“Hello, I’m the robber,” Dechanvey Rach says cheerfully, extending his hand in greeting. The 23-year-old thief makes the acquaintance of his victim, a young girl whom he will soon stab in the hallway.
Rick is an actor. He is involved in the reconstruction of a robbery in an apartment in The Hague. Last July, a girl was attacked with a knife by a man posing as a package deliverer.
Here, in a flat in Amersfoort, a recording crew films the reconstruction of that robbery for Search requested, the TV program with which the police try to track down criminals. Next Tuesday, on November 15, after exactly 1,435 broadcasts, the program will be 40 years old. In all those episodes, almost half of all cases were resolved – 43 percent – while the average arrest rate of all Dutch police cases is much lower at more than a quarter.
‘Sometimes TV gives just that one push,’ says jubilee presenter Anniko van Santen. ‘Last year, for example, we had an interview with Carlo Heuvelman’s father, who was trampled to death in Mallorca. That same evening, witnesses who had not previously reported to us. And showing a toddler photo eventually led to Robert M.’s major abuse case; even during the broadcast there was a call and his name was mentioned for the first time.’
The strength of the program is the appeal that the makers make to the empathy of the viewers, concludes police producer Martin de Wit. ‘We show what happened. Because of the indignation that viewers feel when they realize what a perpetrator has done to a victim, witnesses are quicker to pick up the phone to tip us.’
De Wit coordinates the recording in Amersfoort together with TV producer Joost Boschhuizen. ‘I’ll arrange the weapons, Joost the blood’, he sums up. Assistant director Barbara Wagenaar dives into an Albert Heijn bag full of wigs and other attributes, and fishes out a knife. With that, Dechanvey Rach will stab his victim – he has already put on the shirt with the logo of the parcel delivery service. At the behest of the assistant director, he also exchanged his beautiful Circle Of Trust jeans for stained, torn sweatpants. “Like real, huh?”
Bank card fraudsters
Search requested is based on its German counterpart Aktenzeichen XY… Ungelöst, which has been running for much longer and is still a great success in Germany. After much political discussion about whether such a program would unleash a witch hunt for potential perpetrators, presenters Jaap van Meekren and Will Simon made two trial broadcasts for the Netherlands in 1975 and 1976, with crimes that were more than a year old. The broadcasts were not followed up because both cases were not resolved: witnesses could remember too little.
Six years later, Justice Minister Job de Ruiter gave permission to show current affairs on TV. On November 15, 1982, the Avro broadcast another episode, from the then head office of the Municipal Police in The Hague, about the murder of Trees Kriesels in a bar. More than three hundred tips came in, the perpetrator was recognized and arrested, the program was allowed to continue and returned monthly. It has been published every week since September 7, 1998. It has an average of 1.1 million viewers.
Search requested is more than a TV program, it is one of our many investigative tools’, emphasizes Franki Klarenbeek, head of the National Investigation Communication police team, who is involved in the program on a weekly basis. ‘The police bring the cases up, Avrotros has no journalistic freedom in that regard.’
Matters that are reconstructed in the broadcast must meet many criteria. For example, camera images or photos of perpetrators may only be shown if it concerns a crime punishable by a prison sentence of four years or more, and other investigative means have not worked. The aim of the program is to find the truth (obtain tips), prevent victims (for example by explaining how bank card fraudsters work) and prevent crime and violence, for example by searching for a refugee convict or escaped TBS.
Citizen participation
Chief Public Prosecutor Diederik Greive, who is responsible for checking the broadcasts against the strict regulations, mentions Search requested ‘a wonderful platform for involving citizens in tracing suspects and solving cases’. According to him, citizen participation improves the relationship between citizens, the police and the Public Prosecution Service, ‘and that strengthens confidence in an effective approach to crime’.
‘Of course it’s mainly about good tips’, says Franki Klarenbeek. ‘Sometimes, for example, an orthopedist calls who can see from the walk of a perpetrator that he or she has a specific medical problem. But what touches me most is when a family member recognizes an offender, such as a son, grandson or cousin. That happens regularly and it’s intense.’
Anniko van Santen, who has presented the program for 17 years, confirms the strict rules to which the program is subjected every week. For example, images that are too horrific, such as a real violent incident or a corpse under a sheet, are not broadcast out of devotion to victims and relatives, and bystanders are made unrecognizable.
‘The program is really not about attracting as many viewers as possible’, she emphasizes. ‘A murder can be a viewing figure gun, but if, for example, an old lady has been beaten up and robbed, and we have no security camera images, no witnesses and the victim does not want to say anything, then we will make a broadcast about it. Just because you don’t want anyone to get away with that.’