The structural vulnerability of the port of Rotterdam to organized crime is dealt with in this article from a broader, historical perspective. Using examples from ports in Italy and the United States, among others, the author shows how at the end of the last century local criminal groups managed to gain a dominant position in the handling of good flows. The author discusses various research reports that have been published over the years on the import of drugs into the port of Rotterdam and other European ports. Drug traffickers turn out to respond very flexible to stricter controls by simply moving to alternative ports or opting for transferring drug loads to small fast boats in open water. The author emphasizes that ports should not be studied as isolated transition points, but must be considered as nodes in networks that extend far inland and abroad. This is the only way to see the broader strategic and tactical options for stopping or reducing drug trafficking. In addition, attention must be paid to the problem of corruption among port workers, police and customs officers.

This ethnography of everyday policing realities in the European ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg presents an understanding of policing spaces where protecting and supporting global commerce dominate. In undertaking this research, the author participated in the daily activities of 85 participants in Rotterdam (N=52) and Hamburg (N=33), consisting of 30 operational port police officers, 31 security officers, 10 customs officers and 14 others involved in port security-related matters (e.g. shipping agents, port authorities, boatmen and maritime engineers). These participants were collectively responsible for protecting the vulnerability of the just-in-time logistics by becoming the intervention, through which they become the very local threat to global commerce itself. A struggle that reveals itself in their (narrated) policing struggles with management, colleagues and multi-agency partners, as well as with the maritime business community and dangerous others.

In this article, a recently published Dutch book on corruption in the port of Rotterdam is reviewed. De Schiedamse cocaïnemaffia. Een corrupte douanier, doorgewinterde criminelen en duizenden kilo’s coke was written by journalist Jan Meeus from NRC Handelsblad. The book can be seen as a case study of a customs officer – Gerrit – who fell for the big money. It gives a good insight into the connection between the legal and the illegal world and how this is experienced by those involved. The information in the book is based on seven large criminal files and dozens of conversations with people mentioned in those files. Meeus also attended the criminal proceedings intensively. It is now known that the film rights of the book have been sold and that Meeus will be writing the screenplay for the feature film together with director Jean van der Velde.

The Netherlands functions as an important source and transit country for international organized drug trafficking. This is in part due to its large logistical nodes in the world economy, like the airport and the seaport. Based on in-depth analyses of sixteen cases of the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor, this article explores how drug traffickers operate at logistical nodes, in particular airports. The results demonstrate that organized crime groups deploy mainly three types of tactics to traffic drugs, namely defying, avoiding, and neutralizing security checks. Occupational embeddedness is manifested through several job-related factors. Autonomy, mobility, and the similarity between legitimate duties and criminal activities facilitate discrete engagement in organized crime activities during work time. Port employees are also attractive to organized crime groups because of their job-related social capital and knowledge.

This article focuses on the challenges associated with public-private partnerships in tackling drug crime in the port of Rotterdam. The authors identified the actors involved in the fight against drug crime and, more generally, security in the port. The authors show how these various actors view the subject of drug crime (so-called mentalities), what they set as objectives (finalities) and how they try to achieve these objectives. Subsequently the various aspects of the interactions between these actors are being analyzed. The article is empirically based on 76 interviews with public and private actors in the port of Rotterdam, that were conducted in the period from January 2018 to February 2019, and an analysis of literature, news items, government reports and other documents.

Dutch youth care was decentralized in 2015. Since the transfer to the municipalities, youth care is in a state of deep crisis. There are long waiting lists, even in situations of acute need; there is lack of money, of professional and experienced staff, of adequate care, and of central coordination and guidance. In contrast to Denmark, where youth care was transferred to municipalities in 2007, there was barely time to prepare the transfer in the Netherlands. Moreover, the number of municipalities was not significantly reduced and the funding was extremely cut back. In this article, a number of interventions is being proposed to save what can still be saved. First, funding will have to be substantially increased. Second, the access to youth mental health care should not be a matter of municipal authority.

The importance of family-centered care in residential youth care is widely recognized in research, as well as in practice and policies. Involving parents in residential treatment is frequently associated with positive outcomes. However, applying a family-centered vision in the practice of residential youth care remains challenging. A program for family-centered care is developed by the Academic Workplace for Risk Youth (AWRJ). The program emphasizes the importance of involving parents from the start of the placement. Parents should be informed about family activities in the institution. Professionals treat parents as ‘experts’ concerning their child and involve them in decisions. Furthermore, parents are asked about their needs and supported for participation. Another important part of the program is the possibility to start systemic therapy during placement and continuing the therapy when the youth returns home. This article also discusses how to overcome barriers in involving parents and how this program can be implemented successfully.

