NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6460

Text File | 1992-09-11 | 23.4 KB | 487 lines

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From: Gert van Velzen <[e-mail]>
Subject: news: items on Dutch policing, security, immigration Jul-Aug 92
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Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:30:56 GMT
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***
Amsterdam organized crime squad started.

The Amsterdam CID is presently being reorganized in an effort
to tackle organized crime. Some 500 police officers from
various departments will have to cooperate intensively to
succeed in what they call "the protection of society's
integrity". A recent survey among regional CID's indicated
that some 600 organized gangs operate in the Netherlands. A
good deal of them is active in the capital, and according to
police analysts 18% of the gangs succeeds in corrupting
employees both in government and private enterprises. The new
squad aims at dismantling one or two top syndicates and a
dozen smaller organizations each year. Confiscating illegal
profits will be one of the main means. Although the more
sophisticated hoods increasingly manage to maintain a
respectable image and limit themselves to issuing orders, the
squad's chief commissioner Mr. Bernard Welten thinks he can
still disrupt their business. "If we can't round up an
organization, that doesn't mean we just lean back. We can
throw sand in the machine of that criminal organization and
thus mess it up. How? By in a legal way making a criminal's
life a misery. By following him round the clock for example.
The crime machine is disrupted and we achieve our aim after
all".
***

Yugoslav consul expelled

Yugoslav embassy consul Mr. Radoslav Jankovic has been
expelled from the Netherlands for espionage on June 17, and an
employee at the aliens department of the ministry of justice
is suspended on suspicion of having passed on confidential
information on asylum seekers to the Yugoslav. The ministry of
the interior confirmed that Jankovic has been under BVD
(security service) surveillance for a long time. Also the
embassy's phone lines are thought to have been monitored for
the last year. Last February, the BVD in its report "Tasks,
trends and developments" mentioned having established several
cases of "active interference by foreign intelligence services
with colonies of their expatriates. Sometimes such activities
are being carried out under a diplomatic cover".
***
SIS on schedule

Two regions of the Dutch police, Rotterdam and Arnhem, will
start using the test version of the Schengen Information
System in October. This summer, police cadre is being
familiarized with the system in a series of presentations in
the country. Project manager Mr. D.A. Kotteman at the CRI
(Central Criminal Intelligence Service) believes deployment at
the Dutch borders on January 1, 1993 is feasible, but police
forces in the rest of the country will have to wait a little
longer.
***

Marines attacking drug addicts

A group of about a hundred Dutch Marines that nearly attacked
the drug addicts hanging out at Rotterdam Central Station last
June will not be prosecuted. The Marines, seeking revenge for
an alleged attack by junkies on a Marine's girlfriend, were
stopped by a mobile police patrol in riot gear waiting for
football hooligans to return to the station after a match. A
violent confrontation was avoided and several Marines were
arrested for disturbance. In the days following, hundreds of
telegrams, letters and phone calls expressing sympathy for the
action arrived at the Van Ghent Barracks were the Marines are
stationed. Although military superiors, politicians and
ministers generally condemned the incident, Amsterdam police
chief Mr. E. Nordholt and some conservative MPs showed some
understanding, saying that the group of 200 junkies caused
much nuisance and crime, and a solution had to be found.
Minister of Justice Mr. Ernst Hirsch Ballin agreed with the
Public Prosecutor that since no violence had occurred, there
was no legal basis for prosecution.
***

Dutch Top official laments tougher drugs policy

Parting Director of alcohol, drugs- and tobacco policy at the
Ministry of Welfare, Public Health and Culture Mr. E.L.
Engelsman regrets that Holland has engaged itself in the "War
on Drugs" directed by the U.S. government in the Caribbean.
The liberal character of Dutch drugs policy, now gaining
recognition abroad for its apparent effectiveness, is being
replaced by a tougher, judicial approach. Mr. Engelsman
advocates the legalization of cannabis products to enable a
concentration on problems connected with hard drugs. Recently,
the number of young addicts on hard drugs has increased,
apparently because unemployed migrant youths resort to heroin.
Mr. Engelsman, who has for sixteen years been "the face of
Dutch drugs policy", no longer wants to be involved with a
policy increasingly defined in terms of crime fighting, which
he feels is a dead end.
***

