Shootings in broad daylight, robberies and stabbings: the problems are big in Roosendaal. Mayor Han van Midden has already taken drastic measures, now that everyone can be searched on all roads entering and leaving the city. Whether you did something or not. And he has spoken again with the minister of justice because he wants many more officers. But still without success.
Van Midden called it a good conversation, but those extra agents are not there yet. “It is said, ‘there is no tree to shake’. But there is,” he says in the Omroep Brabant program KRAAK. There are enough police officers, but they are not evenly distributed across the country, says Van Midden. “There are many more police officers in Amsterdam, where a million people live, than in the entire area between Vlissingen and Tilburg. While there, one and a half million people live on a multiple of square kilometers.”
“Roosendaal is very central for criminals.”
And Roosendaal is then seen as a ‘provincial town’, for crime it is precisely one hotspot. And Van Midden does have a theory for why that is. “The location of Roosendaal is very strategic for many criminals. We are located exactly at the intersection of the Rotterdam – Antwerp line and the Vlissingen – Tilburg line. We have two highways that run along the city, and it is close to the border.”
In addition, the city has a ‘vulnerable profile’, as he calls it: “There used to be a lot of industry here, but that industry is now gone. As a result, there is a lot of unemployment.” It is a large sum of factors, says the mayor. “That location, the social vulnerability, it all adds up to a pressure cooker and causes an accumulation of problems.”
“We don’t even have enough agents for the core tasks.”
The municipality invests millions in long-term prevention, says the mayor. “To ensure that children who are now in primary school are not attracted to crime.” But that does not solve the current problems. In addition, many of the criminals who cause problems in Roosendaal come from outside the city, says Van Midden. “Many criminals from outside Roosendaal come here to settle their affairs, you have seen that recently with those shootings.”
For today’s problems, extra agents are necessary. That is what the mayor pleaded again. Because there are not even enough officers for the basic tasks of the police, he says. “We don’t even have 100 percent staffing for the core tasks.” How do you want to tackle extra crime, he wants to say.
He would like to personally collect those extra men and women in blue from Mayor Halsema in Amsterdam. “Femke can certainly expect me for coffee. Only she is not about it. The minister is about it.” And the minister, he does not give home yet.
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2023-05-14 15:23:02
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