There have been little to no empirical research conducted on trust of Dutch citizens in the police. This study is a step towards filling this gap. We used semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observations to examine to what extent citizens’ trust in the police is determined by perceptions of the effectiveness of the police to reduce crime and disorder and perceptions of procedural justice. Research was conducted in Bloemhof, a superdiverse neighbourhood in Rotterdam. The results indicate that in superdiverse neighbourhoods perceived responsiveness is the cornerstone for explaining police trustworthiness. Implications for policy reform are discussed.

Auteur gaat in op de opmars van de bestuurlijke boete in het omgevingsrecht. Michiels heeft met zijn wetenschappelijke werk in belangrijke mate aan deze opmars en de ‘route’ van die opmars bijgedragen. In haar artikel laat auteur zien dat de bestuurlijke boete steeds meer voet aan de grond krijgt in het omgevingsrecht.

Like many other European countries the Netherlands experienced a major influx of refugees in the fall of 2015. A majority of the population supported providing shelter to the refugees, but not without worries and anxieties about the effects of that influx, which sometimes lead to limited, local forms of social unrest. A study was started to shed more light on the worries and fears that existed in the population, on the assumptions these were based upon and on whether these worries and fears could lead to social unrest on a larger scale. The study was explorative, based on an eclectic, multi methods approach. The findings show that worries and anxieties were not limited to those who were opposed to the influx of migrants, but existed among supporters as well. The worries and anxieties were of a diverse nature, on topics like security, livability, economics, perceived (in)justice and socio-cultural aspects of life. A clear, credible answer or policy from the government was missed. When compared to the findings of earlier studies on the influx of migrants, some worries and anxieties seemed closely connected to what might be expected, in other cases a distinct ‘disconnect’ was found. These could be understood however when distorting mechanisms were taken into consideration that have been described in studies of more general security perceptions. As the worries and anxieties on the influx of refugees resonated other existing worries, anxieties and fears in society, a ‘cocktail of concerns’ was created that, given the right trigger, could have led to social unrest on a larger scale.

Superdiverse neighborhoods are understood as challenges; as potential ghetto’s in need for a better social mix. In this paper, ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis (ELLA) is used to study the effects of the public-private city renewal policies. ELLA not only enables a distributional image of ‘het Rabot’, a small neighborhood in the pheriphery of Ghent in Belgium, but also to sketch a stratigraphy. The ideology of social mix, in combination with the inter-urban competition for tourists and middle class inhabitants results in the hipsterification of the neighborhood. The net effect, is a disruptive influx of a creative class.

Contemporary cities are increasingly characterised by ‘super diversity’. As Putnam’s thesis about the negative social consequences of ethnic diversity is correct, we may assume that growing diversity also negatively affects crime and fear of crime in cities. After all: the more diversity, the less social cohesion and the less collective efficacy, ultimately resulting in higher crime rates. More diversity also implies less (public) familiarity in neighbourhoods and more fear of crime. On the other hand, some qualitative studies show that particularly residents of relatively homogeneous districts perceive migrants as threatening. Migrants are seen as less threatening when neighbourhood residents are familiarized with ‘the other’ and when there are more interethnic contacts. Various foreign and Dutch studies show an independent effect of ethnic diversity in the neighbourhood on fear of crime. However, this effect disappears when other resident characteristics are included into the analysis. Residents of ethnically diverse and deprived districts are generally less satisfied with their neighbourhood, have less trust in the government and are more often victimized. Precisely these perceptions and experiences explain why they more often feel unsafe in their own neighbourhood.