Amsterdam less popular with foreign drug addicts

Amsterdam municipal officials claim they have indications that
fewer "drug tourists" from mainly German and Italian origin
visit the Dutch capital to buy and consume harddrugs. The new,
tougher policy by the police, the local council and the
Justice Department is believed to be responsible for this.
***

Medical data on deceased Zairese asylum seeker disappeared.

Mr. Jean Muluta, the husband of Mrs. Jacqueline Jojo who died
last April because Dutch immigration authorities for two weeks
failed to recognize her serious medical condition, has for
three months been trying in vain to locate his luggage
containing medical data from a Libyan doctor who examined Mrs.
Jojo shortly before her arrival at Schiphol airport en route
to Copenhagen. Finally, Mr. Muluta and a group of supporters
went to the KLM lost luggage depot after the airline company
repeatedly claimed it couldn't find the suitcases. At the
depot, Mr. Muluta pointed out his belongings immediately, but
was surprised to find that some clothes, a photo album and the
medical data were missing from one of the cases. KLM now
claims "Murphy's Law is applicable here: everything that could
go wrong, went wrong".
***

Shortage of WPC's vs increasingly delinquent girls in Holland

The Dutch National Police Emancipation Committee (LPEC) has
severely criticized the government's plans to have at least
25% female police personnel by 1995, and says the working
climate for women with the police is a disaster. At present,
less than 13% of the force consists of women, most of them
serving in the lower ranks. Of the officers working in the
higher echelons only 2% is female. Primary reasons for this
are the very women-unfriendly professional culture and missing
career opportunities. Flexible working schedules and child
care are virtually non-existent.

Over the last two years, criminality among girls has seen a
very strong increase, according to a report by the Justice
Department's study center WODC. Women in Holland now account
for twenty percent of registered criminality, with a
noticeable increase in violent and white-collar crimes. The
researchers believe this to be a reflection of the changes in
women's roles in society as a whole.
Journalists reacted to these figures by going out on the
street to locate girl-gangs that reportedly beat up fellow
citizens selected indiscriminately just for fun. Probation
officers and others working with these girls claim that most
of them hold very traditional values, combined with macho and
violent behavior. Justice Department researchers are now
preparing themselves for more field work to be conducted the
coming months.
***

Most asylum seekers end up in Holland by coincidence

A University of Amsterdam research team that surveyed 677
asylum seekers from Ghana, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Rumania
and Somalia, concluded that fifty percent came to Holland
through mediation by family members or others. A third of the
asylum seekers intentionally choose the Netherlands because
they already had family there or on the basis of a positive
image of Dutch society. Many asylum seekers feel undesired
aliens, and long for more contacts with Dutch people and
possibilities to familiarize themselves with Dutch society.
Many complain over loss of self-respect and the lacking of
structure in their daily lives.
***

Chinese tradespeople complains over criminal asylum seekers

In the last six months, dozens of complaints have been
registered from owners of Chinese restaurants claiming
extortion attempts by Chinese asylum seekers. Police officials
consider this remarkable, since traditionally Chinese citizens
are seldom inclined to turn to the police for help. It appears
that Chinese organized crime has taken care of the hundreds of
turned down asylum seekers believed to live illegally in
Holland. These illegal aliens, most of whom only speak
Chinese, hardly have an alternative to accepting the
"protection" from fellow Chinese in return for doing "odd
jobs".
***

