One of six officers who will be in the TV documentary The blue family (KRO-NCRV) told about racism within the National Police, was sentenced by the court in Zwolle on Monday to a conditional community service of 40 hours for computer trespassing. The National Unit's agent, Suleyman Ortac, made a total of 281 unlawful searches in police systems between 2018 and 2022.
The suspect was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. According to the court, it turned out that the officer made “a large number of questions” that had nothing to do with his work. He was looking for information about “his family members, his living environment and the companies of his wife and daughter, friends of his daughter, but also about a vehicle that the suspect subsequently purchased.”
According to the judges, Ortac has “not made it plausible in any way that the inquiries were necessary for the performance of his duties.”
According to the court, what will reduce the sentence is that the file shows that he “has a great record of service and is seen by colleagues in the profession as a very honest and good police officer. As a police officer, the suspect has been committed to (the safety of) society since 1986.” Therefore, according to the court a completely conditional sanction will suffice.
Ortac, together with another agent from The Blue Family, Bilal Addou, is being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service for computer trespassing. According to the officers, their prosecution is punishment for reporting abuses within the police.
First agent with Turkish roots
Ortac (57) stated three weeks ago during the hearing of his criminal case in the Zwolle court that all the criticized queries he made in police systems “were done in the context of my safety and work, and the safety of my family.” The officer who joined the police in 1986 “as the first officer with Turkish roots” said he had been bullied and discriminated against by managers for years. He worked, among other things, as a liaison officer for the Dutch police in southern Africa and had received comments from superiors about his appearance. “How do you think you can function at a Dutch embassy with your appearance,” Ortac said. Ortac has long gray hair and wears it in a bun.
Ortac says that he encountered great difficulties within the police when he raised internal abuses within the Criminal Intelligence Team of the National Unit in 2012. According to him, two police informants were liquidated by the underworld due to blunders and amateurism within the police.
The court ruled that Ortac “suffered a lot from organizational problems at the national police that created an unsafe working environment. That influenced his actions.”
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Diversity advocates
After the broadcast of The Blue Family two years ago, the officers who talked about discrimination in the film were extensively praised by the police leadership for their courage and candor. They were considered champions of diversity within the force. Chief of Police Henk van Essen personally informed the officers that they “did not have to expect any legal repercussions” for speaking out about abuses.
In 2022, the House of Representatives adopted a motion by an overwhelming majority stating that the National Police and the government must ensure that there is “rehabilitation and justice and honor” for the officers of The Blue Family. The Chamber asked for “recognition and support” from the officers.
In the meantime, that political support has largely disappeared. Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives rejected a motion by MP Songül Mutluer (GroenLinks-PvdA) in which the government was asked to “engage an independent authoritative person or body who, as a mediator, will ensure, together with the police leadership, the rehabilitation of the officers from the documentary.” The blue family”.
Two officers from The Blue Family have left the police and one is busy taking days off. The only member of The Blue Family who is still working at the National Police is Margot Snijders. She was appointed a year ago as strategic advisor on diversity, inclusion and equality for the police.
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Offer of community service refused
The Hague officer Bilal Addou must also appear in criminal court for computer trespassing. Justice says it has evidence that he made thirty unauthorized searches in 2019 and 2020, 25 of which related to people in Addou's own circle and five to third parties. “Of those five third parties, one was the suspect's neighbor and four others were subjects of criminal investigations in the West Brabant unit. “Despite ample opportunity through two interrogations and a written statement, the suspect did not provide an understandable explanation for the last four interrogations,” the Public Prosecution Service said.
The public prosecutor offered Addou a community service order of 60 hours last year. “Police officers may only consult confidential police information to the extent that it is important for their police duties, and it is in the interest of citizen privacy and broader protection against corruption that we keep this standard strict,” the Public Prosecution Service says.
The suspect did not accept the offer of community service because he does not consider himself guilty. “I have substantiated my questions clearly and concisely,” says Addou when asked.
When asked, a spokesperson for the National Police said that the criminal cases against two officers of The Blue Family are the “own responsibility” of the Public Prosecution Service. “The police have no control over criminal cases. As far as the police are concerned, criminal cases relating to the performance of colleagues are separate from a process of rehabilitation and rehabilitation for what happened to them. Yet in practice you sometimes see mixing. However, racism or discrimination is never justified by any criticism of someone's performance. You can't cancel that out against each other.”
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