Police Chief Surprised by Violent Reactions to Collective Labor Agreements

The Police Summit is still proposing new proposals this month to address capacity issues. Previous plans caused disturbances among police officers

. In a letter to the police unions, the police chief, Erik Akerboom, writes that he regrets the unrest. This was the case when Akerboom supported Minister Grapperhaus of Justice and Security and agreed to relax the terms of employment.

The Minister and the Chief of Police wanted to establish a new collective labor agreement.

This was a problem with a large number of police officers, who are already unhappy with the high workload, the shortage of staff and the reorganization's consequences. They felt abandoned by their highest boss

Cross-border

The plan to abolish 4×9 hours services in particular led to a lot of anger. The police grouped themselves into a Facebook group with 15,000 members and strongly criticized the police.

"Angry, worried and sometimes cross-border reactions and lack of confidence in the organization and leadership have affected me," writes Akerboom.

He concludes that there is "insufficient support" for the plans and therefore wants to make "adjusted and additional proposals". Over the next three weeks, the police will draw up an inventory of the biggest bottlenecks and propose new solutions

Protest

"Our proposals have given many police officers the feeling of having to pay the price" admits Minister Grapperhaus. "This was not the intention."

On Thursday, trade unionists in The Hague protest against the Minister's and the police's plans.

In May, police unions proposed over thirty proposals to improve the police organization. It is only when they are implemented that they want to talk about a new collective labor agreement. Grapperhaus and Akerboom say they want to talk to unions about their plans.