Fewer than expected police chiefs have applied for a management function in the new national police force, the NRC reports.

Of the estimated 4,000 police chiefs eligible to apply for the post of team leader, only 974 have done so. Half of these passed the interview process.

The national police force is due to be in place by 2015 will have 10 regional units, 43 district units and 168 basic teams.

It is too early to say why so few people applied for the team leader jobs, the police force’s Jennine van den Berg to the NRC. ‘The process is still in full swing,’ she said.

However, sources told the paper it may have something to do with the splitting of management functions from practical policing. Many police officers want to be on the street preventing and solving crime rather than sitting in an office, the sources told the NRC.

A second round of interviews begins at the end of June.