Five police officers from the Horst / Peel and Maas unit in North Limburg who were recently definitively fired, are contesting that dismissal in court. In an interview with De Telegraaf they say that they are looking for rehabilitation, but that they never want to work for the police again.
The cops are fired for serious dereliction of duty, including harassment, subversive behavior, intimidation, violation of professional secrecy and misuse of powers. According to the police, this is evident from WhatsApp messages and information in the police systems that were viewed during the disciplinary investigation.
In the interview with De Telegraaf, the agents acknowledge that they have gone too far in their private WhatsApp groups. For example, they would have called a colleague a “greasy stinktrut” who should only be “flickered under a bus” and a female chef they would have described as “dredged greasy pull sow”. They also shared photos of injured detainees and people who had committed suicide.
“Not neat,” says one of the fired officers. “But if you as a group of agents are confronted with all the misery on a daily basis, that is a kind of processing.” Moreover, their managers were also in the app group and they never intervened. They believe that they have been punished too severely and that the investigation did not go well.
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