In 2013, the government of the Netherlands established a national police force, replacing a system of largely autonomous regional police organizations. This led to an extensive police reform. In this article, I explore the effects of this police reform on the internal dynamics within the police organization. I describe five ‘negative’ effects: anonymization, decoupling, formalization, confusion and de-owning. These effects lead to alienation between police offers and the police organization and hinder the development of the national police force. Beside these negative effects, there are also positive forces that shape the development of the national police force. The top leadership is changing the strategic leadership style and there are many innovative initiatives on the local level contributing to the goals of the reform. However, to make the ambitions of the reform feasible there are adjustments needed in the organizational structure and change approach. The operational core of the organization needs to be the central point of reference for these adjustments.

The authors reflect on ‘Handelen naar waarheid’ (Acting on truth), an assessment of the state of criminal investigations in The Netherlands, which appeared in May 2016. This report, assigned by the police and public prosecution service and written by four inside experts, caused substantial turmoil in the police organization and beyond. The report addresses six domains: professionalism, attitude and behavior, direction and leadership, capacity for change, organizational structure and business management. The critical and transparent self-reflection by the police received praise from policymakers, journalists and academic observers. It also met with recognition and appreciation in the law enforcement community, in particular among investigators and prosecutors. In the wake of the report, a reform program was organized to modernize both the police and the prosecution service in order to increase the quality and effectiveness of their work. Such reform is deemed necessary because crime problems have become ever more complex and citizens increasingly organize their own (counter-)investigations. The authors conclude that in spite of many recent initiatives, truly innovative practices remain scarce. Also, the crucial ambitions to increase the educational level of investigators and the organizational culture are still far from realized.

There have been little to no empirical research conducted on trust of Dutch citizens in the police. This study is a step towards filling this gap. We used semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observations to examine to what extent citizens’ trust in the police is determined by perceptions of the effectiveness of the police to reduce crime and disorder and perceptions of procedural justice. Research was conducted in Bloemhof, a superdiverse neighbourhood in Rotterdam. The results indicate that in superdiverse neighbourhoods perceived responsiveness is the cornerstone for explaining police trustworthiness. Implications for policy reform are discussed.

This article focuses on the challenges facing Community Oriented Policing (COP) in an increasingly complex society. The authors describe how the Dutch police adresses this context through a new police organisation on a national basis, specified job protocols, intelligence led policing and higher educated specialists. Seeking for alternatives the authors argue that COP should be based on a problem centered approach which profits from the insights of local policemen and operational specialists. Adressing ambiguous problems will fail when only applying system logic. Instead, moral involvement and sensemaking are indispensable.

In this article we identify the political agency and discretion available to metropolises to define and accomplish their own policing agendas and to question what the role of public police forces can be in executing such agendas. Results of a comparative case study of 24 metropolises illustrate a major focus on risk management strategies like environmental opportunity oriented measures, hot spot hot time predictive policing actions and preventative community oriented policing. Also programs like Top 600 in Amsterdam and other early intervention efforts oriented towards ‘groups at risk’ (youngsters, nomads and criminal careers) find a place in the risk assessment regime. This article classifies all urban programs in 5 different ‘urban regimes’ and sheds light on the role the police should take in order to execute stated policy goals, summarized in urban policy coalition plans and security plans.

This contribution offers a review of the recently published book Sécurité. Ce qu’on vous cache (‘Security. What is being hidden for you’) written by Patrice Bergougnoux (with Frédéric Ploquin). Bergougnoux has had a long career inside the French police organisation. His book comes out at a crucial moment, now the French police has become subject of a fierce debate due to its expanded powers during the state of emergency in place since the terrorist attacks in Paris in november 2016 up to today. Bergougnoux gives an insider’s view on the police organisation and how it became a subject of power struggle between various French political forces. While the French have had a national police for 75 years, the Netherlands only recently formed a national force. This book entails a national vision on how to structure the police services and as such could be inspiring for the Dutch debate on the national police.