The municipality of Assen is completely done with the nuisance and incidents in the city center. That is why cameras will be installed this month. They will stick around for at least a year.
At the end of last month things went wrong again on Koopmansplein. Two groups of young people came to blows there. Afterwards, the police found several box cutters. It was yet another incident in recent years that has left residents, visitors and entrepreneurs feeling unsafe in the heart of the city.
The incidents are believed to be caused, among other things, by a group of Syrian young people who come to Assen from other parts of the country, research shows. Why they do this is unknown. Complaints have also been made for some time about young people hanging around who challenge each other, play loud music and ride around fast on fat bikes.
Mayor Marco Out is making a U-turn by introducing camera surveillance. Although a majority in the municipal council has been calling for this for some time, according to the mayor, there were not enough incidents. According to him, there was no structural insecurity. Moreover, cameras could provide a false sense of security.
In addition to Koopmansplein, cameras will also be installed in the station area, another place where measures have been called for for some time. The cameras will be located both outside and inside the station. The municipality has also decided that the city center will continue to have the status of a safety risk area for the coming year. In this way, the police can carry out preventive searches after permission from the Public Prosecution Service.
“Our main goal is that residents, entrepreneurs and visitors feel safe in the city,” says Mayor Marco Out, after his decision to use camera surveillance. “Signals from society show that there is a need for camera surveillance. It is expected that camera surveillance can be deployed this month for a period of one year.”
Two years ago, the municipality decided to designate the center as a safety risk area. The reason was several stabbing incidents in the city at the time. Last summer a knife ban was added. But the measures have hardly resulted in fewer incidents.
Eleven preventive searches have been carried out in two years. 1850 people were searched. During these checks, 49 stabbing or impact weapons were seized. In addition, nine people have been given an area ban this year. 24 people received a warning.