http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Nederlan...link-omhoog.htm

In the first half of 2009, the number of robberies in the Haaglanden police region rose 57% in comparison to the same period in 2008. This is according to figures for the region. For crime in general, the figures are down 11%. Robberies are increasingly being committed by young men around 17 and 18 years old. They are acting on impulse, deciding to rob a petrol station or a shop, for example. "They need a few hundred euros for an evening out or for new clothes. This makes the problem difficult to control", says police chief Henk van Essen. They don't think at all about the enormous effect that a robbery has on the victims. There were more robberies in the first three months in particular. They went down in the second quarter, which Van Essen attributes to more intensive police action.