‘In Rotterdam and Amsterdam about 40,000 lines are sniffed a day’
Liquidations, mistaken murders, kidnappings and shelling. Drug-related violence is spiraling out of control, according to Rotterdam chief commissioner Fred Westerbeke. To combat drug crime that has gotten out of hand, companies include data analysts to temporarily work for the police. “We then pay the salary costs, because the police collective labor agreement is not sufficient.”
Westerbeke says to news hour that’s recent sewer investigation it turns out that about 40,000 lines of coke are snorted every day in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. “The drug trade is huge. Last year cocaine was seized in Rotterdam, we are already over that. And last week we had 110 people taking drugs from containers in the port.”
A number of those molded ‘educators’ called the police themselves when they were waiting in a container to get drugs from another container, and used up the oxygen. “We were able to turn them red just in time. Those extractors receive thousands of euros per kilo. There are probably large quantities of drugs in containers at the moment that need to be removed.”
New plans
The problems with the drug trade and violence are not new, but have been announced enormously in recent years, says Westerbeke. “The approach to crime has started in the past 25 years. The last cabinet has taken good steps, but more is needed. Otherwise we will look back in ten years: we have let it go, hey then.”
Westerbeke says that the police now do not have the people and the time to do more than arrest the people who “have their hands in coke”. “There is therefore a broad scope to strengthen, with financial specialists, data analysts, people from the cyber. We keep the traditional detectives, of course, but this criminal also requires different knowledge and people.”
But that is not easy, a good data analyst can earn double from a detective. So we have to hope that people who enjoy working with us will be willing to do so for a few months. We must then pay the salary costs to the company. But that calls for a reinforcement of the financial resources.”
More money to the neighborhoods
And then there is a second point, the point of prevention. “The direction also needs to be strengthened,” says Westerbeke. “Of course we have the police officers, but they sometimes have large neighbourhoods. It’s not just about the police, but also the support around it. With the families, in the neighborhoods where those guidelines people continue to develop.”
According to Westerbeke, if you want to do something about it, it’s a matter of patience. This is already happening in Rotterdam South, for example, but it needs to be done in many more places. I hope that the new cabinet will take major steps, because it is very much needed.”