On its last day of business before the summer recess, the upper house of parliament on Tuesday backed plans to establish a national police force.

The new set-up will replace the 25 regional forces with a national body, 10 regional divisions and 43 districts. Below them come 168 ‘base teams’ which will have between 60 and 200 officers and cover a single area, such as a town.
Justice minister Ivo Opstelten hopes to have the new organisational structure up and running by January 2013.