Three Dutch police officers face formal investigations for shooting at suspects in two different incidents, the public prosecution department said on Wednesday.

In both incidents, one in Tilburg and one in Oosterhout, the officers did not follow formal guidelines for firearms use and there was no question of an emergency situation, the public prosecutor is quoted as saying by news agency ANP.

Two officers face court for the incident in Tilburg in which shots were fired at a man who was running away. He was seriously injured. In the second incident, the officer fired shots at a suspect’s car which was driving off.

Brabant police chief Hans Visser said in a statement that it is difficult to accept police officers being taken to court like criminals for doing their job. ‘It is going very far to treat them in the same way as a criminal,’ he said. ‘This is having an enormous impact on our people.’