They are united, the mayors of Haarlem and Bloemendaal. Ask them about the problems that young people on fat bikes are currently causing in their municipalities and their answers are very similar: the problem should not be exaggerated and there is certainly no question of an organized gang. However, the sounds on the street have a completely different character.
Fat bikers should not be criminalized, says Haarlem Mayor Jos Wienen. His colleague Ankie Broekers-Knol in Bloemendaal believes that there is ‘no hardcore youth gang’ active in the region. Wienen: “There is no hierarchical structure with a gang leader.”
The mayors especially seem to stumble over the word ‘gang’. They want to get rid of that. While the police in Haarlem now have 34 young people in their sights who have been involved in violent incidents in recent months. In Bloemendaal there are ten young people on the list, in Heemstede the municipality is targeting eight. Wienen: “I’m not saying that those serious incidents don’t exist. I’m saying that there is no organized action.”
Appearance
Mayor Jos Wienen tries to explain in his office in the city hall why he thinks that is not a fat bike gang. He refers to his youth; Wienen grew up in a village where Moluccan youth also lived. “Those young people had a certain appearance that many children were afraid of. They talked about it as if it were really dramatic. But in the end that was not true. Each incident was recounted five times, which makes it seem much bigger.”
And yet. Mayor Elbert Roest of Bloemendaal – who has since left – spoke about young people in the municipal council ‘Holleeder scooters’. The village became Bennebroek terrorized with fireworks by a group of young people on fat bikes. And in a conversation via Snapchat, a reporter from NH spoke to four boys between the ages of 13 and 17 who say they are members of the Bennebroek fat bike gang.
And that image corresponds to the stories that trickle into the NH editorial office after the summer. The police confirmed that about fifty young people in varying compositions are making Haarlem and the surrounding area unsafe. They recruit each other via social media and then intimidate, threaten or even abuse victims.
In the crosshairs
Wienen confirms those stories. The 34 Haarlem youths that the police have in their sights were already known to the police. Another part is new. Followers, that’s what new mayor Broekers-Knol van Bloemendaal calls these newcomers.
According to the two mayors, the nuisance caused by this group is not reflected in the official figures. According to them, there is no worrying increase in youth nuisance and certainly not in youth crime. “That has been declining in Haarlem throughout the Netherlands for years,” Wienen wrote in his statement last week.
“The police are not crazy! They have looked very carefully at what is going on now. And if there really is a gang, you will just notice it”
According to Wienen, this justifies the statement that there is no question of a fat bike gang. “The police are not crazy! They have looked very carefully at what is going on now. And if there really is a gang, you just notice it. I have experience with that myself, it is a whole different world. “
Social media
The two mayors are concerned about the young people involved in the incidents, who are able to quickly reach and group each other via social media channels such as Snapchat. Both Wienen and Broekers-Knol confirm that they have no influence on social media. “I share those concerns,” says Wienen. “In addition, Snapchat is not saved and that makes it difficult.” Broekers-Knol: “These are phenomena of the modern age. We cannot stop Snapchatting. We can stop fat bikes.”
No overkill of measures
Both Wienen and Broekers-Knol insist that the municipality and the police are ‘on top of it’. The Bloemendaal interim mayor also heard this in the village. According to Broekers-Knol, this has resulted in things being quieter in the past two weeks than before.
She talks about the extra deployment of the police with checks on souped-up fat bikes, boas and stewards who are deployed more often, especially at weekends. She doesn’t know how much extra. She understands that residents of her municipality would like to know that. “But it doesn’t depend on two, or ten or twenty boas.”
The letters to parents of young people who have been caught, the threat of a ban on gatherings, a penalty or possibly a curfew, are measures that a local government can implement. “We do that and we will continue to do so. However, you should only use measures that are effective in the event of escalation. You have to beware of an overkill of measures.”
“It’s really not possible for parents to play for their own judge”
Take away fat bikes and collect evidence yourself
The call to take away fat bikes in order to deprive them of their status symbol, as Bram Orobio de Castro, professor of orthopedagogy at the University of Amsterdam, suggested in an interview with NH, is a no-go, according to the mayor of Bloemendaal. “That is only possible if that thing is set up to drive as fast as 50 km/h, contrary to the law.”
Also about the app groups where parents take photos themselves to gather evidence, she worries. “What do you take photos of? Of groups of young people with such a bicycle who are just standing around talking? For parents to play for themselves, that is really not possible.”
Then the conversation turns to ‘feeling’. That people on the street have the feeling that the police and the government cannot do much more than they are doing now. Broekers-Knol: “The feeling this, the feeling that. But we cannot maintain the rule of law with that feeling. You are not telling me anything new. I hear that too. But that is life-threatening. I find that very difficult, that people apparently thinks we are not doing enough. But what do we want?” She sighs. “We do what we can do.”
Plague weather
The Bloemendaal mayor does not think the feeling of unrest among parents is exaggerated. “They are your children. You don’t want your children driving down the street in fear and trembling.” But according to her, the nuisance in the villages of the municipality of Bloemendaal is less than it was. “Of course, the recent bad weather may have contributed to this, but I think it was also due to our extra efforts.”
Sports clubs
The Haarlem mayor does not want to judge that schools and sports clubs have called for young people not to cycle alone at night for the time being. “I walk through the city for an hour or two every day. I absolutely do not recognize that it would be unsafe. And then people can say that I live in a dream world, but that happens to be the dream world of Haarlem that I really walk around in and not in dream-walking.”
Some parents now let their children walk the streets with pepper spray. Jos Wienen finds that worrying. “You have to be careful that the cure does not become worse than the disease.” And if that ailment is worse than he now thinks, he hopes to hear from the parents of victims, whom he has invited. “If my image were not correct, it would be quite painful because I am here to have a good image. But please let me know.”
Watch the call from Mayor Jos Wienen of Haarlem below:
Mayor Jos Wienen does not experience the street as unsafe due to young people on fat bikes – NH News