The police in the Northern Netherlands will no longer deploy motorcycle officers at cycling events from 2024 due to capacity problems. Cycling organizers fear the end of major races in the North.
According to Joop de Schepper, acting police chief of the Northern Netherlands unit, motorcycle officers are needed more urgently elsewhere. “We have to choose where we deploy our motorcycle officers,” he says. “And we do this where they have the greatest effect on the outside world. We prefer to use them in serious collisions, guiding traffic and monitoring the transport sector. We think that is more important than – to put it disrespectfully – riding in front and behind a cycling peloton.”
De Schepper says that the police are forced to make this choice due to a shortage of motorcycle officers. “Cycling events are important for society. We are of course not against it, but we think that the organizers can solve it themselves. A trial in Limburg over the past two years has shown that cycling races can be held without the use of motorcycle police. We will still be able to provide support at cycling events in specific cases.”
Plug from northern cycling races
Thijs Rondhuis, who organized the last European Championships in Drenthe, is surprised and surprised by the police decision. “With this decision they are pulling the plug on the northern cycling races,” he says firmly. “As a result, we will no longer be able to organize cycling races at national and international level in 2024. This means that major competitions such as the Eleven Cities Race, the Tour of Drenthe or something like the European Championships can no longer take place. Then you need citizen motorists who have legal powers.”
According to Rondhuis, it is impossible to organize a larger race without motorcycle officers. “In Belgium, citizen motorcyclists do have the powers to stop or stop traffic. In the Netherlands it is not arranged that way. It is not true that no motorcycle police have been deployed at cycling races in Limburg in the past two years. A pilot has been started there in which part is done by motorcycle officers and the other part by civilian motorcyclists. The police are still in the lead there.”
Reducing police deployment
Rondhuis understands the situation the police are in. “We recognize the problem,” he says. “A few years ago we agreed to reduce the deployment of motorcycle police officers. Major steps have already been taken in this regard. The cycling calendar is less full and the route goes over smaller loops and along more traffic-calmed roads. This means that the deployment of motorcycle police officers has already fallen by fifty percent nationally. In the North the decline is even greater.”
KNWU surprises
The news also came as a shock to KNWU director Maurice Leeser. “We have had an extremely constructive and pleasant consultation with the national police and three ministries about the cycling agenda for 2024. In addition, a pilot has been started in which civilian motorcyclists can play a greater role during competitions. There is commitment from the minister and the chamber. We would await the results of the independent investigation into this, so this news comes out of the blue for us.”
Decision at odds with agreements
Leeser says he understands the personnel problems at the police. “The basic attitude during the consultation was how we could help each other. This decision by the Northern Netherlands police does not help us. It puts pressure on the cycling calendar. It is at odds with our previous conversations with the national police, at odds with the pilot and at odds with what was discussed in the House of Representatives. Partly thanks to the efforts of the police, we have just had a fantastic European Cycling Championships in Drenthe. Due to this decision, such events can no longer be organized.”