Law enforcement in the Netherlands

Law enforcement in the Netherlands is provided by the National Police Corps (Dutch: Korps Nationale Politie), divided in ten regional units and a central unit, and the Royal Marechaussee (Dutch: Koninklijke Marechaussee), a gendarmerie. Law enforcement in the Netherlands operates primarily through governmental police agencies. The law-enforcement purposes of these agencies are the investigation of suspected criminal activity, referral of the results of investigations to the courts, and the temporary detention of suspected criminals pending judicial action. Law enforcement agencies, to varying degrees at different levels of government and in different agencies, are also commonly charged with the responsibilities of deterring criminal activity and preventing the successful commission of crimes in progress. The Chief of Police (hoofdcommissaris) in The Netherlands is since March 1, 2016 Erik Akerboom. Since a few years the majority of local councils employ their own Enforcement officers or "Handhaving". These officers have Special Enforcement Officer (SEO) status (Buitengewoon Opsporingsambtenaar) or BOA in Dutch and therefore have some limited police powers (detaining suspects, ask for identification, make warrant less arrest, issue fines within their power of offences and use force. The majority of BOA officers have the authority to carry and use handcuffs which can only be issued to officers who have the power to use force. A few councils also issue their officers, with permission from the Ministry Of Safety and Justice, police batons and occasionally pepper spray. Their main task is to enforce local ordinances, municipal code infractions, nuisances caused by non criminal youth and several light traffic offences. All these tasks are sometimes called "Enforcing The Small Standard" meaning offences without a criminal undertone and enforcing non threatening situations.

From the end of 1945 until 1993, the Dutch police was composed of the municipal police (Dutch: gemeentepolitie) and the state police (Dutch: rijkspolitie). In 1994, the police was reorganised into 25 Regional Constabularies (Dutch: regiokorpsen) and a National Constabulary (Dutch: Korps landelijke politiediensten, KLPD). In 2013 the police in the Netherlands was reorganised again into its current structure. In the event of serious emergencies, the police cooperates with the fire brigade,ambulance service, other government agencies and military forces in the security region corresponding to the police region.

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