Dutch Police Research Articles

SCAN is largely driven by 12 criteria: results from sexual abuse statements

Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) is increasingly used by investigative authorities to evaluate the credibility of statements made by witnesses and suspects. SCAN, however, lacks a well-defined list of criteria, and does not involve a standardised scoring system. In the current study, we investigated which SCAN criteria are represented in actual statements. To this end, we analysed 82 sexual abuse cases of the Dutch police in which SCAN had been applied. Two independent coders scored the presence of various SCAN criteria in the: (1) written statements from victims, suspects, and witnesses; and also looked at the (2) recommendations for follow-up investigations that were derived from SCAN. Results showed that SCAN is primarily driven by 12 criteria. Results also indicated a low inter-rater agreement for most SCAN criteria, suggesting SCAN is insufficiently developed as a forensic tool. Still, the 12 criteria can be used as a starting point for future research on their psychometric properties.

The intertwining of talk and technology: How talk and typing are combined in the various phases of the police interrogation

Different institutional tasks are accomplished in the Dutch police interrogation: from filling in required paperwork, to getting the confession (or truth) on paper, to editing the text of the written statement. All these different phases have different goals and go hand in hand with different typing practices. The intertwining of these activities in the various phases of the police interrogation is of interest because it demonstrates that these two activities and the way they influence and structure each other in interaction are related to the institutional goal of that phase. Subsequently, this may have an effect on the product that is being constructed – the police record.

Adapting to change: The value of change information and meaning-making

The purpose of this 3-wave study is to examine the micro process of how employees adapt to change over time. We combined Conservation of Resources theory with insights from the organizational change literature to study employees in a Dutch police district undergoing reorganization. A model was tested where employee adaptability, operationalized by the presence of resources, predicts individual adaptive attitudes as well as adaptive behavior over time. Change information was included as a contextual change resource and meaning-making as a personal change resource. The research design allowed for examining longitudinal relationships by capturing data (1) before (Time 1), (2) during (Time 2), and (3) after change implementation (Time 3). We expected adaptability before and during change implementation to predict adaptive attitudes and adaptive behavior (both during and after change implementation). In addition, different indirect effects were tested. Structural equation modeling analyses supported most of the hypothesized relationships between resources and outcomes, although relationships differed from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3. T1 change information triggered T2 meaning-making which translated into T3 adaptive behavior. The relevance of meaning-making and change information as important predictors of adaptive behavior is emphasized. Implications of these longitudinal findings are discussed.

Improving a rapid DNA profiling service regularly applied in forensic casework

Since October 2010, the NFI offers a “DNA-6hours” service to the Dutch police aiming to provide early investigative leads. Within the DNA-6hours procedure DNA information is rapidly derived from an evidentiary trace, the STR profile is searched against the DNA profiles of known persons in the DNA database and a brief report containing information about match or no match is given to prosecution. Here, the STR system used in the direct and rapid amplification procedure is upgraded from 11 to 16 loci to comply with current profiling data comprising the new European standard set of loci. In addition, a brief DNA extraction procedure is introduced that can be applied to tape-lifts taken from cigarette butts or punches excised from licked envelope seals to increase success rates for these sample types.

Police culture, stress conditions and working styles

The standard model of police culture assumes that internal and external stress shapes police culture and that this culture promotes certain styles of policing. This model has been tested using a survey of police officers in the Netherlands. The street-level culture of the Dutch police has some elements in common with what we know from Anglo-Saxon studies, but there are also important differences. Dutch rank-and-file police are less conservative, the machismo element is less dominant and the fundamental mistrust of strangers is not as widespread. The findings of this study generally correspond with the causal relations of the model. Remarkably, no relationship was found between the professional police style and cultural elements in the police.

The Politics of Police History in Germany since the 1990s. A Participant Observation

I – Police History in Germany since the 1990s : General Trends For more than two decades, police history has occupied a significant position within German crime and criminal justice history. In July 2012, the 23rdKolloquium zur Polizeigeschichte – so the official German language title of this series founded in 1990 – took place in the Netherlands, and was organized by colleagues from the Dutch Police Academy. Contrary to other themes within German crime and criminal justice history, which hav...

