Corrupt Dutch Police

(geenstijl)

A story today in De Telegraaf and elsewhere about the start of a case in which the Dutch police are pressing charges against a guy for "assaulting" their reputation.

The defendant, Dénis van Vliet, designed and wore a t-shirt (above) that used the police logo and style, but substituted the word "Corrupt," for "police."

Yes, insulting a police officer in the Netherlands is not just a bad idea (as it is everywhere), it's actually against the law.

I've posted previously about one case where a guy who gave the finger to the police and was convicted. And other about a guy who called a cop a "homo" and was convicted: his defense was, how can a "homo" be an insult, when under a politically correct legal system, it should be a neutral remark about someone's sex preference?

I've also posted quite a bit about freedom of speech, and how the right to say what you think fundamentally includes the right to insult. Call it the Theo van Gogh argument, or the John Stuart Mill argument.

I accept there must be some limits to freedom of speech _ clearly in the case of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater or directly inciting violence.

My mind is somewhat muddied about hate speech _ I hate it, but I doubt that banning racists and holocaust deniers from speaking is either effective or wise.

But I'm definitely opposed to this law that gives a special status to two groups in the Netherlands: police and the royal house, making it a criminal offense to insult them (and nobody else, though people can sue in civil courts for reputation damage).

Frankly, powerful people must be insulted, in my view.
Police have the monopoly on legal violence under our system, and that makes them powerful.
(Monty Python)

The Queen can't be insulted on the theory that she is powerless to reply, under the Dutch political system. In my view, she is powerful enough to both merit insult, and to be able to defend herself sufficiently.

In the current "Corrupt" case, the police may or may not actually find the T-shirt insulting, but it is certainly legitimate and even very important political speech.

One of my first posts on this blog was about how there appears to be a serious problem with corruption within the Amsterdam police force, and how scary that is.

Imagine: you are being harassed by a criminal. You go to the police for help. The police immediately call the criminal to tell him.
The criminal has you killed in order to intimidate others.

That's what appears to have actually happened in Amsterdam in the Willem Endstra case. And that may be just the tip of the iceburg.

(indiepoprockJesse)


I'm still waiting to hear about what happened with the squatters who put up banners with the text "Rita Verdonk, Murderer" in 2005 and cops went in and seized them.

Verdonk was then immigration minister carrying out a major crackdown on illegal immigrants when fire broke out at a prison and killed 11 detainees. These were people guilty of nothing but entering the Netherlands illegally.

If calling her a "murderer" in that context isn't important political speech, challenging controversial policies (that were later found to violate human rights laws) _ then what is?

To their credit, the squatters put up posters of "Rita Miller" instead. The word for "miller," molenaar, closely resembles the word for murderer in Dutch, moordenaar.

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Rotten Cops - II

Here Amsterdam's finest are just doing their job, that doesn't worry me.
What does worry me: an announcement from the National Public Prosecutor's office today (my translation):

"Amsterdam Police arrested three translators yesterday and interrogated them on suspicion of perjury. This concerns falsifying information from wiretaps."

"They were translators for various Amsterdam police investigations."

The release doesn't say, but Dutch media are widely reporting, this is part of the investigation into the gangland killings that have been going on here for some time.

The bodies have been hitting the pavement thick and fast in recent years. It's gotten so bloody that entrepreneurs have started offering guided tours of the crime scenes.

But what's scary is this issue of police corruption. The real estate magnate Willem Endstra was executed in 2004 shortly after he agreed to talk with investigators.

Later, the tapes of that interview _ recorded in the back of a patrol car _ were leaked, and were so widely distributed that they were eventually transcribed into a book that's become a best-seller.

If the police are rotten _ and I'm not saying they are, but if they are, or if even some are _ where can you turn when you get in trouble?

Click on "More" for a little list of recent officer dismissals I've worked up, and tell me if you think Amsterdam has a problem...

"Butenfuctiestelling" is a fancy pants way of saying "Fired for misconduct"...
Apologies I can't translate the whole thing, but I'll put the cause after each.

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam-Amstelland (21/06/2007)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft op woensdag 20 juni een 37-jarige medewerker buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een hoofdagent werkzaam bij de dienst Regionale Recherche. Hij wordt verdacht van ernstig plichtsverzuim.

"Serious dereliction of duty"

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam-Amstelland (21/02/2007)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft dinsdag 20 februari jl. een 23-jarige politiemedewerker in opleiding buiten functie gesteld. Haar wordt verweten, ongewenste criminele contacten te onderhouden.

"Keeping undesireable criminal contacts"


Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam-Amstelland (19/02/2007)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft vrijdag 16 februari een medewerker buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een administratief medewerker werkzaam aan het derde district die verdacht wordt van het onderhouden van ongewenste contacten.

