NCJ Number
187536
Editor(s)
H. G. van de Bunt,
J. M. Nelen
Date Published
2000
Length
117 pages
Annotation
This report contains recommendations and introductory talks from a meeting of Dutch experts held to discuss the future of special law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands, defined in this report as "agencies that enforce the law and operate under the auspices of a general administrative body, which agencies are responsible at least in part -- if not entirely -- to fulfill investigative tasks in the framework of the general system of criminal proceedings."
Abstract
There are over 20 nationally operating special law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands. Many of these agencies have supervisory and monitoring tasks over and above their investigative activities. On March 2, 2000, the Dutch Documentation Center (WODC) organized a meeting of academic and law enforcement officials to discuss the future of special law enforcement agencies. Participants concluded that the government's plans to establish clarity in law enforcement are a step in the right direction. Still, participants considered that various significant aspects of special law enforcement activities have received inadequate attention in these government plans. Plans regarding the fight against organized crime and serious forms of organizational crime were believed not to be sufficiently extensive. Special law enforcement agencies and regular police authorities have grown so close in their efforts to fight these areas of crime that formal provisions for cooperation should be incorporated in the framework for law enforcement. In emphasizing coordination between special law enforcement agencies and regular police authorities, the government is attempting to maintain the three pillars of law enforcement: the police, the Royal Military Constabulary, and special law enforcement agencies. Various experts at the WODC meeting, in contrast, advocate further integration of authorities and/or the establishment of an association to tackle serious forms of crime. The debate on this issue has yet to be resolved. 338 references