Taking loan sharking into account: a case study of Chinese vest-pocket lenders in Holland

Chinese organized crime has long been accused of playing an active role in the illicit usury world, except that there are no known empirical studies depicting how it is actually done. A rare opportunity arose when a Dutch police agency seized one set of financial records documenting detailed transactions of a loan shark working incognito inside a Dutch casino. A detailed analysis of these accounting records suggests that the Chinese loan sharks work with a wide range of clients, primarily Chinese but also non-Chinese. Exorbitant interests were levied on the loans and large volumes of cash were loaned out, with the vast majority accounts in good standing. The bookkeeping records revealed a rather smooth business transaction environment, where some customers were acquaintances from connected social networks, while others were not. Although the seized records left some questions unanswered, the case provided a rarepeek into a secretive financial world that has remained largely unknown to the research community.

Converted Firearms: A Transnational Problem with Local Harm

Over the last decade, the Dutch police as well as police forces in several other Western-European countries were confronted with an increase in the availability and use of converted firearms. Converted firearms were originally blank firing weapons, for example gas and alarm pistols, which are converted to fire live ammunition. These firearms were used for threats, (attempted) killings, robberies and drug related crimes. Although the trade in converted firearms seems to have a small-scale character when judged from a global perspective, the use of these weapons imposes a serious threat to society as converted firearms are cheap and easy to obtain by criminals with an evidently high inclination to shoot, in particular young men from ethnic minority groups. In this article the trade in converted firearms is described using a script perspective. Several underlying mechanisms are distinguished that facilitate the availability of converted firearms on the Dutch criminal market, especially the existence of transnational social networks and the limited context of control. Finally, several strategies are described that focus on the demand-side as well as on the supply-side of the criminal market for converted firearms, such as joint police investigations, local administrative measures, pre-emptive searches and tackling the use of converted firearms by exploiting the anxieties of criminals about the safety of such weapons.

Nodal Policing in the Netherlands: Strategic and Normative Considerations on an Evolving Practice

Abstract. This article focuses on the nodal orientation of the Dutch police, which is an innovative and controversial target of Dutch policing. This target states that the police should focus on flows and on places where the various flows coincide. The Dutch interpretation of the nodal orientation combines a perspective on policing in infrastructural networks with one that considers the police as a player in (social) security networks. Nodal policing in the Netherlands has been introduced as a ‘sensitizing’ and evolving concept. This article describes a selection of evolving nodal policing practices and discusses the strategic and normative implications for Dutch policing that arise from these practices.

The Cannabis Market in the Netherlands

Although Dutch policy on soft drugs (hashish, marijuana) generally has long been considered a success, there is a growing concern among policy makers about the unforeseen side effects of regulation policies. One of these side effects is the large-scale domestic cannabis cultivation, which, according to the Dutch police, has developed into a major source of income for organized crime groups since the second half of the 1990s. Such groups, however, are not the only actors on the cannabis market. This paper discusses empirical research on the organization of cannabis cultivation in the south of the Netherlands.

Daily suppression of discrete emotions during the work of police service workers and criminal investigation officers

The aim of the present research among Dutch police officers was to examine whether fluctuations in emotional job demands predict exhaustion through the suppression of discrete emotions. A first diary study (N =25) tested how the suppression of discrete emotions is related to exhaustion at the end of the work shift of police call-center service workers. Results revealed that suppressing anger was positively related to exhaustion at the end of a work shift, whereas suppressing happiness was not. A second study (N=41) among criminal investigation officers showed that the emotions anger, abhorrence, and sadness were among the most common negative emotions that were suppressed as part of the emotional labor of this specialized occupational group. Results of a third (diary) study (N=39) confirmed that emotional dissonance and more particularly the suppression of abhorrence mediated the relationship between emotional job demands and exhaustion at the end of a work shift.

