Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema would like to have the power to ban ATMs in risky places in the city. That’s what she says in the Conversation with the Mayor on AT5. During the past summer several explosive attacks took place, each time causing a lot of damage, but as yet no casualties.
In the past year, it was quiet again for a while about the explosion of ATMs, Halsema also notes. “But now it’s suddenly back. It’s serious, I’m worried about that. It’s been known for a long time that it hardly yields any loot. It’s a form of violence that is completely pointless, but very much for the residents who live around it. unpleasant.”
Conversation with cabinet
At the moment, the municipality cannot force banks to remove ATMs, but the mayor is happy to have that power. “Now residents have to bring it up themselves to get it away. Until I have the authority, you keep places that are risky. The residents are also well aware of that.”
The city is discussing this at official level with the cabinet. “It requires a change in the law,” says Halsema. “This summer is reason for us to raise it again with the cabinet.”
Earlier, criminologist Jasper van der Kemp expressed his concerns about victims in the future, because criminals are using increasingly heavier explosives. Halsema: “Let’s not assume that we have to wait for victims. In that regard, people who are looking for money must also realize very well that the loot is not there, the risk of victims is present, and that also means that they bear an unbelievable responsibility on their shoulders. If we catch them, and let’s assume that, they will get a very long prison sentence.”
Halsema believes that banks also have a responsibility. “We have also discussed this with the well-known Dutch banks. The facade machines have also become less. We have had fewer conversations with the ATM machines. But there is a great responsibility with regard to the risks for the environment. say: the banks are not to blame, but the people who do it.”
The police have since arrested two suspects because of the series of explosives in the city. One of them is 15 years old. “I’m scared of that,” said the mayor. “It has also been regularly said by the chief public prosecutor that we see that there are younger perpetrators who are also prepared to use violence. That does not alter the fact that a 15-year-old suspect for a bomb raid with risks is shocking. The investigation will show whether he actually did it.”
Closure catering
Due to explosions at the Harbor Club and Café In the City, the mayor decided to close these two catering establishments. “I can only make limited statements about this, it is an ongoing investigation. I do not take the decision to close them lightly and not arbitrarily. That decision rests on police reports that outline the chance of recurrence.”
The mayor outlines her dilemma. “Either I take the risk for local residents or hit the entrepreneur. In both cases I considered the interests of the entrepreneurs to be smaller. That has been tested by the court and it has ruled in my favor. It does not alter the fact that I understand that the entrepreneurs very much.”
The closure is for six months, but both cases can submit a request for reopening after a month. “It is therefore not said that the closure will also last six months. It also depends on the speed of the police investigation and the Harbor Club and In the City can also take measures to reduce the chance of a recurrence,” says Halsema.
The closed cases have expressed their disappointment in the mayor’s decision. Halsema responds to this: “I also realize that it can be a kind of reward for criminals and that it is also experienced by the catering entrepreneurs. Under my predecessor, it was always closed, I don’t do that. I also don’t close ATMs after a crash. , because there is no chance of a repeat, because the ATM is gone. Every time we make a new assessment based on police reports and the judge then tests it.”