Blue blood flows through the veins of Anko Lange (56). That is not noble blue, but police blue. The police officer through and through has been serving under the strong arm of the law for half his life. Over the past ten years in the role of team leader in North and later South-East Drenthe. Last month he started a new chapter as added sector head of the Groningen district and is therefore leaving Drenthe.
Lange, born in Winschoten, has been in it since he was a child. In street games he was never the villain, always the cop. Where does that come from? Lange thinks of his father, who was a construction worker. “My father looked up to them. The authority that the police exude. He really saw it as an institution. At least you don’t get your hands dirty with the police, he would say.”
His father’s admiration has stuck with Lange. “It is a profession with meaning, the police make the difference.” For Lange, his future career is quickly a foregone conclusion.
At the age of 23, he started with the National Police and then joined the municipal police in Hoogezand. In 2014 he took over as team leader of the North Drenthe base team. Curiosity, among other things, drove him to work in another province. Did that make a big difference? “It’s more relaxed in Drenthe. In Groningen it’s more down to earth. If you don’t like something, you just say so.”
At his first meeting in Drenthe the atmosphere was relaxed. “Lots of nodding in agreement with my story.” For Lange it almost felt like a banana split. “I thought: where are the cameras? Later you learn that everything is not spoken directly here.” The typical catch-all mentality in Drenthe took some getting used to.
As team leader of first North and later South East Drenthe, he has to deal with a change in police work. For example, the police want citizens to report crimes online more often. The idea is to close more than half of the four hundred offices in the Netherlands, which will result in enormous cost savings. Closure of offices in Assen, Gieten, Vries and Beilen was considered, but in the end only Assen closed so far.
Last year it was announced that the police station in Klazienaveen will disappear and a small post will return. The news caused consternation among residents and local politicians. A police station increases the feeling of safety, ensures short lines and ditto arrival times, was the criticism.
According to Lange, the stones do not say everything about the presence of the police. “In Southeast Drenthe, there are police clusters in every major center: three in Emmen, two in Klazienaveen and one in Exloo and Coevorden. There is no longer a fixed front door that you enter. In that case you make an appointment at a fulcrum.” The officers are mainly present on the streets. “And so they don’t sit at a desk all the time.”
Pressure on police capacity is another theme that Lange had to deal with. For example, regional agents had to help during corona demonstrations in the west. At the same time, the nuisance caused by safe-landers demanded a lot of attention. There are more and more events in Emmen. These are all things that put a strain on the capacity of the police.
According to Lange, this is an age-old problem. “There has always been more work than there are people available. So we have to make sharp choices. The core tasks of the police are investigation, the deployment of local police officers, services and handling reports. Everything beyond that is not the first priority.”
Take safety at events, says Lange. “Is that really part of our process? Or does the responsibility lie more with the applicant who takes care of this himself? In addition, we have to learn to live with the fact that not every bicycle thief can be arrested.”
Last year it was announced that the three municipalities in Southeast Drenthe were preparing an appeal to the minister together with the chief of police. The number of agents should be increased, these parties believe.
Lange: “The tight labor market doesn’t help either. The urgency is increasing. From the government, the police in the Northern Netherlands are entitled to more officers. And they are coming. But don’t expect mega classes of four hundred officers. The new class must also be guided. It’s a whole organization.”