Alternatives for traditional border controls advocated

The new Dutch Aliens Administration System (VAS) turns out to
be very useful in a new form of border control. Director-
General Mr. H.P.A. Nawijn of the Ministry of Justice's Aliens
Department suggests that Schengen countries should
increasingly turn to exchanging passenger- and crew lists of
airplanes, trains and busses. In this way, persons checks can
be planned well in advance. Another alternative mentioned by
Mr. Nawijn is the shifting of border checks to countries
abroad. Experimental checks made in secret by Marechaussee
(military border police) at Accra airport in Ghana on planes
before departure have showed to be very effective.
***

Asylum seekers center to become part prison

The center for turned-down asylum seekers, the
"Grenshospitium" which was opened last spring in Amsterdam
looks and feels like a prison, but government officials
referred to it as "the next best thing to a hotel". And
besides, the gate was always open for the "guests" to leave,
but only in one direction: out of the country.
In June however, the minister of Justice announced plans to
start this summer with using the "hospitium" for illegal
aliens convicted of criminal acts. Staff employees and MPs
expressed concern over establishing two regimes in one
compound and the damage this would do to the public image of
the "hospitium", but a parliamentary majority is expected to
agree with the proposal, motivated by the shortage of
available prison cells. This has resulted in several cases of
releasing suspects of violent crimes, as well as emergency
initiatives such as the reopening of old, unused prison cells,
the installing of a "container jail" and the use of army
prison cells.
***

The number of phone tapping warrants issued to the Dutch
police has again increased in 1991 to 2071 cases, 888 of which
were drug-related. One warrant can cover several subscribers,
the average being almost two per warrant. The police notices
that criminals show an increasing awareness of the risks of
discussing sensitive matters over the phone, and many of them
resort to using faxes, computer communication or encryption
equipment. Cellular car phones are also popular, since they
are more difficult to monitor permanently, as is the new PTT
service of switching incoming calls to another subscriber, the
so-called "follow-me" system. PTT has recently adapted this
service to allow police to monitor such calls, but Justice
Department officials still complain that the privatized phone
company increasingly fails to take their needs into account
when offering new communication services to the public. The
new ISDN-network now being implemented and the Europe-wide car
phone network to be opened in 1994 are mentioned as examples
of "intraceable communication channels".

PTT Telecom has started logging detailed traffic data on all
telephone calls, thus preparing for a new customer service to
be introduced next year that will allow detailed bills listing
all calls made from a subscriber's connection. Over 300,000
subscribers such as journalists, lawyers and aid services,
have already indicated they want to use the option of not
having their number listed on other people's bills, but these
data will still be kept on a database accessible by a.o. the
justice department. Press representatives have already voiced
concern over the possibly unlimited access of authorities to
the PTT database, which will allow them to locate confidential
sources of journalists and whistleblowers informing on dubious
political or corruption practices.
Numbers not listed in the phone directory and secret numbers
will not show up in any bill. Standard bills will only list
the costs by category. Customers wanting detailed bills
listing all numbers called pay 1.5 p extra per call. The Dutch
phone company claims the option of screening off phone numbers
is unique in the world.

