Samenvatting

Half of Dutch police has no confidence in the criminal justice system. Police officers complain that it is impossible to tackle crime and disorder, because as they believe, prosecutors and judges are often letting them down. This article discusses an empirical study on police attitudes towards criminal law in The Netherlands. It is found that many police officers don’t know much about the legal proceedings that follow police work. A description is presented of how police officers think about legal questions: conviction, sentencing and detention on remand. It is concluded that there is a tension between on the one hand, the operation goals of order following a moral duty to restore street justice, and the protection of legal rights of individual citizens on the other. Subsequent recommendations have to do with the working relationship between police and the judiciary.