News item | 19-12-2025 | 3:00 PM
Enforcement officers and emergency services must be able to do their work safely and unhindered. When they are confronted with aggression and violence at work, they cannot withdraw. A community service order is therefore not an appropriate punishment for abuse of persons who are charged with providing acute assistance or with the actual maintenance of law and order. The government has therefore decided to expand the ban on community service in the Criminal Code. Three changes to the community service ban will also be implemented in response to bottlenecks identified in legal practice. The proposal now goes to the Council of State for advice.
Minister Van Oosten of Justice and Security: “It is absolutely unacceptable that law enforcement officers and care providers have to deal with violence while they are concerned with our safety and health. For perpetrators who have been guilty of these types of scandalous actions, community service alone is not an appropriate punishment. With the extension of the community service ban, we legally establish that abuse of care providers and law enforcement officers is unacceptable.”
This proposal extends the existing community service ban to cases of violence committed against civil servants with police duties, fire brigade employees and healthcare workers who provide acute care, such as ambulance workers. In addition, the law explicitly states that, where the community service ban applies, no fine can be imposed. It will be possible to impose a community service order if it is combined with a fully or partially suspended prison sentence. Finally, a hardship clause will be introduced, allowing the judge in exceptional cases to deviate from the ban on community service in the event of recidivism of relatively minor offences. Obviously, in the future, not only community service will be imposed for serious violent and sexual crimes.
Follow-up
The proposal now goes to the Council of State for advice. It will then first be presented to the House of Representatives for consideration and, if approved, then to the Senate.