On July 14, the well-known Dutch lawyer Mr. P. Doedens stated
in a Den Bosch court that his client, accused of dealing in
XTC pills, has been the victim of an illegal audio
surveillance operation by the narcotics police. Since the
recent Dutch Supreme Court ruling that allowed police
monitoring of conversations in a room by means of telephones
that were accidently not hung up properly, a great number of
cases against drug dealers have been carried through on the
basis of evidence collected in this way. Mr. Doedens claimed
this has happened too often to be merely a coincidence, and
called on a telephone expert, Mr. Rop Gonggrijp, to clarify
this matter. Mr. Gonggrijp testified in court that it is
possible to remotely switch on the microphone of almost any
telephone while the receiver is still in its cradle, without
having to tamper with the telephone itself. This can be done
from any place between the telephone and the telephone
exchange by putting a high-frequency carrier (approx. 100-150
khz) on the line which turns the telephone switch into a
capacitor, thus enabling the microphone signal to be passed on
to the exchange. Mr. Gonggrijp described an experiment, in
which he succeeded in monitoring conversations in his own
living room from a remote place using the high-frequency
technique. He announced the publication of both the necessary
equipment for the monitoring and the circuitry that would
detect a HF carrier signal on a line. Former policeman Mr. A.
Velraath, also called upon by Mr. Doedens to testify,
confirmed that several former colleagues and a PTT employee
had ensured him that the legal procedures for telephone
monitoring were regularly bypassed, but that none of these
still-serving functionaries dared to testify in court for fear
of their jobs.
This technique, called "radio frequency flooding", is well-
known among activists since the late 1970s, when the British
security services used it on PIRA targets. It seems to be
quite difficult to obtain a sufficient sound quality to enable
useful monitoring, and the obvious protection against it is
simply pulling the plug before commencing any sensitive
conversations. According to our own information, British MI5
applied this technique in the 1950s under the cryptonym
CABMAN.
Mr. Gonggrijp's demonstration forced PTT technicians, after
initial denials in court, finally to confirm the technical
feasability of the "radio frequency flooding" technique. PTT
officials claim that operational usage of the technique by the
police is highly unlikely (apart from it being illegal)
because of its unreliability. A PTT ad hoc research committee
established to investigate Mr. Gonggrijp's accusations did
succeed in an experiment involving the monitoring of a
telephone remotely from the telephone exchange. PTT Telecom
now markets special plugs with a build-in capacitor to shield
any HF-signals on the line. The PTT chooses a 0.33 nanofarad
capacitor, radio amateurs advise using a 10 nf value.
The court however, decided to ignore all the technicalities
and allowed the evidence gathered by what the police claimed
were conversations overheard while "telephones were
accidentally left off the hook".

***

New ammo for police sidearms fails to meet needs

For 13 years the Dutch police and politicians have debated
over the replacement of the old 9mm full metal jacket bullet,
which is believed to be unsuited for police use because in
many cases it penetrates a body and exits again without
incapacitating the person shot at, thus endangering innocent
bystanders and the police. Finally a totally new bullet, the
"model Action 3" based on modified hollow point technology,
was designed to meet the seemingly incompatible specifications
of stopping power combined with non-lethal and operable
wounds. Ballistics experts had warned that the new bullet
wouldn't satisfy police needs, and six months of experience
have now proven them right. It still takes several shots to
stop a suspect, which has already caused the death of one
suspect, and the risk of "shooting through" a suspect remains.
The police technical services department has reopened talks
with foreign defense industries in its continuing quest for
the humane yet effective Silver Bullet.
***

Dutch banks report dfl 167 million on "dubious" transactions

In the first five months since the beginning of the
"gentleman's agreement" between banks and the police in
January 1992 to report all "unusual transactions", incidents
totalling dfl 167 million (approx. BP 50 million) have been
registered, according to a CRI (Centrale Recherche
Informatiedienst, central criminal intelligence service)
spokesman. An estimated 80 percent of the banks and exchange
offices keep to the agreement, but branch offices of foreign
banks do not participate. Therefore, the actual amount
involved in "unusual transactions" is believed to be
substantially higher.
Since January 1, banking activities connected to money
laundering are liable to punishment, and all financial
transactions involving large amounts of cash in small
denominations or those carried out by persons behaving
conspicuously should be reported by regular banks. Police
officials are increasingly worried about the growing number of
small exchange offices in the larger cities. In Amsterdam
only, some 50 such offices have opened lately. Almost anyone
can start such a business, since the exchanging of currencies
is not considered a banking activity and is therefore not
subject to any financial control. "If you see the number of
these offices and you count the number of tourists, it is
quite clear that they can never live of the supply of money of
those tourists alone", the CRI spokesman says. "In these
exchange offices the first step in the laundering process is
often made".
***

HAVANK fingerprints database identifies racist bomber.

