Justice minister Ard van der Steur has sent a damning report about the performance of the national police force to parliament on Friday, in which the police are slammed for unprofessional behaviour and a lack of elementary detection skills.

The report, based on interviews with 150 police officers, academics and journalists, states that the national force is bogged down in meetings, there is a lack of training on the job and individual officers show too little expertise, broadcaster NOS reports.

Officers themselves complain about the lack of equipment. Young officers use their smartphones for work rather than the old, ineffective service phones, the report says.

Commenting on the report to MPs, the minister said it also shows that the police are making positive changes. In particular, forensic investigations are improving, he said.

The researchers also say it is time to review the relationship between the police and politicians, who want to be informed about every change. ‘A large part of the police organisational structure is devoted to reporting back,’ the report said. ‘More time should be spent on actual police work,’ NOS quoted it as saying.

Confidence

Meanwhile, research about public confidence in the police carried out by Erasmus University researchers has found most people are confident they are doing a good job.

The public gave the police an average score of 69 out of 100. The police gave themselves a score of 70.

At the same time, people wanted better information about what happened to complaints once they had been made and said police should be more visible on the streets.