ndelijke Informatieorganisatie (DLIO) deals with information and data, they work often together with Europol and Interpol. The Dienst Speciale Interventies (DSI) is the police and the army combined, who tackle life-threatening situations. The Dienst Koninklijke en Diplomatieke Beveiliging (DKDB) makes sure that the king, princesses, and sometimes mayors, councillors and judges are safe and secure from threats. The Dienst Infrastructuur (Dinfra) consists of the railway-, traffic-, aviation- and water police. The Dienst Landelijke Operationele Samenwerking (DLOS) makes sure that they all work together, and the Dienst Landelijk Operationeel Centrum (DLOC) guides them all.
A Dutch police agent on the street carries pepper spray, a PVC baton, a gun (Walther, P99Q NL), handcuffs, teargas, a flashlight, a portable phone, latex gloves and special units carry in addition to the gun, a semi-automatic machine gun too.
What would you do?
Again I quote a scenario depicted in a school presentation distributed for children by the Dutch police.
“Emergency line, 112, do you want to speak with police, fire brigade or ambulance?” A man sounds uncontrollably: “police! “.
The operator answering the phone wants to know what exactly is going on.
“I see a gun, a boy is holding a gun! I am in the city and I see four boys, now. I do not know whether they have guns too. This is scary.”
Imagine that you are a police agent receiving a notification from the emergency room—four boys armed. You take your bullet-free vest and drive to the scene. A few minutes later, you and your colleagues arrive. Four suspects aged around 16 are standing in a public square. One of the kids has blood on his forehead. Then what?
(here, there’s no indication whatsoever about the way the boys look, nor your knowledge of what they are supposed to look like. Other than the location, you know nothing. This text doesn’t give any sign of a gun visible at this point.)
A) They are only children. I tiptoe towards them, trying to chat and connect with them.
B) I pull out my gun and yell, “Police! With every suspicious move, I shoot”.
C) Blood? I take my first aid kit, and I run to the victim to help him.
The correct answer is B. The officer must pull out their gun and yell, “Police! With every suspicious move, I shoot”.
There are no suspicious movements. You arrest the boys. They are searched, one by one. On one boy, you’ll find a gun, and on another, you’ll find a bag of white powder.
(I imagine you, police, immediately notice if the gun is a real- or toy gun. If I can tell the difference, so should you.) What should you do next?
A) You give the boys a fine.
B) This is really bad. The boys must be detained, and you take them to the police station. We can take a look at the gun and drugs. (white powder)
C) I call my colleague. She secures the gun and checks if it is a real one.
The correct answer is, again, B.
It is a toy gun that shoots rubber balls. This could have ended badly. What are you going to do now?
A) I talk to the boys. How did they get this weapon?
B) Oh, if the gun is fake, the boys can just go. Only real weapons are prohibited.
The correct answer is A. Police officers talk to the boys. As it turns out, the blood and drugs were fake too. They were filming a school project. The agents take the toy gun into custody. It looked real from a distance, and that too is prohibited from use in the Netherlands. The parents and school are called. The boys get away with a warning.
If you still want to work for the police in the Netherlands today, you’ll need to get some schooling. It will take you 1,5 years of police academy and internships to become a surveillant, an agent-to-be needs 2 years and 4 months, and to become head agent, it takes you 8 months longer. You’ll need to go back to a training institute 4 times a year, so you be frequently trained while on the job too. Other opportunities to expand your police career involve more study courses in your private time. It is safe to say that every police agent must have had some form of diversity training. Still, you can ask your