Dutch police failed to investigate over 10,000 serious crimes in 2024: Court of Audit

The police did not investigate over 10,000 reports of serious crimes in 2024. That amounts to a quarter of all serious crimes reported, the Netherlands Court of Audit reported after research.

According to the Court of Audit, this concerns reports and notifications from citizens and businesses regarding violent crimes, the production of hard drugs, and identity fraud, among other things.

“Approximately 7,000 reports were rejected by the police in advance, and investigations were terminated prematurely about 3,000 times due to a lack of capacity within the police and/or the Public Prosecution Service (OM),” the Court of Audit said. It noted that the differences between regional units were significant.

Furthermore, according to the Court of Audit, the police don’t have the registration of criminal investigations in order. They don’t properly track the results of investigations initiated. “The Minister and Chief of Police also do not receive figures on what proportion of the total police budget goes to investigations.” The Court of Audit estimates that approximately €3.3 billion is spent on investigations. This amounts to 41 percent of the police budget.

The auditing body points out that the Ministry of Justice and Security, OM, and the police have many different priorities when it comes to investigations. Due to “these sometimes competing priorities,” reports are not always processed, it said. It appears “that crimes of relatively low severity sometimes take precedence over more serious crimes or crimes causing greater social harm.”

The Court of Audit urged the Minister and the police to “reconsider the priorities for investigation and simplify them where possible,” and to bring registration in order.

In the report, Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security and Police Chief Janny Knol acknowledge that improvements “are needed in investigation and in the decision-making process.” Van Weel added that the police’s investigative task is complex and capacity is scarce. Van Weel also wants more insight into the police’s expenditures and results.