Radicalization in Molenbeek; Belgian dual policy obstructs integrated approach Belgisch tweesporenbeleid verhindert integrale aanpak

In this article, I report on an ethnographic research project conducted in 2013-2015 in Rotterdam’s neighbourhood Hillesluis on ‘Community Governs’, a community-based program which goal is to solve neighbourhood crime and disorder problems. By making use of the CLEAR model, the article focuses on three factors of effective participation of citizens: ‘Enabled to’, ‘Asked to’, and ‘Responded to’. The results indicate that making residents of a deprived neighbourhood responsible for the governing of safety and security issues is extremely difficult. It also becomes clear that the participants don’t believe that their involvement is making a difference in the neighbourhood. An importantly explanation for this is that the participants are not provided enough information to make the right decisions about which safety problems need to be tackled.

This article reports on a conceptual model that provides insight into the relationship between Twitter use by community policing officers and citizens’ safety perceptions. The model has been tested using data from a relatively large-scale survey study and these results are supporting the model. Furthermore, a small impact of Twitter use has been found on feelings of safety and judgments about the police. To confirm these findings, further research on a larger scale is necessary. To find out more about the exact positive and negative effects of Twitter use by community policing officers, a more experimental design is required.

This paper focusses on the cultural aspects of rural policing by analyzing the stories of rural police officers. It shows that some central elements can be found in these stories. The core element of these stories is the constructed contrast with the imagined urban police: the rural police are said to be better integrated in the local communities, have more personal and direct relations with citizens, and have other strategies to solve problems. Rural officers often feel that they are seen and treated as inferior police. In contrast to this image they emphasize that they are more competent and have better methods of policing than the urban police, by avoiding the use of violence and escalation. These stories are an important way to construct an identity as rural police. They become more manifest at the moments that the specific identity of the rural police is under threaten.

The article is an ethnographical study of Rotterdam’s experience with a program called ‘Community Governs’ (Buurt Bestuurt). Community Governs, a Dutch version of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), is a community-based program which goal is to solve neighbourhood crime and disorder problems. Community commitment and involvement are a main component of this program. The article emphasizes the effects that this program had on three levels of trust (performances, intentions and skills) of the residents in police officers and municipal service agencies as partners in the fight against crime and disorder. The results indicate that a ‘positive exercise’ of liberty through political participation of civilians is difficult to realise in poor, inner city, neighbourhoods.

From a geographical perspective, this article explores positive images of safety in the context of nightlife areas. It also considers the ways by which nightlife visitors’ experienced safety might be nurtured, as an alternative to how experienced lack of safety might be ‘prevented’. From our interviews, we find safety to emerge from interactions between many (im)material elements, and the nightlife consumers themselves. We argue that positive safety can be understood as something that envelopes and at the same time is reworked by individuals, but that does not necessarily require a conscious understanding. From this finding, we offer a different logic and rhetoric regarding safety in nightlife spaces.

How could positive security policies take shape? On what kind of empirical research should these policies be based? And what sort of concepts would we need for this development? If the starting point is to understand safety as a positive notion, it seems wise to avoid the terms of war that are prevailing in current policy programs on security and public safety (fighting, frontline and city-marines). On the other hand some type of decisive jargon might be unavoidable when one sets out to have an actual impact on youth crime policies and policy makers. Is it possible to keep using some type of military terminology in research benefitting the development of positive security policies and still emphasize a positive composition? This dilemma has arisen in recent research activities on positive, street-oriented role models in response to Dutch problematic youth groups and youth at risk. De Jong argues that with the sensitizing concept of the ‘liaison officer’ it might be possible to encourage a positive change through applied social science.

The article is an ethnographical study of a program called ‘Community Governs’ (Buurt Bestuurt) in Rotterdam’s neighborhood Hillesluis. ‘Community Governs’ is a community-based program which goal is to solve crime and disorder problems. The article investigates the role of the local government in this program. Three different roles are discerned: (1) performance, (2) procedural justice, and (3) participation. The results indicate that to the residents of Hillesluis the performance by the local government is the cornerstone of ‘Community Governs’.

