The Dutch police are composed of 25 regional forces and The Dutch National Police Agency. In all, over 60,000 men and women are employed with the police.
The regional forces are responsible for police care in
their respective region in The Netherlands. The map below shows how the regions
are divided.
Geographically
speaking, each region is divided into a
number of districts, which have both general and specialist tasks. Each district
is composed of a number of basic units or bureaus.
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Police
Tasks
The tasks of the Dutch police are described in the
Police Act. Briefly summarized, the Act states that the police must see to a
safe and livable society, and assist those in need. That means the police must
be visibly present in the street; tackle crimes, such as car crime and
burglaries; deal with youth and vice issues, and fight violent and serious
crime.
Basic
police care
The police can be called in 24 hours a day for the
basic police care. That is to say: the seeing to a safe and livable neighborhood,
city or region. The work of the police reflects the problems of our society.
The police consequently cooperate as a 'partner in safety' with individual
persons and groups from society in the regional police care. The basic police
work roughly consists of the following tasks:
daily police surveillance, giving prevention
advice,
handling traffic problems, simple crime investigation tasks, rendering
assistance and law enforcement.
Specialist
tasks
Apart from the daily
work, the police have a number of
specialist tasks. They are either separate tasks or tasks carried out in support
of the basic police care. The following is a list of these tasks:
Regional
crime investigations, investigations in such divers crimes as drugs
trafficking, trafficking humans, trafficking arms, fraud, large-scale
environmental crimes and sexual offences;
Information control, ranging from collecting and processing technical information to information on criminal organizations;
Aliens
care, regulating the stay of non-Dutch nationals, and exercising relevant
supervision;
Operational
supportive tasks, tasks supportive of the basic police care and / or the
specialist tasks such as the Mounted police and the Police Dogs Brigade,
the Riot Police, The Swats, the Observation Units, The Environmental
Teams, and The Juvenile an Vice Squads
The
National Police Agency -KLPD-
There are also
tasks, which are organized nationally.
The National Police Agency -KLPD- is charged with these tasks, which includes
supervision and surveillance on the motorways, the airways and the
waterways. The KLPD is also responsible for the safety of the members of the
Royal Family, and provides specialist support and material to the regional
forces, for example support by helicopters. Lastly national crime investigation tasks have been incorporated in it.
An important and internationally known division of the Agency is the National
Crime Intelligence Division, which houses the national Interpol bureau.