The infiltration team of secretly operating police officers, which was established this year, has made a “false start”. The undercover team has too few experienced forces and operates too much from isolation.
These were the conclusions in a still confidential report drawn up by the ‘Monitoring safeguards for secret work’ committee, led by former Minister of Justice Winnie Sorgdrager. According to the external researchers, “the desired innovation” in the undercover work of the police is taking place “to a limited or very limited extent”, because the team shields itself too much “and leaves little room for feedback”.
The original Working Under Cover (WOD) police team was dismantled last year after a police infiltrator committed suicide during a covert operation in Zevenbergschen Hoek in April 2021. Afterwards, independent research showed that the police paid too little attention to “the mental well-being of infiltrators” when conducting undercover operations.
It was decided to set up a new national infiltration team. This unit started in early 2025. It concerns agents who infiltrate criminal organizations with a false identity to gather information and evidence. The Sorgdrager committee monitored the transition from the old to the new team.
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Isolation
The report states that the new infiltrators had to get to work too quickly: “Resuming covert operations as quickly as possible is given priority, while according to employees there is a need for a period of rest, in which the team can be further built up and experience can be gained.”
From conversations with those involved, the Sorgdrager committee has also shown that undercover agents are moving more “in the direction of isolation”. “The team seems to want to follow its own course. Shielding is used as an excuse to hinder management from above.”
You want a team that functions in some isolation, while you do not want an undesirable culture to arise
The committee is of the opinion that the transition from an old to a new infiltration team was too abrupt. “This has led to the fact that the unique knowledge and experience acquired by the employees of the WOD team has not been used, for fear of the risk of unwanted culture transfer. The undercover team lacks depth and continuity because expertise has not been transferred and fundamental choices about the means and system have not been sufficiently thought through.”
The committee also criticizes the team management. These are agents who “almost all recently started their position. They have the required knowledge and experience […] they do not yet have.” This would lead to “situations in which management does not sufficiently recognize negative patterns from the past and do not sufficiently appreciate the risks involved.” The researchers were pleased that “the management is (much) closer to the operation than before.”
Growing pains
Rob van Bree, the highest police boss of the National Investigation and Interventions Unit and responsible for undercover work, says that “the report shows that progress has been made with regard to the necessary guarantees.” Van Bree calls infiltration operations “the most difficult work we ask of colleagues, while at the same time we try to organize this as well and safely as possible. That makes it complex.”
According to Van Bree, the construction of a new undercover team will inevitably be “accompanied by growing pains”. And with dilemmas. “You want to set up a team that on the one hand functions shielded and in some isolation, while you do not want this to create a culture that you want to prevent.”
Nine Kooiman, chairman of the police union NPB, says that it is very important that “a completely new team of undercover officers is set up in such a way that these people can work better and protected. They need backing. It is important to organize and improve the training differently.” According to Kooiman, this requires sufficient financial resources and that is a problem. “There is currently a deficit of 850 million euros.”
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