Interaction between criminal groups and law enforcement: the case of ecstasy in the Netherlands

The police and the policymakers in the field of organised crime generally assume that criminal groups are very flexible in their responses to law enforcement intervention. They use this flexibility to explain why some forms of organised crime are very difficult to curb. Criminal groups may also develop more effective protection methods over time. Another explanation may be that others are quick to replace apprehended members of criminal groups, or even an entire criminal group that has been dismantled by law enforcement officials. This article addresses these questions empirically by examining the behaviour of criminal groups producing and trafficking ecstasy in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2006. It concludes that such groups were able to adapt to the methods and tactics used by the Dutch police to some extent. The main explanation for the continued production of ecstasy, however, is that criminal groups are replaced by new ones.

Fijnaut (Cyrille), A history of the Dutch police

Fijnaut (Cyrille), A history of the Dutch police

Young people and police series: A multicultural television audience study

Police series are a main genre of popular television drama in the Netherlands. This article analyses interviews with young people from a range of ethnic backgrounds about the Dutch police series Baantjer and Spangen. Very little audience research has been carried out internationally into crime drama and this study aims to develop insight into how viewers watch and interpret police series. The informants interpreted Dutch police series in two different ways. First, they watched police series with friends or family to play the game of 'whodunit’, drawing on the hermeneutic narrative code. Second, they used the cultural narrative code to talk about experiences regarding crime, the police, racism and cultural difference at school and in the city. Due to their diverse representations Dutch police series offer viewers opportunities to discuss salient themes within Dutch multicultural society.

Police misconduct: accountability of internal investigations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an analysis of official data on police misconduct, providing new insights into the nature and extent of police misconduct and in the official response to police misconduct. Next to the use of force and neglect of duty, private time misconduct is a major type of (alleged) misconduct although it is often discarded from theoretical conceptions of police misconduct. The analysis also showed that two‐thirds of internal investigations are the result of an internal report. This paper shows that official data on police misconduct can result in new insights in the nature and extent of police misconduct and is therefore a relevant source for academic analysis.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of official data on police misconduct is compared with theoretical notions of police misconduct, internal investigations and reliability of official data.FindingsThe implementation of a uniform Registration of Internal Investigations for all Dutch police forces has resulted in a clear increase in the number of registered investigations. This seems to be due to a combination of increased strictness on (alleged) misconduct and an improved quality of the registration. The analysis also showed that two‐thirds of the investigations are the result of an internal report. This places a new perspective on the so‐called code of silence among police officers. However, information on the extent and nature of complaints that are dealt with through the complaints procedure is lacking. The complaints procedure has also no formal relation with the disciplinary or criminal procedures.Research limitations/implicationsOfficial data on police misconduct have to be viewed with a critical eye. The analyses showed however that the Dutch data seem fairly reliable. Additional research should place the official data in further perspective, e.g. through case studies and through a control of the registration with the files of the Bureaux of Internal Investigations. Finally, a comparison with official data in other countries is needed.Practical implicationsThe Dutch police should improve its complaints procedures and the complaints registration.Originality/valueAcademic analysis of police misconduct is often limited to case studies of scandals or focuses on citizen complaints. The paper gives a broader perspective by using official data.

Professional efficacy, exhaustion, and work characteristics among police officers: A longitudinal test of the learning‐related predictions of the demand—control model

The present study addressed the relationships among professional efficacy, emotional exhaustion, and job characteristics (job demands and job control) in the context of a two‐wave panel study among 828 Dutch police officers. Based on the demand–control model, we expected that high demands/high control would be positively related to professional efficacy, and that high demands/low control would be related to high levels of exhaustion. Moreover, we hypothesized that high levels of exhaustion would lead to lower levels of professional efficacy and that high levels of efficacy would lead to low levels of exhaustion. Structural equation modelling largely supported these predictions. High demands were longitudinally related to high levels of efficacy and high levels of exhaustion; high control was longitudinally related to high levels of efficacy. Further, efficacy and exhaustion were indeed mutually related. Finally, high levels of exhaustion were longitudinally related to high levels of demands. We conclude that there are complex, yet theoretically, and practically interpretable relations among efficacy, strain and work characteristics.

