The hostage situation last Sinterklaas evening in the penitentiary in Vught brings back an old tension for Heidi Nieboer (57). For years she was used by the police as a negotiator when a hostage situation was taking place somewhere in the Netherlands. “I saw Vught passing by,” she says. “And immediately felt the jitters again.”
At the end of the afternoon, 29-year-old Corné H. from Ede detained three employees of the psychiatric department of the prison in Vught. It is his second hostage situation in two years, his lawyer Petra Breukink confirms NRC. March last year, H. took four employees of Café Petticoat hostage in the center of Ede.
Two hostage takings by the same person: that is exceptional, says Nieboer. “There are few hostage situations in the Netherlands at all. They are rare.”
What does happen often are incidents involving people with misunderstood behavior (formerly: confused person). Police negotiators have been deployed significantly more in recent years. This happened 1,200 times in 2023, compared to 600 times in 2017. The increase is mainly caused by incidents involving people with confused behavior who threaten to harm themselves or others.
Nieboer worked for the police for almost thirty years, rose from inspector to chief inspector and was the first police employee in the Netherlands to be fully released for hostage negotiations. That was shortly after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. “We had to be ready for negotiations in terrorism cases.”
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Negotiate
As soon as a negotiating team is called, speed counts. Nieboer: “First we ask: where should we go? Are there weapons or explosives? Then we negotiate remotely, often by telephone.” A team consists of at least three people: one conducts the conversation, two listen, advise and support. In large cases the team consists of five or six people. Meanwhile, detectives investigate the background of the perpetrator.
Getting in touch is already a relief, says Nieboer. “If he answers, we are happy. A hostage taker usually wants to achieve something, and for that he needs contact with the outside world.”
A negotiator adapts his tone to the conversation partner. “Sometimes you speak to someone with a high IQ, other times someone with a low level of development,” says Nieboer. “Then you use simple language, short sentences, and you have to articulate clearly.” Moreover, it is important to always remain empathetic. The crucial question is: what does someone really say? What is the request for help?
The first step is always to de-escalate, says Nieboer. Hostage takers are often panicked or furious. “I was once scolded for an hour and a half. Fine: as long as he calls me, he does not use violence against victims.” Over time, the “emotional balloon” deflates. Only then will there be room for the real problem.
Such as the hostage situation in the Apple Store in Amsterdam three years ago. A man held a Bulgarian tourist at gunpoint and demanded 200 million euros in cryptocurrency. The negotiator said: “That’s a lot of money.” To which the man replied: “I am in debt.” “Then it becomes a different story,” says Nieboer. „ Putting someone in touch with the right authorities, for example.
Officers outside the penitentiary in Vught, during the hostage taking.
Photo Bart Meesters / ANP
Cry for help
There are also underlying problems with the hostage situation in Vught. H. has been struggling with psychological complaints for years. According to internal documents, agencies do not know what to do with him, wrote NRC last year. In the café in Ede he demanded 10,000 euros, but in fact it was a cry for help: he wanted psychiatric help.
Corné H. has still not received this, says his lawyer. “He has been waiting for almost a year for a place in a TBS clinic.” The judge gave H. a prison sentence of nine months – equal to his pre-trial detention – and TBS with compulsory treatment. According to the judge, he was “not completely incompetent.” As a result, he can be blamed to a limited extent for detaining people in the café in Ede.
The number of TBS patients awaiting treatment in a regular prison has risen sharply in the past five years, it reported A.D this week. It is not known whether H. wanted to force immediate admission with this hostage situation.
The ended after several hours. The Special Interventions Service (DSI) was on site. Police negotiators also work for the DSI. H. was arrested. The three employees are receiving aftercare and are “doing well considering the circumstances”, reports the Judicial Institutions Service. The police are investigating the incident; the PI files a report.
A hostage situation does not always end well. The hostage taker from the Apple Store was hit by a police car during an escape attempt and died of his injuries in hospital.
More than twenty years ago, Nieboer also experienced a hostage case that did not end well. An armed man took ten people hostage in the Rembrandt Tower in Amsterdam. He did not want direct contact with the police; the conversations were conducted through the receptionist. After several hours, the hostage taker went to the toilet. “That was not a good sign,” says Nieboer. There it turned out that he had taken his own life. “We were relieved that he had not injured or killed anyone, but every life lost is one too many.”
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