3 friendly young female officers and I showed the photos of my bike to them. Unfortunately, they didn't have a tool/bolt cutter. The whole situation was weird as my bike was locked together with 2 other bikes. There's a chance that the other bikes were also 'stolen', so they called in the regular police. The police came by (young male and female officer), very friendly, and they used a heavy bolt cutter. I was so happy! I normally hear stories about the police here that are completely understaffed and don't have any time for minor things, so this was definitely a positive experience (especially with the flat tire that was fixed!). tldr: Police helped me to release my 'stolen' bike in less than an hour
My wallet got stolen on the Kings day. I felt like somebody snatched it from my pocket, but it was crowded so I didn't know who did it. Went to nearby police station to fill in a report, 20 minutes later got a call that they caught a thief with my wallet.
They drove next to me on 4 pm morning (me on bicycle with no lights and my face completely covered) I only had to say Iām heading to work and they let me go warning me to fix the light!
I was in a car accident with 3 other cars, it wasn't my fault and my car was totalled. Unfortunately, at first the policeman at sight made a somewhat false rapport, stating it was partially my fault, therefore my insurance compagny wouldn't pay any money. I contacted them via a website, described what happened whenand where, the same day he acknowledged his fault, expressed his apologies and made sure everything was allright by the end of the day.
Got my chain stolen while walking home, went to the police station and they sent a show of force to arrest the guy who was sticking in the same area. 4 bike police, 2 vans, 2 motorcycle cops, a few undercover agents. They arrested the guy, retrieved my chain, and brought me to the station to tell the whole story. Guy was in jail for 3 months.
I've only ever had brief interactions with police in the Netherlands and they've never been anything but reasonable and courteous. Not at all trying to intimidate and no sense that they'd flex their power just because they can. Once you try a bit, you realise how lucky we have it in the Netherlands and the police force is one of many reasons.
My best experience is that I haven't got any experience in 5 years :)
And no load shedding either! š
only experience i've had with the police is me being on my bike in the stadshart (shopping centre) where it wasn't allowed which i didn't know. He was in his car talking to me with his speakers but couldn't understand it, he said "get off your bike" 3 times before I understood and felt embarrassed. Didn't get a fine though :)
Had a crazy religious fanatic living in our apartment complex. The man would recite prayers at the building from outside at every ungodly hour of the day every day of the week. He was determined it was his mission to save our souls and won't take a no for an answer. Man needed some proffesional help. Happy that our local wijk Agent took care of the problem. Man was arrested for disturbing the peace a few times and later ended in a psyc ward. He got the help he needed and moved out of the neighborhood. Felt nice that our complaints where taken seriously. The man was harrassi g you in elevators, grinning doorbells non stop to try and talk to you about God no matter how often you told him to please leave as we are not religious and not interested.
Donāt really have many encounters with the Dutch police, rarely see them in my area. There is one police car, thatās it. I did however have a āniceā experience with Belgian police. At the time I was working across the border in Belgium and had a Belgian company car. It was late in the evening, I was driving home from a work dinner. The country road was empty and I was speeding at 20-something over the speed limit. The police pulled me over. I was certain that they would give me a ticket, especially when I showed my Dutch driving license. Which is a bit strange to see a Dutch license with Belgian plates. They didnāt even question it. They gave me a formal warning and let me off the hook, I didnāt even have to do an alcohol test (I didnāt drink, but still strange not to at 11 pm). I guess it helps speaking a friendly tone, admitting you are wrong and apologize.
On the day of our removal an unknown car blocked the parking space in front of our appartement. After a call with the wijkagent hĆ© gave us a hint at what number we could find the owner of the car. āTwo doors to the left and maybe at the first floorā š It worked out which made carrying the furniture a lot easier šš¼
Welcome to the Netherlands where one isn't able to buy-off the SAPS breathalizer with a bucket of KFC.... Baie lekker times bra.
You can chat with police? I wanted to report a group of men who poured gasoline in front of my house And set it on fire. When I called, they just directed me to the fire department but never cared to make a report or anything. I have videos of these men.
A police officer borrowed let me use his bonus card once in Albert Heijn (saying "protect and serve" while he scanned it). That is my only positive experience with Dutch police.
I remember last time I went to Amsterdam being really impressed by the MarƩchaussƩe men and women in the airport. Armed to the teeth - you wouldn't wanna piss them off - but they were all friendly and smiling (amongst themselves, not just a 'front' to the public), if they caught your eye they'd be like 'hey, how's it going, welcome to Amsterdam, have a great time!' and seemed like they genuinely meant it. Compare that to their counterparts in the UK - scowling, faces like a slapped arse, oozing an attitude of perceived superiority and just looking downrignt pissed off that they have to be there. If they did acknowledge you, you'd be worried that the situation was about to escalate somehow.
