Spot checks lead to 134 arrests in Amsterdam

Monday 27 April 2009

Amsterdam police have arrested 134 people in four days of spot checks, the NRC reports on Monday.

The targeted campaign, named Lord of the Ring, involved 1,000 police officers. The aim is to clean up the city ahead of the Queen's Day celebrations on April 30th, the paper said.

Half of those arrested were wanted for specific crimes or unpaid fines.

Police used predictions about where and when they would have the best chance of making arrests to reduce the nuisance to ordinary citizens, the paper says.

'We know violence involving weapons happens most often on Saturday night in areas where night clubs are concentrated so we stopped and searched there,' a police spokesman told the paper. 'And in Zuidoost, where scooters are often stolen, we know that scooter drivers are most likely to be out and about in the afternoon.'

The police also used a rapid licence plate recognition system known as a catchken to check if cars were stolen or uninsured.

© DutchNews.nl

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