Page 27 - Aanbevelingen om de integriteit

information on their activities and respond to requests for information from the public. Anyone can
submit a request for information under the WOB. As a main principle, government information is
public, but there are exceptions to this provided for in law. The absolute grounds for refusal include
state security, unity of the Crown or special personal data. Also, in some cases, the law enforcement
authorities have relative grounds for refusal, for example, regarding the information on
investigations. In those cases the authorities weigh the interest that is protected by the ground for
refusal in relation to specific data against the general or public interest for information. Typically, the
NPN would refuse to provide the information which gives insight into confidential investigative
strategies and methods. Substantive information on specific criminal investigations is only made
public after the consent of the Public Prosecution Service. In addition, there are rules for
communicating with the media.

130. Furthermore, the Police Data Act and the General Data Protection Regulation apply to the
processing of personal data by the NPN and the KMar. These Acts place restrictions on the provision
of such data.

131. The WOB provides access to public information. This applies also in respect of the law
enforcement agencies which, however, subject to their particular tasks are further restricted to
providing information to the public, for integrity or investigatory reasons etc. General concerns
raised earlier in this report (paragraphs 60-62) about the implementation of the WOB are also
relevant in respect of the law enforcement agencies.

Public trust in law enforcement authorities

132. The GET has no doubt that public trust in the police is recognised as crucially important for
the police in the Netherlands. This follows from a number of documents provided and interviews
held on-site. This is, for example, reflected in the Integrity Policy of the NPN (2014-2017) where it is
stated that the “Police gets it legitimacy from the trust of citizens”. This approach is also reflected
throughout the Professional Code of the Police (NPN), which informs the public of what the police
do, stand for and value. To this end, the NPN has developed various structures for building trust with
the community by being close to citizens (e.g. community policing, interactive information tools via
the Internet; web pages and social media).

133. Research in the Netherlands indicates that trust in the police is generally high and that the
police is among the most trusted institutions in the country for several years now. Public confidence
35
in the police was as high as 74.5% in 2017 (on a scale of 0-100), according to Statistics Netherlands .
Internal research from the NPN, also indicates high levels of trust in the Dutch Police 68.7 points (on
36
a scale 0-100) . Furthermore, the EU Special Eurobarometer 470 (2017) also indicates a high level of
public trust in the Police, 61 % (EU average 60%). The Commission evaluating the police reform has
indicated that the trust in the Police has not decreased following implementation of the 2012 Police
Act.

134. There is no specific research available on the level of trust in the KMar; however, the Defence
system (not limited to but including the KMar) also enjoys a high level of public trust (64.8 %).

Trade unions and professional organisations

135. More than 90% of NPN employees are members of police trade unions. There are four
national unions: the Dutch Police Union (NPB, 24 827 members), General Christian Police Union (ACP,

35 cf. https://nltimes.nl/2018/05/28/dutch-confidence-police-least-church, https://www.cbs.nl/nl-
nl/nieuws/2018/22/meer-vertrouwen-in-elkaar-en-instituties
36 “National trust and reputation research”, scholars working for the Erasmus University in Rotterdam came to these scores
in 2015. This research was ordered by the police.

27