Government pledges to increase the size of the police force by 3,000 officers will not be met, the NRC reports on Tuesday.

Justice minister Ivo Opstelten told MPs during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday the new government plans to keep the police’s operational strength at its current 49,500 officers.
Of them, 500 will focus entirely on animal protection, the minister said.
Adding up
Opstelten denied the new government is breaking its promises. The previous government had only set aside enough money to pay for 46,500 police officers, he said. By spending an extra €470m to 2015, the force could keep its current strength of 49,500 – or 3,000 extra officers, the justice minister said.
Opposition MPs accused the cabinet of breaking its promises. ‘In fact there is not one new job,’ D66 MP Magda Berndsen said.
‘We are not getting 3,000 more police officers,’ ChristenUnie leader André Rouvoet is quoted as saying in the Volkskrant. ‘But we will get 500 men in who will get a designer cap with the word ‘animal cop’ on it.’