To make the city center of Meppel safer, the municipality wants to install cameras. A concrete proposal has now been made to the municipal council. The request is for 150,000 euros.
“Despite existing measures such as the use of boas, emergency lighting and the police, incidents such as fights, robberies and drug nuisance continue to increase in severity. Hence this step,” says Mayor Arjen Maathuis.
Entrepreneurs in the city have been advocating for camera surveillance for years. The discussion has gained momentum since the beginning of this year, after three stores were robbed in a short time. Because of those robberies, cameras were already temporarily installed, which have now been removed. According to the Meppeler Handelsvereniging, this gave entrepreneurs a ‘safer feeling’.
Figures from municipal boas show no increase in incidents in the center over the past three years. However, the municipality expects that this year the number of incidents will be higher than in previous years. Until September, the boas counted 30 incidents, last year there were 33. Most incidents occur on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and mainly in the evenings and nights.
“We also see a clear increase, almost threefold, in the number of incidents relating to challenging behavior or fighting by nightlife crowds compared to 2023,” the municipality writes. ‘It should be noted that the primacy of efforts to respond to serious incidents such as violent incidents lies with the police. Boas are only involved in this in extreme cases. The fact that these figures show an upward trend is disturbing.’
What does show a significant increase are warnings for temporary area bans. People who commit criminal offenses or display other undesirable behavior may be banned from entering the entertainment center for a certain period of time. This year, 58 warnings were issued until September, last year 39 and the year before 44. The average age of the perpetrators is between 20 and 25 years.
There was already camera surveillance during Mokum, the busiest day of Thursday Meppel Day this year. The municipality looks back on this positively. The municipality writes that during previous editions this day often guaranteed several arrests for assaults or disrupting public order. This year there was not a single arrest during Mokum. ‘By using camera surveillance, the management of the police, boas and the security organization was more efficient and undesirable situations could be identified more quickly and appropriate interventions could be carried out.’
The city council will discuss the money for the cameras for the first time on November 20. In addition to the investment of 150,000 euros, the municipality expects to need 66,500 euros annually for maintenance.
The cameras are not equipped with facial recognition. The municipality manages the cameras. The police own the images. All cameras are hung in plain view and the cameras are not always on.