The fast-track court procedure set up to deal with public order offenders is hardly being used for New Year incidents, the prosecution service has admitted.

Just one person was convicted this year under the supersnelrecht system, continuing the trend from the previous two years. A total of 328 people were arrested during the night of New Year’s Eve, traditionally one of the busiest times of year for the emergency services.

The man was convicted on January 3 of insulting police officers and given a fine of €1,000.

The procedure was designed to reduce the caseload resulting from public events such as New Year’s Eve, King’s Day and major football matches. Suspects appear in court within three to six days, usually for offences such as violent disorder, threatening emergency services personnel and arson. It has also been used in shoplifting cases.

Legal experts have criticised the system, introduced in 2011, for encouraging ‘sloppy’ justice. Criminal law professor Henny Sackers told the Volkskrant: ‘Super-fast justice only works if the suspect confesses and there are no victims… [It] promised much, but in practice it has delivered little.’

An investigation by RTL Nieuws in 2014 found that in 60% of quickfire cases judges imposed a lower sentence than the prosecution demanded. Since then the number of cases brought under the procedure at New Year has been drastically reduced, the Volkskrant said.