His people have to deal with it “on average once a week”, says team leader Bram Flameling: violent incidents with confused people. In ‘his’ part of Amsterdam alone, the southern part of Nieuw-West, there has been a doubling of E33 reports in the past year: people with ‘misunderstood behavior’.
It was the Flameling team that was involved in the death of Sammy Baker (23) in the summer of 2020. The German influencer ended up in a courtyard in Nieuw-West, probably in a drug psychosis. He threatened himself with a knife. An attempted overpowerment resulted in a struggle with the police, after which two officers shot Baker dead with their service weapon.
This week the Baker case was in the news again. NRC reported that police scientist Jaap Timmer has adjusted an investigation into the case on important points after comments from the police. He wrote his report at the request of the court in a civil suit brought by Baker’s parents against the police. The Public Prosecution Service previously ruled that the two shooters acted in self-defense.
Flameling was not yet a manager of the team at the time of the shooting, but is intensively involved in the aftermath. Without wishing to detract from the suffering of Baker’s family, he wants to emphasize that the events have also had a “major impact” on his team. One of the shooters decided to leave the unit as a result of Baker’s death, as did the dog handler who played a crucial role in the final seconds before the fatal shots. The second shooter still works for the Amsterdam police, but no longer on the streets.
Also readThe last sixteen minutes of Sammy Baker
Impoverishment of youth care and mental health care
Behind the tragedy of police deaths like Sammy Baker lies another problem, says Flameling – and a cry from the heart about this is appropriate. The police on the streets are increasingly confronted with the consequences of the decline in mental health care and youth care. Due to waiting lists and a lack of staff, people with psychological and/or addiction problems are being received and treated increasingly later. If they then become dangerous, the police have to be called in – even though they are essentially not equipped for that. Flameling: “It ends up on our plate when it is actually too late.”
Looking at his team, Flameling says “four years of experience is already a lot. And it is my people who come when you call 911.” Especially when a weapon is involved, officers often have to make a decision in just a few seconds. “But approaching people in psychosis is a specialty. And it is very limited what we can give our people in two to four days of training per year.”
The team leader hereby expresses a concern that has been with the police for some time – including at the top of the organization and among experts. Recently, Amsterdam police chief Frank Paauw and mayor Femke Halsema mentioned the large number of incidents involving confused people – 9,000 in 2021, 9,500 in 2022, probably 10,000 this year – in Het Parool “particularly worrying”. There were more than 138,000 incidents in the Netherlands as a whole in 2022, compared to 133,000 in 2021.
According to team leader Flameling, there is another problem: the social normalization of drug use, especially in Amsterdam. “People come here with the idea: in Amsterdam it is freedom and happiness, I can use everything I want. That can escalate, especially if it comes together with psychological problems.” Unlike mental health problems, Flameling says, drinking and drug use is a personal choice. “It is therefore appropriate to look at yourself.” He sees “annoyance” among employees who have to deal with the consequences of drinking and drug use. “We did not choose to end up in this situation.”
‘Learned much’
“A lot has been learned” from Sammy Baker’s tragic death, Flameling says. The Amsterdam police now have access to electroshock weapons, which means that officers do not have to reach for their service weapon as quickly. The arrival of ‘care and safety directors’ in the basic teams was accelerated after the incident. Contact with the ‘medium care ambulance’, whose staff is trained in dealing with confused people, is “better organized than before.” However, says Flameling, all these measures will not solve the fundamental problem. “We are not a healthcare institution at our core.”