A job-related fitness test for the Dutch police

The variety of tasks that characterize police work highlights the importance of being in good physical condition. To take a first step at standardizing the administration of a job-related test to assess a person's ability to perform the physical demands of the core tasks of police work. The principal research questions were: are test scores related to gender, age and function and are test scores related to body mass index (BMI) and the number of hours of physical exercise? Data of 6999 police officers, geographically spread over all parts of The Netherlands, who completed a physical competence test over a 1 year period were analysed. Women performed the test significantly more slowly than men. The mean test score was also related to age; the older a person the longer it took to complete the test. A higher BMI was associated with less hours of body exercise a week and a slower test performance, both in women and men. The differences in individual test scores, based on gender and age, have implications for future strategy within the police force. From a viewpoint of 'same job, same standard' one has to accept that test-score differences may lead to the exclusion of certain staff. However, from a viewpoint of 'diversity as a business issue', one may have to accept that on average, both female and older police officers are physically less tailored to their jobs than their male and younger colleagues.

Construct-Driven Development of a Video-Based Situational Judgment Test for Integrity

In a field study conducted in a multi-ethnic selection setting at the Dutch police, we examined the construct validity of a video-based situational judgment test (SJT) aimed to measure the construct of integrity. Integrity is of central importance to productive work performance of police officers. We used a sample of police applicants, which consisted of a Dutch ethnic majority group and an ethnic minority group. The ethnic minority applicants came from one of the four largest ethnic minority groups in The Netherlands, namely groups with a Dutch Antillean, a Moroccan, a Surinamese, or a Turkish background. A critical issue is the often-found construct-heterogeneity of SJTs. However, we found that a construct-driven approach may be fruitful in the development of SJTs aiming to measure one single construct. Confirming our expectations, we found support for the construct validity of the SJT intended to measure the construct of integrity. These results held across ethnic majority and ethnic minority applicants. Therefore, the SJT is a promising test for personnel selection in a multi-ethnic setting.

Paradoxes of Intersectionality: Theorizing Inequality in the Dutch Police Force through Structure and Agency

While gender and ethnic inequality have been extensively studied in the context of organizations, research into how the intersection of these and other identity categories (re)produces inequality in organizations is still scarce. In this article, we examine inequality from an intersectional perspective in the context of a diverse and multifaceted organization: the Dutch police force. Using data collected through direct observation and focus groups, we analyse how organizational inequality is (re)produced and called into question by drawing on intersecting gender, ethnic and organizational identities. The analysis on the findings through an intersectional lens sheds light onto two paradoxes. The first paradox points to the fact that, by deploying more positive identities to empower themselves, individuals can de facto contribute to reproducing inequalities along those same identity axes. The second suggests, on the contrary, that acknowledging female and ethnic minority officers’ specific valuable competences calls into question inequality along gender and ethnicity within the executive police force. In analysing our material, we approach individuals as agents reflecting and engaging with intersecting identities and the unequal power relations deriving from them. We show that, while they occasionally openly challenge inequality derived from one’s social identity, they often actually reproduce it in order to preserve their own individual power.

The Impact of Sexual Harassment Policy in the Dutch Police Force

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of sexual harassment policy in the Dutch Police Force. Using a survey, sexual harassment was measured in 2000 and again in 2006 and we tested whether sexual harassment is associated with the comprehensiveness of policies. To be able to identify divisions with comprehensive policies, we interviewed 29 key persons in semi-structured interviews. It appeared that between 2000 and 2006 sexual harassment did not decrease: neither for women nor for men. Furthermore, the risk of sexual harassment was not lower in divisions that implemented comprehensive policies than in divisions with less comprehensive policies. The results suggest that sexual harassment is a workplace hazard that is very difficult to prevent in male dominated workplaces and implementing a comprehensive policy is not sufficient to prevent this workplace hazard.