Police are at talent show after scandal The Voice of Holland inundated with new sex crimes. In the first three months of this year, 4,000 people went to the police, 1,100 more than a year earlier in the same period.
The new notifications have nothing to do with The Voice but deal with other sexual violence such as rape, assault, incest, fornication with minors and recruiting children to have sex with them later. There was already a striking increase in the number of registered sexual offenses throughout 2021. Then the number increased by about 800 new cases, to 12,800.
In the first three months of this year, the started increase continued even faster. The police make a clear connection with the revelations about sexual misconduct in The Voice half January. There are now five complaints in that case. The Public Prosecution Service decided yesterday that a further criminal investigation is being conducted and that four suspects are in the picture. It was previously known that it concerns the singers Ali B. and Marco Borsato, band leader Jeroen Rietbergen and director Martijn N.
Touched
According to the morality expert at the police Lidewijde van Lier, the additional new reports show that the problem of sexual violence is serious. “Many people with a bad experience are apparently touched by this news and want to let them know that what they once experienced was not okay either.”
The National Lawyers Network for Violence and Sexual Victims has also noticed that more victims are stepping forward. †The Voice has clearly stirred things up, more than in other abuse cases because now people are accused that everyone knows. We also see that more young people are stepping out. That may have to do with the audience watching the program,” said network chairman Richard Korver.
The boom in new sex offenses comes at an inopportune time for the vice squad. The departments were already understaffed and waiting a year and a half before a case is actually investigated is no exception, according to the lawyers. Money has recently been made available to recruit 90 new detectives. At the moment, about half of those positions have been filled, but those agents still need to be trained first.
In order to reduce the workload for the police and to provide better guidance to victims of abuse cases, reporters will soon receive the standard offer to be assisted by a victim lawyer. A recently completed trial in two regions was successful. Until recently, vice detectives often held the first informative conversations. Lawyer Korver: ,,They were experienced as discouraging. We are on the victim’s side. If we explain why something is difficult or not provable, it comes in differently.”
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