Spin the wheel…and you might win a little lock. One of the more surprising stands at The Next Web tech conference in Amsterdam this week was a display by the Dutch police featuring workshops and a bit of fun.

‘We are looking for more tech talent and that’s why we’re here,’ said a representative for the police, manning the stand at the two-day conference in Amsterdam Noord. ‘Would you like to join a workshop?’

The display was part of The Next Police, a new venture ‘containing the Dutch police, (private) enterprises, start-ups and individuals’, according to its website. Mystifyingly, it adds: ‘The Next Police wants to know from you what kind of employment conditions you would prefer if you would work for the Dutch national police.’

It plans to start a platform to reopen cold cases, for instance, or look again at investigations that have stalled. Workshops at the event on May 9th and May 10th included ‘robotising police work’, digital crime scene investigation, and a call for entrepreneurs to pitch their own ideas to the police.

Last year, the police revealed that 16,000 cases had been stopped due to a shortage of staff, and it has appealed for more recruits.

TNW conference, started in 2006, took its largest space yet this year in the NDSM Wharf and included talks, presentations, the $1m Chivas Venture awards, and exhibitors promoting everything from Hong Kong to fashion accessories for phones.