During the busiest shift of the year, the police communication system malfunctions. During the night when officers are being pelted and the Mobile Unit has to intervene, walkie-talkies emit noise and control room operators sometimes fail to contact colleagues on the street.
During New Year’s Eve, there were problems with C2000, the network through which agents communicate with each other, throughout the country. The system probably became overloaded due to the large number of officers who were on their feet during New Year’s Eve. A backup system did function, but the malfunction nevertheless caused inconvenience.
“The system malfunctioned for a number of hours, sometimes it was even completely down,” says Nine Kooiman, chairman of the Dutch Police Union (NPB). “That creates very dangerous situations. When the system should work, it does not work. Your lifeline is flat. That led to some pretty intense moments.”
For example, in North Brabant an officer was unable to reach the control room during an incident due to malfunctioning equipment. “The colleague was looking for a suspect with a weapon, but did not know what the person looked like. And not where his colleagues were either. These are life-threatening situations, you don’t want to end up in them at all.”
eOCD
The malfunction affected the eOCS radio control system, which allows operators in the operations center to speak with emergency responders on the street. The first signals that the system was malfunctioning came around 9:30 PM, later the entire system was down at times. By the end of the night the fault had been resolved.
“It has been a huge problem for control rooms,” says Kooiman. “Employees had to act quickly to find a solution bypass to make. We tried to enter a lot of information manually, but that takes more time. Then essential minutes are lost, while the information is urgently needed on the street.”
However, the backup systems are less user-friendly than eOCS. This way, agents can switch to one push to talk system on their mobile phone, but must take off their gloves and hearing protection. According to agents, the sound quality is also less good, making conversations difficult to get started.
“We managed to make contact in all situations, but there was a delay,” says a spokesperson for the police department. “When every second counts, you understand how frustrating that is. Before you know it, the suspect you are looking for walks past and you receive a description twenty seconds later. Then it’s gone.”
He does not want to draw the conclusion that the backup system is not working properly. “It works properly, but it does not have all the functionalities of eOCS. A backup never works the same as the normal system. It is less practical.” As far as is known, the malfunction has not led to life-threatening situations.
Headache file
C2000, which is also used by the fire brigade and ambulance services, has been a headache for years. There are too few transmission towers and the system becomes overloaded if too many people are listening. There are problems all year round, but the nuisance is greatest during peak times such as New Year’s Eve. In November, the Labor Inspectorate imposed a penalty to force the police to get the communications system in order.
The introduction of eOCS, which has been used by all control rooms since last year, was part of the innovation needed to make C2000 “up-to-date robust”, wrote then Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD) in June 2023 to the House of Representatives. It was rolled out gradually to address teething problems.
The fact that the system nevertheless leads to problems is a setback for the ministry, which was responsible for the integration of the system. In response to the disruption, Chief of Police Janny Knol points to The Hague. “We are only the customers of the system and are not responsible for it,” she says NOS.
A ministry spokesperson did not respond to questions from NRC. The minister will provide a response next week in a letter to Parliament in which the New Year will be evaluated.
“This simply should never have happened,” says Kooiman. “It went well tonight, but it also does something to your own sense of security. You are already in the situation where firework bombs are thrown at your head. Then you want to be able to fall back on the resources you need to do your job well.”
Kooiman also fears problems during the NATO summit in June in The Hague, when almost half of all police personnel will be deployed. “I am extremely worried about the situations our people will increasingly find themselves in.”
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