Racist, abhorrent and disproportionate, so called Thursday the court in Rotterdam the action of agents in Dordrecht in 2020. The behavior of the police and the Public Prosecution Service is so objectionable that the Public Prosecution Service has forfeited the right to prosecute two suspects.
This hard slap on the fingers followed the announcement that the police will tackle racism and discrimination within their own ranks more strictly from now on.
The Dordrecht case started on December 5, 2020, when police officers got involved in a fight with a family that was involved in an argument in the street. A 45-year-old man, his 18-year-old son and a 37-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of assaulting three officers. The father and son eventually stood trial.
Fair trial in jeopardy
The judges accused the police that the official report initially did not state that a police officer had called a suspect a ‘cunt negro’. The officers also did not write about the violence they had used. NRC Handelsblad revealed at the time that images from a security camera show that officers used racist words and sprayed the family several times with pepper spray in the face.
According to the court, the right to a fair trial has been compromised, partly because the Public Prosecution Service was prepared to conduct further investigation into the racist statement ‘only after persistent insistence by the defence’. ‘The integrity of the investigation and the finding of the truth have been violated.’
According to the judges, the suspects should have let the police do their work undisturbed. But the officers’ mistakes and the attempts to ‘cover’ them outweigh them.
Consequences
Justin Kötter, lawyer for the father and son, has mixed feelings. ‘I am happy from a legal point of view, because inadmissibility is almost non-existent. This is a signal: this far and no further. But for this family it was a terrible experience. My clients are having trouble getting their lives back on track.’
Racist behavior must always have consequences, was the message from the National Police on Wednesday. It is unclear to what extent the agents from Dordrecht have been punished internally. However, the man who uttered the racist swear word has been sentenced by the police judge to a fine of 250 euros, for insulting. It happened when he was fighting for his own life, he said in court last year.
The police in Dordrecht falls under the Rotterdam Regional Unit, which refers to the Public Prosecution Service for a response. That says it is ‘disappointed’ with the court’s judgment and is considering an appeal.