Police unions and police firearms trainers want officers to receive more training hours to practice using their firearms. Half of all armed police officers in the Northern Netherlands do not meet the standard of 32 hours of annual training at a shooting range.
,,Yes, we are in favor of expanding the training options, whether or not mandatory. Especially given the tensions in society. Shooting is really a skill that you have to train,” says Wim Groeneweg, chairman of the ACP police union.
Hans Schoones, vice-chairman of the ANPV police union, says that “expanding training hours is always better, of course”. But according to him, it is “not a viable option” due to work pressure and lack of training capacity. “You have to multiply every hour of extra training by all those carrying weapons and those hours can no longer be made available for regular work.”
‘Challenge to achieve target’
In 2018, the police and the Labor Inspectorate agreed to grow to a minimum of 32 training hours per year. This year, half of gun-carrying officers must have been trained for at least 32 hours, next year 70 percent and by 2024 90 percent. Schoones has a hard head that this will succeed: “Due to the pressure on the police organization, it will be a real challenge to also achieve the objectives of 2023, but certainly those of 2024.”
Groeneweg advocates more hours at the shooting range: ,,In practice, most officers never have to draw their gun. The only time they do that is during training: four times a year. That’s not generous. Because many other aspects are also covered in those training courses. The number of fired cartridges is not much. Those four times eight hours also include driving time, and the use of other means of violence, plus acquiring legal knowledge. Again, that is not generous if you then see what the net time is that your patterns are shifting.”
‘Work pressure is high’
The national police spokesperson also acknowledges that the standard is far from being met by everyone: “It will not have escaped anyone’s attention that the pressure on the police is great. This is partly due to a shortage of personnel, which peaked in 2022 and will continue for several years. But also because of the heavy demands placed on the police because of, for example, social unrest and the supervision of a large number of demonstrations. And because of the increase in monitoring and securing people and objects. We gradually grow towards the 32 hours of training, so that the other police tasks are not at stake.”
It is uncertain whether the police have enough trainers to achieve the target: “As everywhere in the labor market, it is currently difficult to fill all vacancies. Until this year there was no shortage of teachers, but the number of vacancies is now increasing. You should bear in mind that our instructors often come from other police positions, for which there are also many vacancies. There is still sufficient training capacity to meet the 70% standard, but we will have to make a considerable effort to recruit enough new teachers.”
‘More training is necessary, there is no question’
The police trainers at the shooting ranges in Drachten and Zuidlaren who train all police officers in the Northern Netherlands also say: “That we should strive to train more than the average 26 hours spent last year by the Northern Dutch gun-carrying colleagues, is beyond dispute as far as we are concerned.”
The police units have their own shooting ranges. Police officers in the Northern Netherlands train in Drachten and Zuidlaren. The police also rent ten shooting ranges from shooting clubs throughout the country for training purposes. Every six months, an officer must take the mandatory shooting test. If a colleague fails the test, he will no longer take to the streets as a police officer. The weapon must then be surrendered. The agent involved must then perform office work. That rarely happens in practice.
‘Risks when shooting at moving vehicles’
This week, the judiciary announced that there will be no criminal prosecution for the officers who shot and killed Andries Booi (28) in Boelenslaan on September 6. Booi was warned to stop on the night of September 15 to 16, 2021. He would have fled and during the chase he would have ‘run into the officers’. The relatives do not accept this and demand criminal prosecution of the agents. Jouke Hospes (16) from Akkrum was shot by a police officer on July 5, 2022 when he passed a police blockade during a farmers’ protest. The bullet narrowly missed his head. That agent will be prosecuted criminally.
Police firearms trainers say they advise against firing the service pistol at a moving vehicle in most cases. “Within our education we don’t let people shoot at vehicles that drive away.” But it is legally allowed, to avert imminent danger. “As in the case of the terrorist attacks in Paris, that would be a suitable situation. But we would like to say to all colleagues: there are risks when shooting at a vehicle. Does that match the goal you want to achieve? If you can’t live up to that, then it’s better not to.”
Never practice shooting at moving cars
Agents are never trained to shoot at moving vehicles: too many variables, such as the speed of the vehicle, the risk of ricochet, the angle at which a bullet hits a window, all make it unpredictable. “You have to weigh those risks. And in addition: the impact of the bullet: does it stop a car? A 9mm bullet doesn’t do much against a car,” said one of the trainers.