The Netherlands has had a long tradition in regard to policing studies research, resulting in a significant knowledge buildup over the years. Though overshadowed by research concentrating on the Anglo-Saxon world, there are many widely accessible publications discussing policing in the Netherlands. But who is currently producing this knowledge, and what are the themes that are being talked about? We surveyed policing studies researchers in the Netherlands to clarify the current status of the field. This survey is a continuation of recent work by Piet van Reenen on policing studies publications. In this paper, we concentrate on the researchers themselves and their ideas about the themes currently discussed in policing studies research, in order not only to find out the width of the field, but also the depths in which certain themes are explored or perhaps even underexplored.

By partially replicating an instrument developed by Gray, Jackson and Farrall, our current study explores events in which people indicated to have worried about crime victimization. Similar to results reported by Gray, Jackson and Farrall, we find that events in which people worry about the prospect of falling victim to crime are experienced relatively infrequently. This contrasts with more general, broad spread concerns and worries about crime victimization; both in the current study, and in fear of crime research more generally. In the current study, we also supplemented the instrument developed by Gray, Jackson and Farrall by, 1) exploring the characteristics of those situations in which events of worry about crime victimization arose, and by 2) exploring the added value of a local application of the survey instrument. Drawing on survey data from Amsterdam (city level) and Oostgaarde, a neighbourhood in Capelle aan den IJssel (neighbourhood level), a rich and clear picture emerged of situations in which research participants indicated to have worried about crime victimization. On the basis of our results we conclude that it can be useful to implement the instrument on a local level, if the aim is to learn more about the patterning and ecology of events of fear. We also argue that a greater understanding of the (local) patterning and ecology of events of fear may help in designing local policies to mitigate situational fear of crime.

The world has been in the grip of the COVID-19 crisis for a long time. As the course of the crisis was surrounded by uncertainties, the impact on the public health sector and acute and non-acute care organisations fluctuated as well. Crisis experts from the organisation for Medical Assistance at Accidents and Disasters (in Dutch: GHOR) are used to develop short-term scenarios with high levels of uncertainty. In contrast, health experts from Municipal Health Services (in Dutch: GGD’s) are used to develop long-term scenarios with lower levels of uncertainty. To use each other’s expertise, these organisations merged into a combined crisis organisation in the southern region of the South Holland province. Inspired by the theory of sensemaking, a roadmap was developed to describe both short-term and long-term scenarios.
The primary aim of this scenario roadmap is to help healthcare professionals deal with uncertainties during a pandemic’s complex, continuously changing, and long-term situation. It helps to create order in the continuous flow of information and encourages action. The approach consists of six steps. At different time points, time- and context-specific themes are determined (step 1). Subsequently, associated uncertainties are identified for each theme (step 2). In collaboration with healthcare professionals, the GGD GHOR team attempts to make sense of social or political developments relevant to this theme in storylines (step 3). Storylines are jointly translated into action perspectives, such as ‘being prepared for the new wave’ (step 4). Lastly, action perspectives are translated into concrete actions (step 5). If necessary, decisions are made (step 6). The approach does not aim to predict an absolute truth but rather to construct an imaginable future that matches the perceptions of both GGD GHOR and healthcare professionals. The model approach is flexible, allows quantitative as well as qualitative input, and might result in acute actions and long-term plans.

In the Netherlands, municipalities are in charge of dealing with problematic youth networks. However, municipalities have the feeling that they lose sight of such networks. As a possible explanation, scientists as well as practitioners state that problematic youth networks might have shifted their activities from offline to online (less visible) forms of crime. In this case study, we found evidence in support of this hypothesis. We unravelled a criminal youth network that primarily committed cybercrime, but in part consisted of members who were formerly known as members of a traditional criminal network. Our case study also confirms other findings from prior research: the cybercriminal network has local roots and traditional social ties played an important role in the formation of the network. Members for example know each other because they went to the same school or because they grew up in the same neighbourhood. Furthermore, there are several indications that the criminal network is involved in traditional criminal offences, such as drug trade, financial crimes (tax-related, forgery, money laundering) and violence. Our case thus also highlights that offline and online crime are intertwined.
It has long been advocated that a multidisciplinary approach is needed to tackle cybercrime. With regard to tackling a cybercriminal network, it however seems to be rather unique that we have brought this idea into practice. More specifically, the RIEC-partnership in the North of the Netherlands was utilized, which enabled the cooperation between several municipalities, the police, the Tax Administration and the Netherlands Labour Authority. From this joint endeavour, we conclude that an integral approach to tackle a cybercriminal network pays off. It enhances the information position of the cooperating parties and increases possibilities to intervene, compared to a monodisciplinary (police) approach. Therefore, we call for other partnerships to follow our example.