The main police team in charge of counter-terrorism is not sufficiently successful in getting a picture of radical networks. There are also so many tensions and conflicts within the team that the working environment for some police officers feels unsafe. This is the conclusion of the Justice and Security Inspectorate in an investigation into the so-called ‘CTER team’ of the national police unit.
The Inspectorate started the investigation earlier this year in response to signals from police officers that the team was not functioning properly. The department would have too little time, resources and people to keep an eye on, for example, returning Syrians.
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The inspection investigation confirms that there are many problems within the department. There is not good cooperation and there is a ‘culture of island thinking and self-interest’. There is also great division within the terrorism police about its own role and task. The team does take adequate action against suspects who are preparing attacks, but much less attention is paid to monitoring terrorist networks and people or groups that are radicalising. According to the officers interviewed, until recently the team invested “barely” in research into extremism and radicalization. The Inspectorate believes that the police team should pay ‘more attention’ to this and should better elaborate its own interpretation of its duties.
‘worrying’
Jan Struijs, chairman of the Dutch Police Association, calls the findings “worrying”. The union has contacted the whistleblowers within the CTER team with the inspectorate, which prompted the investigation. “I think it is especially bad why people first have to go to the police unions to get this out of the water. Why didn’t the police come up with this themselves? We are talking about national security here.”
The CTER team comes under the National Police Unit, where problems have been going on for some time. Last month another report appeared about another part of this unit, that of undercover agents, where much turned out to be wrong. There are also problems with various other parts. Two executives have since been given other positions.
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