A series of bomb attacks on migrant houses and businesses in
The Hague has been solved by tracing a fingerprint, left on a
bomb that failed to detonate when placed on the site of a
multi-cultural festival last July. The CRI's HAVANK database,
containing data on 600,000 individuals with previous police
contacts, took 23 minutes to make a connection, instead of the
average 10 man-years that a manual search used to take. The
system, operational since 1990, has been used in 812 incidents
last year to identify an anonymous fingerprint left on the
scene of a crime. The 35-year old The Hague suspect has been
arrested and made a confession. Initial research indicates no
substantial connection to organized extremist right-wing
circles.
***

The Dutch central criminal intelligence service CRI writes in
its annual report over 1991 that while an estimated 600
criminal gangs involved in serious and organized crime are now
operating in Holland, there is at present no indication of
Italian Mafia activities. Police in France, Germany and
Belgium do report increasing Mafia presence within their
borders. In Holland, most of the perpetrators are still from
Colombian (cocaine) and Turkish (heroin) origins, although the
increase in criminal activities in Middle and East-Europe is a
reason for concern. The CRI does not believe the lifting of
border controls in 1993 will lead to an increase in "mafia-
like" organizations in Holland. "They do not care about the
present border checks", a CRI spokesman said. The police even
expects it will benefit from the 1993 measures, as it will
necessitate a better cooperation and bring about an improved
information exchange.
***

Obligatory identification bill presented

The Dutch government has presented a bill requiring persons in
certain categories and situations to identify themselves to
government functionaries. Parliament is expected to discuss
the matter in October.
In the following situations citizens are required to identify
themselves upon request:
- the use of public transport without a valid ticket;
- at soccer matches in the event of punishable acts or
disturbances of public order;
- when applying for a social-fiscal identification number;
- when accepting a job, toward an employer;
- at certain financial transactions, e.g. at banks;
- when having an act drawn up by a notary's office;
- at work in case of controls related to social security and
illegal employment;
- in case of inspections by the Alien Branch for illegal
residence.
***

Ministry of Justice demands veto over dissertation

The Dutch Ministry of Justice has asked a court to oblige
academic researcher Mr. Anil Ramdas to present all his
publications, including a Ph.D. study, to a Ministry screening
board before publication. Mr. Ramdas attended closed meetings
of the advise commission for Alien Affairs in 1988, in which
the commission hears asylum seekers whose requests have been
turned down. Last year, Amnesty International asked Mr. Ramdas
to give a talk describing his experiences with the appeal
procedures, after which the Justice Department started summary
proceedings to withhold Mr. Ramdas from disclosing
confidential information. The researcher described the appeal
procedures, which in some 4 percent of the cases lead to a
review, as a "tragic ritual" in which a body incapable of
dealing with all requests goes through the motions just to
allow the Dutch public a certain peace of mind. The Ministry
of Justice states that dozens of researchers are allowed
access to confidential procedures and situations. They all
sign confidentiality agreements, and this is the first time
anyone chooses to violate them.
After studying the rather vague confidentiality agreement that
Mr. Ramdas signed before commencing his research, the judge
last year allowed him to continue with his publications in a
"responsible manner". A ruling to which the Ministry of
Justice has now appealed.
Mr. Ramdas, who expects to finish his dissertation next year,
agrees to present it to the advisory commission before
publication to allow discussion over disagreements. "This is
my interpretation of the agreements. But I know that Justice
holds a different view: they want a veto over it", says Mr.
Ramdas, who feels that confidentiality is enforced in this
case to avoid a critical presentation of sensitive practices.
He denies painting a negative picture. "My research is all
about the question how a society holding humanitarian ideals
can turn against the coming of migrants and asylum seekers.
One of my explanations is that the welfare state has limited
capacities. The treatment of asylum requests takes place in a
situation of impotence. This results in a ritual which allows
politics to stay out of the process while giving the asylum
seekers the impression that they get a fair chance."

 * Activist Press Service, Amsterdam NL, bbs [phone]