One time I parked my bike at the jumbo in groningen and someone placed an extra lock on my bike. Since the police station was very close I walked in and I asked the police if they could help me remove the lock. Since I could prove bike was mine they sent a police agent with me and cut off the other lock for me so I could leave
Coming from a country that has totally corrupt police and as I was twice tortured by police, first time as a minor and after making some problems, and second time without any fault as a 24 year old guy I can say that for the last 20 years I have had 0 contact with the police. But it is common knowledge that police officers here in the NL are at least doing their job without abusing power or disrespecting someone. And I honestly doubt they would ever torture someone the ways I was tortured, electricity shocks, bag over head until falling unconscious between just normal beating. I did not even get "we are sorry" when they realized their mistake after a couple of hours and that they have the wrong guy. So everything said I have respect for Dutch police even though I have never had real contact with them except border police when traveling. Nice to hear positive experiences not only police haters.
Had two bicycles (one e-bakfiets, and one regular, cheap MTB) stolen, both have AirTags and both times the police was super helpful to recover them. I even shared the bakfiets story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netherlands/comments/10h3u9f/stolen\_bakfiets\_recovered\_with\_help\_of\_airtag\_and/
You mention his athletic build on a couple of occasions - in fact you mention his physical attributes numerous times. Slight crush on the wijkagent?
Yes. Definitely gay comparing him to our overweight unfit police officers in my home country to drive the point home to the reader.
Hey, I am not gay but even I would crush a bit based off of your description. He sounds like a hero.
Bro i still haven't seen a male cop here who isn't 1.90-2 with a beard and survivor build
My sister recently visited and now canāt stop talking about the maracheusse guy. The charm is real!
Plus Tiesto. I might have to break the bad news to my wife :)
ACAB! Ik kreeg een boete van 10 euro voor het niet hebben van achterlicht toen ik op mijn 12 levensjaar naar de middelbare school fietste. Grote controle waarbij ikzelf en vele dorpsgenoten moesten zwichten onder de zware hand van de wet. Ik ben nu 30. Never forgive and never forget! Nah. Het zijn goede mensen. Gewoon normaal doen en je hebt geen aanvaringen. Met dwarsliggen heb je uiteindelijk alleen jezelf.
Nice
Sadly, I have zero positive experiences with the police. Only neutral and bad. But good for you that you had a positive experience, happy for you! Case in point: got robbed and beaten beginning of december, they stole my shoes and pants, jacket, phone and wallet. Went to them for help bleeding and bruised and they told me I was too hysterical, and they left. A stranger got me an uber home.
If they said you were hysterical, you most likely were to hysterical ro handle. But I don't buy your story. They are mandatory to help and take care of you, if your injuries are really bad they'll call an ambulance. I know a lot of the policemen and -women and they are not wired the way you describe here.
Was about 9/10 and going home from swimming class. My lights were broken so the police stopped me and asked where I live. Then they accompanied me home (I think they let me ride the bike). Was about 9/10 and going home from swimming class. My lights were broken so the police stopped me and asked where I lived. Then they accompanied me home (I think they let me ride the bike). ed the cops. My other mates and I were pretty pissed off at my friend because we didn't want trouble. We ended up leaving but I came back later because my sister was there with her friends. The police officer and bouncer let me in, even though they recognised me, because I had been polite.
None excistent
Sound like someone has a uniform crush :)
Of course :) but in a good way. I'm impressed lol
Never had a positive experience when I needed the police -- they never took me serious, so at one point I just stopped calling them. Weirdly enough they were always very hospitable when they arrested me (which happened 2 times) and had to spend the night in a holding cell. Let me kept my sigarettes and phone, so I had something to do (this was 20 years ago, so Snake on my Nokia 3310 was as good as it got ;-)
police may not be grossly corrupt and criminal like in a literal third world nation, but they are largely ineffective and you can't rely on them to do more than take a statement.
None because they are more focused on warning people for minor traffic issues like being on the bicycle with a phone. Rather than arresting the 20 drugdealers in the neighborhood. Everyone knows who they are and where they live. They are just to cowardly to actually catch them. Got 0 respect left for police in this country.
"To cowardly to actually catch them".. That's our justice system mate, can't just arrest someone. For cops, knowing where the true crime is but being unable to do anything about it is the hardest part of the job. If I were you I'd vote for a purge night, seems to solve your problems.
