News item | 04-10-2022 | 16:46
Shooting at a house, using serious violence in a residential area or finding a weapon behind the front door. In the case of serious violence as a result of organized and subversive crime, mayors should also have the power to close a home if public order around the property is or threatens to be disrupted. Minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (Justice and Security) sent the bill to the House of Representatives today to regulate this closing power in the Municipalities Act.
Minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius: “To increase the safety of local residents, it is crucial that mayors have the right tools to take action. At the moment this is not always possible. This proposal does give mayors the options to act and close a home by arranging this more clearly and with legal safeguards.”
Mayors are now allowed to close a house if public order is disturbed by behavior in that house. Then there is serious housing nuisance. That power is not sufficient in all cases. In Nieuwstadt, for example, explosives were thrown at the home of a member of a motorcycle gang member. It turned out that it was not possible to close the house because there must be various types of serious nuisance, which occur regularly and for a long time in a house. As far as possible, mayors therefore still resort to an emergency order for a closure.
To keep neighborhoods safe, it is important that a mayor can maintain or restore public order in disturbed situations. Hand grenades hung on the doorknob or fear of imminent liquidations are things that put enormous pressure on the neighbourhood. For fear of aggression, residents no longer dare to move freely in their own neighbourhood. With this extension, mayors can take action if such a thing happens. This was also a wish of mayors themselves. The bill has also been made applicable to the Lieutenant Governors of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.
The House of Representatives and the Senate still have to consider the bill.