By 2025, the number of incidents in which police use force will increase by approximately 9 percent. The police used force in 25,163 incidents last year. In 2024 this happened 23,104 times, in 2022 the figure was 20,863.
In the police’s annual report on the use of force by police officers in 2025, the police conclude that “after stabilizing in previous years, the figures for 2025 appear to be increasing.” The increase can partly be explained by the fact that there were approximately 4 percent “more incidents in which the police arrived on the scene” in 2025.
Most incidents occurred in the ‘demonstration capital’ The Hague
According to the police, “there is no simple explanation for the increase.” The number of officers who used force last year was 12,681. In 57 percent of cases, it involves physical violence against ‘property’, such as kicking in doors or forcing windows.
Most incidents occurred in the ‘demonstration capital’ The Hague (3,313 cases), followed by Rotterdam (3,064) and Amsterdam (3,060). The means of violence used also increased. The police write in the annual report that “further investigation is required” to explain the figures. The Police Academy is now conducting that study.
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Citizens against cops
The increase in police violence coincides with violence in the other direction: from citizens against officers. Earlier this month, the police announced that there were about 13,000 incidents of violence by citizens against officers last year, more than 2,000 more than in 2019. An unacceptably high figure, according to the police.
In 2025, there were a total of 2,674,702 unique incidents in which the police took action. The police used force in more than 25,000 of these cases. That is 0.95 percent of the total number of incidents handled by the police. “These often involve situations where the police have to bring a person under control,” according to the annual report. A total of 45,779 times a means of violence was used. According to the police, almost half of the applications of violence in the period 2022-2025 involved one or more arrests.
According to Corry van Breda, deputy police chief in the Zeeland-West Brabant unit and national violence portfolio holder, part of the increase in the use of force by officers can be explained because their work “has become increasingly complex due to growing social unrest and increasing hardening of the law.” During demonstrations, the police see “a very strange interplay of groups,” says Van Breda. “And more and more often you see that people show up at a demonstration who are only looking to riot or create rubbish.”
Shot 212 times
In the Netherlands, 40,608 police officers are authorized to use force. The means used in 2025 include: tear gas (5 times), a service dog (172 times) and pepper spray (767 times). A firearm was pointed 1,228 times, a warning shot was fired 109 times and 212 shots were fired. In 198 of those cases, the goal was to kill an aggressive animal (nine times) or a seriously injured animal.
The most increased use of the extendable baton: this increased from 1,574 times in 2022 to 1,843 in 2025. Police violence increased most in the Rotterdam unit. The number of incidents there increased from 1,924 in 2022 to 3,064 last year. According to Van Breda, this is the result of a new, more precise registration.
In 2025, police chiefs ruled in 369 cases that an officer’s use of force did not meet the requirements
In 2025, police chiefs ruled in 369 cases that an officer’s violence did not meet the standards of professionalism. In fifteen cases this has led to a disciplinary measure, ranging from a reprimand and withholding of leave or salary to a conditional dismissal.
“The violence by officers is never a goal in itself. [Maar] If people do not do what we consider necessary after three warnings, then we must be able to enforce that,” says Van Breda.
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