Tourist police pilot aims to recruit 20 officers, minister says

Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling told Parliament that a planned tourist police pilot aims to recruit 20 officers. Tackling said the unit would carry batons and handcuffs, but would not take on the duties of regular police or respond to ordinary 911 calls.

According to Tackling, the unit would focus on prevention, visibility and assistance in busy tourism areas, allowing regular police to focus on high-impact crime and other law-enforcement work. She said funding, mandates and operational details must be finalised before recruitment and implementation.

Tackling said tourist police training would be shorter and have a lower Dutch-language entry requirement than regular police training, which is at MBO level 4. She cited regular recruitment classes in which seven candidates made one class and five another.

The minister said pepper spray and stun guns are under review. She said stun guns would require changes to force-use legislation and regulations before introduction.