How could someone just escape from a moving police bus in Hoorn on Saturday? You would say that a detainee is handcuffed in the car. But that does not appear to be the case, according to NH’s inquiry.
Great consternation Saturday afternoon on the Westfriese Parkweg in Hoorn. Through the hatch in the roof of the police bus, one of the occupants, a 23-year-old resident of the municipality of Koggenland, knows to escape. He had previously been arrested for involvement in a rolled-up cannabis farm in Lutjebroek.
The suspect takes off with an officer in tow. He runs across the road and jumps into a meadow a little further on and manages to escape. A major search is launched. With police dogs and a helicopter. The fire brigade is also called in. Ultimately, the man is arrested and taken to the cell complex in Alkmaar.
No handcuffs, but why?
The big question is still how it happened that the man was able to escape. It turns out that the man was not handcuffed in the detention bus. A standard procedure explains a police spokesperson. “Before you enter the bus, you will always be searched. Then you will be placed in a locked compartment.”
But why aren’t the suspects handcuffed? A security issue, apparently. “For example, they could injure themselves or worse with a seat belt. There are also cameras in the vehicle, so that drivers can monitor the suspects if anything happens to them.”
The hatch in the roof is intended for emergency situations. A way for suspects to still be able to get out of the bus, if it is not possible in any other way. But how it is possible that despite the camera surveillance, the man was able to force the hatch is still unclear to the police. “Internal investigation has yet to determine that.”