Community WhatsApp consists of a group of local residents sharing information among each other on suspicious situations in the neighborhood through a smartphone app. In the southern Dutch city of Tilburg the author examined whether Community WhatsApp stimulates people to report suspicious situations through the emergency number 112. The stimulus is possibly the appreciation of other participants for being attentive and taking the initiative to call the emergency number. The author found that Community WhatsApp contributes to the diminishing of crime due to the mechanisms of disruption of criminal activities and deterrence.

This article discusses the relationship between science and professional practice from the presumption that the two need and reinforce each other. The distinction between theoretical and applied research is rather small and maybe even fictional. This is also true for research in the area of public safety. However, we deal with a very specific area of research here that sometimes requires specific requirements concerning publications and trust.

The Custodial Institutions Agency (Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen - DJI) is responsible for the incarceration of offenders, the restoration of the legal order and reducing the risk of recidivism. DJI thereby provides a unique contribution to the security of society. An individualised approach of offenders and a focus on staff expertise are at the heart of the DJI strategy.
Knowledge management can make a significant contribution to achieving these objectives. Knowledge management aims at injecting penal policy as well as practice with knowledge.
To obtain this knowledge DJI has appealed to science for quite some time. This has resulted in various forms of cooperation. This article describes the principles of this cooperation and gives many examples of ongoing cooperation. Knowledge management within DJI has to deal with two bottlenecks in particular: (1) the articulation of the exact need for knowlegde (‘asking the right questions’) and (2) the use of available relevant knowledge on behalf of penal policy and practice.

De effectiviteit van de onlangs ingevoerde Wet Markt en Overheid wordt betwijfeld. Een initiatief vanuit de Tweede Kamer stelt daarom een ‘nee-tenzij’-benadering voor een op de markt opererende overheid voor. Een schets van de voorgeschiedenis geeft aan dat een algemeen aanvaarde norm voor het marktoptreden door de overheid een onmogelijke opgave is en dat het soms welvaartsverhogend kan zijn als de overheid mee concurreert. Wel bestaat het risico van het (te) ruim interpreteren van de algemeenbelangbepaling door medeoverheden. Dit kan ondervangen worden door in het besluit de belangen nader te expliciteren en de mogelijkheden voor beroep door ondernemers te verbeteren.

The concept of undermining or subversive crime seems to be linked undistinguishably to organized crime and both terms are sometimes used synonymously. Definitions of the phenomenon are sometimes based on its effects, while others have their focus on its manifestations. Discussion on the underlying causes is lacking. Regularly, activities that actually do not relate to undermining are labeled as such.
This reflection critically examines and evaluates the concept of undermining. The central question is what has to be understood under the concept of undermining and, above all: what not? The phenomenon is further explored, with the aim of stimulating scientific debate and empirical research. The role of the government and other institutions in facilitating undermining is explicitly discussed as well as the possibilities to strengthen their resilience.

De vestiging van AZC’s in Nederland levert doorgaans heftige protesten op. Deze bijdrage laat aan de hand van een concrete casus zien dat dit niet altijd louter of vooral een kwestie is van boze burgers, maar soms ook wordt aangewakkerd door de wijze waarop door de wetgever bestuurlijke besluitvormingsprocessen zijn ingericht en de manier waarop bestuursorganen daarmee omgaan. Met name wanneer particuliere ondernemers een omgevingsvergunning aanvragen voor het vestigen van een AZC, kan een serieuze alternatievenafweging gemakkelijk worden geblokkeerd, wanneer het bevoegd gezag zich beperkt tot het nemen van een besluit op grondslag van de aanvraag. In zo’n geval hebben omwonenden weinig mogelijkheden om het achterliggende (ontbrekende) asielopvangbeleid ter discussie te stellen in bezwaar en beroep en blijkt ook een referendumverzoek om de gemeenteraad tot beleidskeuzes te dwingen geen garantie voor succes. In de sfeer van de rechtsbescherming doet zich bovendien al snel gevoelen dat het besluitbegrip als aangrijpingspunt voor bezwaar en beroep belemmert dat een geschil met de overheid in zijn totaliteit wordt bezien.