factor the documents are analysed at first. This research uses two types of documents. On the one hand there are documents that say something about radicalization and/or the police on a more regional or national level. On the other hand this research uses documents that explicitly say something about the situation in The Hague with regard to radicalization and/or the police. The more general documents are explained at first. After the analysis of documents, the results of the interviews show to what extent the policies are really implemented and working in practice. The explanation for this order is that the analysis of documents clarifies and explains the policy behind a certain factor.
4.1 Problem solving orientation: address, resolve and prevent problems in a community
On a national level, the Dutch police academy describes this role of the police. They argue that the National Police has high expectations of their NP’s. The aim is that these NP’s cooperate with local governments, social organizations and civilians to offer an important contribution for interference on a local level. They have to achieve this with a problem-solving approach. This approach also enhances citizen participation (Politieacademie, 2013). Another document, of the police itself, also contributes to the perception that the police have a problem-solving approach. It says that the police maintain contact with external partners. Together with these partners, problems are discussed and there is consultation about how to deal properly with these problems (Politie, 2018). Furthermore, the 2016-year report of the police also
describes the role of the NP. The NP knows their area and their neighbourhood and they know what problems play in a neighbourhood. Together with involved actors and local partners, these NP’s investigate how to address these problems and how to prevent it (Politie, 2017). There is also an advisory report of the police in which the main functions of an NP are discussed. One element is that the participation of a community is very important for the police on a local level. With the help of the community the police are better able to address, resolve and prevent problems in this community (Politie onderwijsraad, 2017). In these documents the police do refer to this factor of COP. It is important to note that these documents do not say directly something about this factor for the police in The Hague. However, it is a main task for a Dutch NP to use a problem-solving approach and to address, resolve and prevent problems.
Documents of the municipality of The Hague point more directly on the essence of this problem in their policies for the municipality of The Hague. For example, in 2014, the municipality of The Hague constructed a program against polarisation, radicalization and jihadism for 2015-2019. Two core tasks were central in this local policy: to re-socialize the returned jihad fighters and the prevention focused on persons and groups with a high-risk factor on radicalization. In this program the role of the police and the NP is mentioned specifically. There should be more attention for the police and there should be an expansion in the number of NP’s to better deal with this problem. The NP is the connection with the community and is therefore able to notice some signals of radicalization in an early stage (Gemeente Den Haag, 2015). The role of the police is mentioned specifically when it comes to solve the problem of radicalization.
The respondents stress the importance of a problem-solving approach within their work as an NP. Most of the respondents say that it is a just a task of the NP to deal with problems and to have a preventive role in certain problems. Radicalization is one of these problems and they have to deal with this problem on a regular basis. For example, respondent V organizes information meetings on primary schools to inform children about the Islam and radicalization. This example shows that an NP tries to educate children on a sensitive subject. The idea behind this information meeting is to convince these children that these radical beliefs are not acceptable in our Dutch society. In other words, the respondent tries to prevent people at an early stage to sympathize with radical beliefs. Another example that shows that an NP deals
with problems comes from respondent VIII. Respondent VIII argues that there are sometimes problems with young children who cause nuisance in a neighbourhood. She, as an NP, then tries to solve these problems together with the community. It is not directly related with radicalization, but it stresses the presence of this factor of COP in the daily work of NP’s. The majority of the respondents also argue that there is a mutual understanding between them and citizens in which citizens can address problems and try to solve problems together with the police. Multiple respondents point on the same example. In the last couple of years there were a lot of problems with New Year’s Eve in the Schilderswijk. The police searched actively with local inhabitants to come up with an idea to prevent these problems in the future. Eventually, both parties found a solution to this problem and the consequences were positive. This is the best example given by the respondents to point on the mutual understanding between citizens and NP’s. On the other hand, there are also some problems with the cooperation between NP’s and the community. However, these problems are more explicitly discussed for the factor: engage, respond and partner with communities.
The results of the interviews show also some difficulties with regard to this factor of COP. The respondents share the opinion that the police have a capacity problem. Police officers should be better trained on this subject to deal with the problem of radicalization. For this factor of COP, the shortage of people within the police organization has consequences. Respondent V has a strong opinion on this point. In his eyes the shortage of people within the police causes a high pressure to deal with this topic. Nowadays, radicalization is something that the neighbourhood police officers have to do besides their other duties. That is simply too much. As a consequence, NP’s have less time to deal with one or another problem. Therefore, the problem-solving approach and the points to address, resolve and prevent problems within a community could be in danger.
To conclude, the documents and the interviews both give positive signals for the presence of this factor of COP to deal with the problem of radicalization. However, the capacity problem within the police could be a danger for a perfect implementation of this factor.