Dutch local governments increasingly decide to contract private security officers for surveillance and enforcement tasks in the public space. This article presents an analysis of the daily work of these private security officers. Local governments contract these private workers because they are faced with problems of social disorder and crime. Although the police should formally manage the work of these private security workers, in practice this task is hardly realized. These private workers are faced with four problems: their work is boring, they are uncertain about what they are expected to do, don’t know exactly what their formal powers are, and are unsatisfied about their lack of means for self-defence. Although they don’t differ in their work style from their public colleagues, their position as private worker and the flexible job they have, are hard to reconcile with what they are expected to do (like reassuring citizens).

In Denmark fire fighting is a responsibility of the local authorities, but since nearly a century communities have the possibility to outsource these duties to private companies. Falck is the dominant player on this private market. The same goes for other emergency services. The author describes the story of its founder Sophus Falck, the historical roots of Falck and how the company achieved the status of a reliable partner for the authorities. The legal basis for private firms in fire fighting is discussed as well as costs and quality of the services in an international perspective. The author concludes that Falck is a typical Danish phenomenon and the Danish model cannot be copied by other countries without restriction. At the same time the Danish experience learns that market competition may have a positive effect on the cost efficiency of fire fighting.

Private administration of justice is an online and offline reality. In this article the reality of online dispute resolution (ODR) is explored, using the example of eBay (60 million conflicts taken on each year). The issue of jurisdiction in online cases is clarified and an analysis is made of the causes of the propagation of ODR. Finally the new phenomenon of online dispute prevention (ODP) is examined. This leads to the conclusion that ODR started as an alternative form of dispute settlement, but more and more becomes a substitute for the public administration of justice.

In the opening section the author refers to the classical book of Dutch criminologist Willem Bonger on the links between poverty/social injustice and levels of crime. He then introduces his own work on the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) since 1989. The ICVS trend data on crime in Western countries during 1989 up to 2010 show a curvilinear movement peaking around 2000. The upward trend seems to track economic growth and to have mainly been caused by increased opportunities of crime. His analytical results concerning car theft and household burglary suggest that the international falls in crime since 2000 are largely caused by improved security. A comparative analysis shows for example that burglary rates have fallen in countries with high levels of home security such as Great Britain and the Netherlands and have continued to rise in low security countries such as Denmark and Switzerland. The author concludes that criminology has evolved both methodologically and theoretically since the publication of Bonger’s book in 1905. Some fundamental principles of the discipline, however, appear to have remained unchanged. Van Dijk’s own work is, just like that of Bonger, policy- oriented. It is driven by the motivation to assist governments in finding better ways to reduce suffering of human beings from crime, either as victims or as offenders.

The future of wiretapping is threatened by encryption and developments in the telecommunications industry. Internet communications changed the wiretapping landscape fundamentally. In practice it is often impossible to wiretap all possible internet connections. Not all communication providers are obliged to execute wiretap orders. This limits the use of a wiretap in an increasingly digital world. Although the content of certain encrypted Voice-over-IP communications and private messages might not be visible to law enforcement officials, the traffic data are. These traffic data show when the suspect connects to certain communication services, which provide important clues to proceed in a criminal investigation. It is important to have a discussion whether our wiretap laws need to be amended to better fit the needs of law enforcement. However, to make such a debate possible we need transparency. A good first step is to provide details and statistics about the use of internet wiretaps.

The Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure and the related guidelines of the College of Procurators-General are for all sorts of historical and ideological reasons heavily restrictive when it comes to the use of cooperative witnesses in criminal proceedings. What strikes most is that even in very serious cases it is not possible to grant a witness complete or partial immunity in exchange for his important cooperation. This contribution describes the problems arising sometimes in criminal cases wherein prosecutors, despite the existing narrow framework, make a deal with such a witness. The article outlines not only the historical and international background of the use of cooperative witnesses, but also its contemporary legal framework in the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. The outcome of this comparative exercise is that at least the current legal provisions should be evaluated and that this evaluation should take into account the system and experiences in other countries as well as the problems of serious crime in the Netherlands and the leniency policies that govern the efforts to contain serious white collar crime like e.g. cartels.

As a contribution to literature drawing together green criminology and studies of organized and corporate crime, this paper provides a case study of crimes and public health harms linked to the Naples garbage disposal crisis. The context is the inability of modern consumer society to cope with the problem of mass production of waste. In turn this leads to opportunities for both legal and criminal entrepreneurs to offer services that promise but fail to ‘dispose’ of the problem. The analysis draws upon environmental law and classic studies of organised crime.

Many species are threatened with extinction today. Certain animal species are becoming scarce and thus more valuable. Illegally traded animals and animal products are exported by relatively poor countries. These easily provide exporting papers that demonstrate that animals are bred in captivity, when in reality they are caught in the wild. In general illegally traded animals originate from South and Central America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. Europe is a major importer. Since illegal trade in animals is booming business, it is not uncommon for illegal traders in exotic animals to be associated with other forms of organised crime. Due to a relatively low risk of prosecution and high profits to be made, the trade in rare species has become very attractive.