The National Police has “great concerns about the feasibility, scope and effectiveness” of the new asylum measurement measures law that, among other things, criminalizes illegality.
In a statement on its own intranet, the police chief of the Janny Knol police will turn on behalf of the police force on Friday evening against the new legislation adopted by the House of Representatives a day earlier by the own Minister of Justice David van Weel (VVD). The police are opposed to the suggestion that assumes the measure ,, that every illegal foreign national is a nuisance or shows criminal behavior. The police do not recognize this image ”.
Chief of police Janny Knol writes on LinkedIn that many colleagues, “provide moral dilemmas; Many colleagues work with the police to help vulnerable, not to catch. I too worry. Feel the inconvenience. “
The police regret that the proposed measures have been drawn up without consulting the police. ,, An amendment with such an impact on the implementing organizations, the illegal foreigners, the persons/authorities that support them and the quality of life and safety of society, needs a thorough consultation and implementation test. It is therefore good that the Council of State will test this change in the law, “said the police.
Read also
In total chaos, the Chamber has adopted two large asylum laws, typical of the era: no direction, blunder and miscommunication
‘Vicious circle’
The police say that the criminalization of illegal residence of foreigners will lead to “a vicious circle: foreign nationals who cannot depart from the Netherlands can (repeatedly) be placed in detention, without a view of the return to the country of origin.”
In addition, the police say they have the experience that people, “become vulnerable to perpetrators and victimization of crime if they no longer have aid structures to fall back on. This leads to an increase in nuisance and crime and to a greater chance of victimization due to human trafficking or other forms of exploitation ”.
In addition to maintaining the rule of law, according to the police, it is also ‘providing assistance to those who need’ a legal task of the police. “The consequence of this new legislation may be that foreigners who commit a crime by being in the Netherlands without a right of residence, no longer asking for help for fear of prosecution and no longer reporting/reporting a criminal offense to the police.”
If illegality is a crime, persons and organizations that provide assistance to illegal immigrants will also become complicit, thereby commit a crime and become punishable. “The consequences in the field of public order (in particular due to social unrest) and the consequences that can arise for the tasks of the police consider the police undesirable and impracticable.”
Orders from above
Many police officers also turn against the new asylum measures on social media. Bernard Welten, who was chief of police from 2004 to 2011, writes on LinkedIn About his “growing concerns about how Dutch politics is on a sliding scale towards measures that put pressure on fundamental human rights.”
Welten provides problems because helping illegal immigrants becomes punishable. “The responsible minister hurry to say that” it won’t go so fast “and that enforcement will not be prioritized. But as an old-police boss, I know that once a law has been passed, sooner or later the appeal to the police can follow to actually maintain that law ”.
Welten sees similarities with the Second World War when “police officers were used to follow orders from above, even when they were morally reprehensible.” The retired Amsterdam police boss calls on the police to continue to monitor “the human dimension.” ,, Society has the right to a police who perform its profession with craftsmanship, proportionality and conscience. The criminalization of illegality undermines that assignment. It criminalizes vulnerability. It puts police officers in a role that ultimately alienates them from their professional. ”
The contribution of Welten had statements of support of more than 2,500 people on Friday evening, including many dozens of police officers. Gert Veurink, unity of the police in the Eastern Netherlands, writes problems for the feasibility of the new legislation. For example, he foresees difficulties with possible citizen arrangements. ,, Will citizens soon keep ‘illegal immigrants’? Rescuers who help ‘illegal immigrants’? Can we keep each other with the police if a colleague helps an ‘illegal’? ”