News item | 15-11-2023 | 5:30 PM
Mayors, deputies and water board directors must be able to perform their duties safely without having to worry about their own safety or that of their partner or family.
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That is why Minister Hugo de Jonge (Interior and Kingdom Relations, Housing and Spatial Planning) is introducing additional security measures for their homes. The new Regulation on Security Measures for Decentralized Administrators will come into effect from 1 January 2024. This stipulates that all decentralized administrators can receive personal security advice based on individual security risks. This way, tailor-made security measures can be taken.
More and more drivers are faced with aggression, intimidation and violence. In 2021, 77% of mayors and 67% of aldermen experienced an incident involving aggression. That is an average increase of 20% compared to 2020. This not only happens at the provincial or town hall, but also occurs in the homes of mayors, for example. This has a major impact on drivers themselves, but also on their partner and/or family.
Minister Hugo de Jonge: ‘It is intense to be confronted with forms of aggression and violence from office. This is unacceptable and a direct attack on our democratic constitutional state. It cannot be the case that directors think twice about certain decisions or no longer dare to make them at all. Drivers should feel safe, especially at home.’
Security advice and appropriate measures
With the new scheme, drivers receive tailor-made security advice and the appropriate measures. Consider, for example, physical and electronic measures in and around the house, such as a free-standing mailbox, an alarm system, but also awareness about online findability and transport. In order to jointly increase the safety of decentralized administrators, it has been agreed with municipalities, provinces and water boards that they will always adopt the recommended measures. This prevents the costs of required security measures from becoming part of political debate.
€2.5 million available annually
The scheme applies to administrators of provinces, municipalities and water boards. Under the new scheme, they are responsible for the costs of the security measures. The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations makes an annual amount of €2.5 million available for support. This amount is distributed evenly among all municipalities and provinces and covers a large part of the costs of preventive security measures.
The money for preventive home security measures is part of the structural resources of 10 million per year for making public administration more resilient based on the broad approach to undermining. With these resources, the BZK, together with the Resilient Governance Network, is committed to the (online) security of decentralized political office holders and to strengthening the resilience of the official organization.