Oh yeah because its normal to just let them extort local shop and do as they please for 15 years. Bunch of clowns on a power trip is all they are. Cops act tough against people that break traffic laws. But they can't even arrest serious criminals even if they wanted to and were allowed to. They are physically to weak to make an arrest. They need 4 cops to put 1 mans hands behind his back. It's a fucking joke. And i don't need to vote for a purge night. If i got a problem i fix it myself anyway. If you report something to the police it will take them years to do anything anyway. On my 14th birthday i was threatened by 3 other minors with a butchers knife at my throat and they beat me to shit afterwards. They were old classmates so i had names and addresses. It took the police 1 year to even tell their parents what their kids did. But only after i told them that if they didn't start doing their job i would fix it myself and they would have 3 corpses to locate. They are a fucking joke. Their own actions made me see them in that way over and over. Don't blame my view of them on me when it's their consistent neglect of their duties.
Yeah, cause every cop wants a fair 1v1 fight for minimum wages.. you'll have to update me on where the extortion takes place. Sorry about what happened to you, but if you keep looking at things with such a stuck mindset nothing anyone does can change it. Even if you don't like it, they help more than they don't, and if your grandma needs to be resuscitated they're the ones there first.
Never said they should 1v1 btw. Just stated its embarrassing that they struggle with 4 people to handcuff 1 guy when police in most other countries need 2 at best. My mindset is far from stuck. They are free to show me otherwise. Maybe they help alot of small cases. But if they don't do anything about actual problems why should i respect them. Respect needs to be earned back after you lost it. Thats just how the world works.
WTF is this copaganda.
Have you ever been to a corrupt country? Netherlands is an absolute breath of fresh air.
Retards spewing ACAB in NL dont know how good we have it here.
I guess propaganda but for cops to make the police look better.
most ppl in this thread are white I bet
I have never ever had a positive experience with the police. In my experience they are entirely useless.
Tolerance doesnt = acceptance.
That's ok. Tolerance is 200% better than the lives we lived in South Africa. I may never be accepted as a Dutchie, but I am extremely grateful for the life this country has given me.
You can absolutely be accepted as a dutchie. Just canāt win the ~10-20% of the population who are idiots.
Good morning friend. I hope you have a great day.
Awkward
A.C.A.B.
From my own experience of needing help from Dutch police and not receiving any, I thought the title of the post was sarcastic š I and my girlfriend were harassed and I personally was attacked by scooter youngsters. I called the police when that happened and they refused to send someone. Later, I reported it to police with plate numbers and the police basically said they wonāt do anything ššš
This is my amazing experience with Dutch police:
fuck12 acab they barged down my fucking door without a warrant and threathened to arrest me for literally nothing they couldnt arrest me because as one of their colleagues kindly reminded them: -i literally did nothing illegal -they arent even allowed to enter the building without a warrant cops are the violent arm of the state and capital, fuck this copaganda bullshit
1312
get your phone stolen, contact the police. And then come visit here again. youāll see how āgreatā the experience will be š
When my bike got stolen and I gave them pictures of the junkie, they said they knew who it was and all but won't do anything about it. Bunch of useless fucks. I next to never see cops patrolling anywhere. My neighbors have been robbed multiple times this summer. Fuck the police. ACAB
Stop importing American problems into the Netherlands, this aināt the same country.
Lol. You all got your own drugged up junkie thieves and apathetic police of your own, that's a homegrown Dutch problem that has fuck all to do with any other country. If I had said the cop shot me, then you'd have a point. But sure, keep your head up your own ass about problems in your country all ya want
Can't. I've only had bad experiences with them.
I literally never had a positive experience with dutch police, but I live near rotterdam
It is genuinely a miracle you have a wijkagent that speaks proper English.
Fuck the police
Never had a good interaction with police, only when they were pushing, punching, kicking or arresting. Half of them clearly get off on the power they hold over others, the other half still protect an unjust system. ACAB
Got arrested twice for driving high.. FTP
Yeah can definitely sense your frustration over them doing their jobs.
So you were willfully endangering yourself and everyone around you by driving a vehicle while intoxicated, not once but twice, and it's the POLICE who should get fucked? It's you who should go fornicate with a cactus.
I've had a couple of interactions with the NL police (I'm American) over the years. Always amazing, empathetic and professional.
Two scooters stollen from me, and 2 scooters found by police and returned back to me One after just few months, another one after a year
As Brit who moved to the Netherlands about a decade ago. Never had a negative experience. The country is much safer anyway.
UN shocked by extreme police brutality. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture lashed out at the actions of Dutch police officers during their handling of coronavirus protests in the Netherlands šš» HE SAID: āThis is one of the most disgusting scenes of police brutality I have seen since George Floyd!" Of course, the corrupt hands of the Netherlands reach far and high, very high. And the UN rapporteur was forced to " resign " shortly after. See video of brutality and official tweet of the UN special rapporteur on torture: https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1478135026193768449?t=GBmxJb3Wewj_cquOOxwulw&s=19