Among the asylum seekers arriving in Europe are unaccompanied minors (UMAs). As a result of the often traumatic experiences before and during their flight, many have mental health problems. The question is how they cope in the country of destination. After the flight, the plight is not over: destination countries are often not welcoming in all respects, UMAs may encounter violence in reception facilities, and experience stress related to the asylum procedure and possible family reunification, as well as worries about relatives left behind. Although UMAs are also known to be resilient, and most are supported by family members and/or significant others, there are worries about their transition to adulthood. When they turn 18, they have to deal with the developmental tasks that come with that age, as well as to come to terms with past experiences. At the same time their guardianship ends, and they are supposed to manage on their own in the relatively new country. Many UMAs seem to manage, but it would be helpful if the 18 years age limit could be used flexible when necessary.

In view of the recent problems arising from the decentralization of the Dutch youth care system, this article examines whether the Netherlands could learn from decentralization experiences in other countries. The author focuses on Denmark, where such decentralization took place fairly recently. In addition, elements of the organization of youth care in Germany and Norway are also discussed. It becomes clear that the Netherlands has a relatively complex system with many different organizations with overlapping tasks and powers. In the Netherlands, much attention is paid to control and risk management. In Denmark, on the other hand, there is much more confidence in the capacities of parents and children to find solutions. It is noticeable that in the vast majority of cases there is consensus between parents, child/youngster and care providers about how to deal with the problems. The most important lesson that the Netherlands can learn from abroad – and especially the Danes – is: invest in underlying values and principles and give professionals and families time, support and space.

This article analyzes the decentralization and transformation of Dutch youth care since 2015. The authors point out that many problems still exist and in some cases have become worse. To fundamentally reform youth care much more is needed than just money or a system change. It is necessary, also according to international research, to create a strong pedagogical basis or ‘pedagogical civil society’. Also prevention on various levels (universal, selective, indicated) should receive a lot of attention, while the same applies to improving primary care support, such as youth health care, GP practice support, youth work and school social work. It would also be wise to invest in intensive youth care with long-lasting effects. Generally there should be a strong focus on tackling local and (supra)regional social issues.

Trendwatching is a tool to get a better grip on what happens next and as such it is used by the Dutch Financial and Fiscal Investigation Service (FIOD) to explore possible futures of financial crime with a time lap of two years. The author describes how trendwatching works. In this case a platform Trends4fi (www.trends4fi.org) was created with a website, a mobile app and trend groups to generate foresights in cooperation with connected networks from public and private organisations. This is called network trendwatching, in fact a social intelligence tool designed to generate as much new information and new insights on developments which might have an impact on financial crime and the fight against it.

Threats, vulnerabilities, and new forms of attack within the cyber domain develop rapidly. To keep up with and respond to these trends, cyber security professionals must demonstrate reaction velocity, accuracy and a high tolerance for complexity. Publicly available information (PAI) can serve as an important aid to personnel engaged in cyber security analysis. However, evaluation of cyber analytical capacity – a pre-requisite for any measurement of quality or improvement – is still inchoate. This article covers the concept and design of an initial phase of research begun in October 2018 in The Netherlands to measure and improve cyber analysis techniques. The research program features a forecasting tournament to record participants’ probabilistic estimates on future cyber outcomes based exclusively on PAI knowledge acquisition. This phase of research seeks to address whether analysts’ predictions are more accurate in certain subjects within the cyber domain than in others and to assess how predictive accuracy in the cyber domain compares to accuracy in other domains in which forecasting tournaments have been organized.

This article focusses on the question whether quantitative modelling and simulation is useful for judicial forecasting, ex-ante testing of judicial policies, and (re)designing chains of organisations like the judicial chain. Specific attention is given to methods that can be used in the face of complexity and deep uncertainty. That is, when facing many substantial uncertainties. Complexity and uncertainty are first of all focused on. Subsequently, modelling methods for dealing with complexity and uncertainty are discussed in more detail, examples are given, and the process needed to build such models in a participatory way is discussed.