A fine for tailgating is 380-450 euros. "For insulting a police officer, the average fine is only 230 euros", says Prof. Jan Naeyé of Vrije Universiteit (VU). "So you can get drunk and tear a strip off a police officer, and after a night in cells you'll pay a smaller fine than if you had been caught tailgating."

The police are often abused. This week Naeyé said that police officers submitted 1,250 formal reports about threats and around 6,900 about insults. Last year he report a report stating that violence against police officers had tripled since 1996. Jeering and intimidation increased 600% during the same period.

This is in line with the Justice minister's latest measures to make it easier for police officers to deal with people who do this. At this point their hands are tied and they are expected to act with reserve.

Naeyé thinks that the fine should be 750 euros for insulting a police officer. He has looked at thousands of files to see what's happening. Some of the insults include ‘kankerlijers’ (this means 'cancer sufferer' and is close to being the worst thing you can say to a Dutch person), ‘NSB’ers’ (these were Dutch Nazis during the war) and ‘verraders’ (traitors). Other threats: 'I'll slaughter you like a sheep'.

The professor (a former police inspector) thinks that the increase in verbal abuse comes from the common belief that people are free to say what they want. "We've developed a free society that has turned out to be free for all. Not everyone can handle it."

Considering the near reverance that medical doctors have here, I really wonder why police, also traditionally an authority figure, get no respect at all?

There was a time when train drivers had respect, basically, anyone in uniform really but most of all, there used to be a great deal of respect to parents and our elders... now, it seems, few really care.
I've spoken to a few people lately wondering how society will be in years to come... it doesn't seem to look good.

Perhaps what they need to do is earn the respect of the public instead of just either demanding it or complain about not getting it.

How about they just actually prosecute and punish all people who harass or assault anyone, regardless of whether it's a police officer or not, and grow enough of a skin to handle simple namecalling, just like school kids around the world have learned to do?

Well i think it's not only a Dutch problem. Some other countrys from Europe are facing this lack of respect. In Portugal for example, some teenagers end up learning the hard way the lesson.
We are known as having Latino Blood, so when someone passes the limits, the picture changes.
Would be a lesson, proceed as we do here...A good slap given sometimes solves the case. I am against violence, but sometimes the only way they perceive where authority begins and end exceed limits, is only with that...
I think the problem begins, when there's no respect at home. So if that happens, how do we expect them to respect others...?!

I wasn't referring to only Dutch society... of course it's not only a Dutch problem, more like a world wide problem. Certainly in developed countries...

With so many people being brought up from broken homes/families it's hardly surprising really...

Too bad the police here have their hands tied so much, lol. Disrespect a cop in the US and you have your ASS HANDED TO YOU if you know what I mean.

Ah yeah a bit of the old phone book eh?

Agreed.
Plus the fact that we are all constantly bombarded with images glorifying violence.
Young people are brought up by TV and the internet.
It's just not cool to be nice....its regarded as a weakness.
It seems people get more respect thru fear.

I agree... or demand respect through fear.

A human being is something between and animal and a god. And too many are still close to animals. Those that dont do more then picking banannas and throwing rocks.

The police is always your best friend. Even that of a criminal. Because a lot of criminals also have women and children. They wanna go in safety to school or the bakker. Now without the police we would have CHAOS. You would be shot anywhere or robbed or tortured. Just exactly like last years in Iraq.

So everytime you see a police officer. Get a happy face. And if you are brave like me, assist them with arresting criminals now and then.



Everything is better then chaos and rule of the mob.

A war that brings justice, order and law is always a noble war.

Yes, the police are so good at making an example aren't they!
http://www.peterrdevries.nl/archief/politi...klpd-reportage/

I'm not sure whether 'respect thru fear' works... My girlfriend is French and so we visit France quite often.

Nobody f*cks with the CRS police force there, which looks (and acts!) like a combination of a normal police officer, a SWAT-team trooper and Foreign Legionnaire.

You do NOT mess with those guys. But it doesn't help to have the police act like that, the lack of respect is the same.

I am convinced that it all has to do with upbringing. If you are raised by parents who have a problem with authority, then it is only logical that you grow up having the same lack of respect, or worse.

Others view the police as the people who stand in their way on the path to personal wealth through crime.

Yet others basically raise themselves on the streets, where the only correcting force - in the absence of parents - they meet are cops. But the cops are only called in when the shit has already hit the fan, so to these people a man in a police uniform is an annoyance, not a figure that should be given any respect.

One thing that 'respect thru fear' also begets is that the majority of people, those who do respect the police, might start to lose some of that respect once the cops start acting like angry twats, such as the CRS in France.

I know a story of a jewish French guy who, thanks to his black hair, dark eyes yet whiteish skin complexion, is often mistaken for an Algerian - problematic in France. Approximately once a week he was taken aside by CRS officers and told to strip in a police bus, oftentimes with a cavity search included. "You are Algerian, so you must be a drug dealer, oui?" was the answer when he dared ask why he was always picked from the crowd.

After having finished university he immediately moved to Canada, where he is respected and he respects the police.