Law enforcement in the Netherlands

Law enforcement in the Netherlands is provided by the National Police Corps (Dutch: Korps Nationale Politie), divided in ten regional units and a central unit, and the Royal Marechaussee (Dutch: Koninklijke Marechaussee), a gendarmerie.

Organisation

From the end of 1945 until 1993, the Dutch police was composed of the municipal police (Dutch: gemeentepolitie) and the state police (Dutch: rijkspolitie). In 1994, the police was reorganised into 25 Regional Constabularies (Dutch: regiokorpsen) and a National Constabulary (Dutch: Korps landelijke politiediensten, KLPD). In 2013 the police in the Netherlands was reorganised again into its current structure. In the event of serious emergencies, the police cooperates with the fire brigade, ambulance service, other government agencies and military forces in the security region corresponding to the police region.

The regiokorpsen

Every regiokorps (regional constabulary) is led by a korpschef (corps chief), a Hoofdcommissaris (Chief Commissioner) who conducts the day-to-day police force management. Decisions about the principal law enforcement policies are made by a regional board, the so-called Driehoek (triangle) whose chairman is the korpsbeheerder (force manager). The korpsbeheerder is usually the mayor of the largest municipality in the region. The other board members of the Driehoek are the korpschef and the (chief) prosecutor.