Breda wants more extraordinary investigating officers (boas) who carry appropriate means of defense during risky jobs. This is stated in the new administrative agreement of the new College of Mayor and Aldermen for the next four years. The wish of the new council has everything to do with the increasing aggression in society, also in Breda.
“We ask a lot of our employees, they literally have their feet in the clay. They have to approach situations that we describe as ‘not safe’. Being a good employer also means enabling employees to work safely”, it says. the administrative agreement.
It is not mentioned which self-defense means these are exactly. What is clear is that the enforcers are not allowed to use them to use force themselves. “The monopoly on violence is and will remain with the police. In order to be able to use these resources, we support the education and training of our employees.” The municipality now has 45 enforcers. The new aldermen are not yet sure how much more should be added.
“Prevention, because we believe that prevention is better than cure.”
Two years ago, Breda wanted to participate in a national trial in which boas were temporarily equipped with a short baton. In the end, the Baroniestad was not selected for this. And even now Breda cannot simply provide the boas in the city with means for self-defense. Permission is required from the Public Prosecution Service for this, the aldermen also acknowledge.
In addition to equipping the enforcement agents with defense equipment, the new college also wants to install more surveillance cameras in the city. These come on top of the more than a hundred digital ‘government eyes’ that Breda already has. VVD party chairman Boaz Adank: “A camera is a good instrument for improving security and investigation. There are still too few of these in the city.”
Breda will have a broad council – consisting of VVD, PvdA, GroenLinks and the CDS – who together provide seven aldermen. And that is one alderman more than at the previous council. Adank: That has everything to do with our ambitions and new tasks such as the national energy transition. We find a seventh alderman, so it is responsible.”
“By focusing on prevention and repression, we want to prevent residents from feeling unsafe, being intimidated or becoming victims of crime. Prevention, because we believe that prevention is better than cure. We want to offer our young people equal opportunities and help to build a future.”
The mayor and aldermen of Breda have more intentions up to and including 2026:
- A total of 6000 additional homes in the next four years
- Build more affordable homes, together with housing associations
- More construction sites in the city and villages of Teteringen and Bavel
- Construction of several hundred temporary homes to speed up the elimination of shortages
- High-rise buildings up to 70 meters allowed
- Widening local busy roads
- 40 million reserved for approach to the northern ring road
- More traffic zones with a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour in residential areas
- Return of a library in the Hoge Vucht district
- 5.9 million reserved for poverty reduction
- The real estate tax in the municipality remains the same
- The sewerage charge will fall by 17.5 percent in 2023