"Undesireable contacts"

Buitenfunctiestellingen / Amsterdam (15/11/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft gisteren twee medewerkers in opleiding buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om twee politieassistenten in opleiding (19 en 20 jaar) die verdacht worden van ernstig plichtsverzuim en ongewenste omgangsvormen. Tegen de twee medewerkers is een strafrechtelijk onderzoek gestart.

"Serious dereliction of duty and undesired behavior" (2x)

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam (25/10/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft een medewerkster buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een 24-jarige generaliste in opleiding. Zij wordt verdacht van schending van het ambtsgeheim.

"Revealing secrets"

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam - Amstelland (06/10/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft vandaag een medewerker buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om 46-jarige inspecteur werkzaam bij de dienst Centrale Recherche. Hij wordt verdacht van valsheid in geschrifte.

"Perjury"

De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft donderdag 28 september een 24-jarige surveillant in opleiding buiten functie gesteld. De man wordt verdacht van mishandeling (buiten diensttijd).

"Assault (while off-duty)"

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam-Amstelland (06/09/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft maandag 4 september een 55-jarige medewerker buiten functie gesteld. De man wordt verdacht van diefstal c.q. verduistering in dienstbetrekking. Hij is werkzaam in district 4 (Zuid).

"Theft, namely embezzlement. "

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam-Amstelland (29/08/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft maandag 28 augustus een 51-jarige medewerker buiten functie gesteld. De man wordt verdacht van verduistering in dienstbetrekking. Hij is werkzaam in district 4 (Zuid).

"Embezzlement."

02/08/2006
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft dinsdag 1 augustus een medewerker buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een 45-jarige medewerker werkzaam bij de dienst Materielë Ondersteuning. Hij wordt verdacht van diefstal.

"Theft"

Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam (26/07/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft een medewerkster buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een 25-jarige operationeel assistent bij de dienst Executieve Ondersteuning. Zij wordt verdacht van schending van het ambtsgeheim.

"Revealing secrets"

Buitenfunctiestelling/Amsterdam (25/07/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft een medewerkster buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om 55-jarige administratiev...

Whoops, that one got cut off. There were a bunch of drug use / confiscation violations I didn't bother saving, because: it's Amsterdam, right?


Buitenfunctiestelling / Amsterdam (19/07/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft een medewerker buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om 23-jarige surveillant in opleiding. Zij wordt verdacht van schending van het ambtsgeheim.

"Revealing secrets"

Buitenfunctiestellingen / Amsterdam-Amstelland (06/07/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft gisteren twee medewerkers buiten functie gesteld. Het gaat om een 53-jarige brigadier werkzaam bij Bureau Ondersteuning in district 1 (centrum) Hij wordt verdacht van schending van het ambtsgeheim. Een 48-jarige inspecteur werkzaam op een wijkteambureau in district 1 (centrum) wordt verdacht van mishandeling.

"Revealing secrets (1) and assault (1)"

Medewerker geschorst / Amsterdam-Amstelland (04/07/2006)
De korpsleiding van de regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland heeft gisteren een 36-jarige hoofdinspecteur geschorst. Hij wordt verdacht van ongewenste omgangsvormen.

"Undesirable behavior."

Those were just the ones I happened to see floating past in the daily blotter.

National police message, 28-06-2007 •

"In 2006 there were 113 police officers fired nationwide for violations of integrity. In addition, there were 64 agents provisionally suspended and 42 quit voluntarily during an investigation. In 2006 there were in total 1,393 investigations, in which 1,495 police were involved. In 699 cases the suspicions were unfounded or unproven. In 180 cases there were criminal acts, and in 507 there were derelictions of duty."

Food for thought?
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Stories I Didn't Do - "Rotten Cops"

I get the daily police blotter from Amsterdam, and over the past year I had noticed what seemed to me to be a *ridiculous* number of police officers being fired.

Reasons ranged from drug abuse to violent behavior to corruption _ pretty much anything you could think of. All ages. I saved at least 30 of these in a little text file. I'd post it, but it's in Dutch. Take my word for it.

Anyhow, yesterday the Justice Ministry announced that they had been working on an anti-corruption project on a national scale. So their spin was, there are not an unusually high number of rotten cops here, they are just held to unusually high standards.

The rumor is, Amsterdam cops are more corrupt (if possibly less violent) than others. But there's no evidence.

So, which is it? More corrupt or more caught?

The answer to me seems unknowable.

Let me know if anybody has an idea of how I could crack this nut.

Oh, and this story introduces a tag: 'confronting my ignorance.' I plan to use that one a lot. MORE