The failure of the police communication system, C2000, during the recent New Year's Eve has raised deep concerns within the police organization and trade unions.
Although Minister of Justice David van Weel suspects that overload may be the cause, the exact reason remains unclear. Police union ACP and officers are strongly critical of the functioning of the system, which has been struggling with malfunctions for years.
C2000, the communication network that connects police, fire brigade and other emergency services, has existed since 2003 and has long been known for technical problems. For example, the system failed in 2009 during the beach riots in Hoek van Holland, where a police bullet claimed the life of a man. At that time, too, officers were temporarily unable to communicate with each other. Acting ACP chairman Ramon Meijerink states that the lack of reliability of C2000 is a structural problem. "This is no longer an incidental failure; the system is simply broken," says Meijerink at the NOS.
The outage during the past New Year's Eve fortunately did not cause any major incidents, but the impact on the work of police officers was noticeable. Meijerink reports that many officers were unable to perform their work properly because they were missing crucial information. "In reports that require fast and accurate communication, such as a suspect with a knife, it is unacceptable that these resources fail," he emphasizes.
unsafe
An anonymous police officer shares his experiences during the outage at Nieuwsuur. “A report came in about a person with a knife. We couldn’t hear what this person looked like or where exactly he was. This is extremely dangerous, both for us and for the public,” he says. Even more shocking is the news that the emergency button on the walkie-talkies, intended for situations in which officers need immediate assistance, also didn’t work. “When I heard that the red button wasn’t working, I realized that we were really in danger. It’s unacceptable that we didn’t know at that moment that the system was letting us down,” the officer says.
The problems with C2000 have been around for a long time. Since 2003, the police and fire brigade, but also Rijkswaterstaat and other government services have been using the network, and it has been struggling with disruptions since the beginning.
According to Meijerink, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police are aware of the urgency, but there is a lack of concrete action. “We have been crying out for improvements for years, but so far too little has happened. This is the lifeline of emergency services. Without a reliable communication system, we cannot do our work,” he says. He fears that without immediate action, the situation will escalate again next year.
political reaction
Minister Van Weel indicated that a possible cause could be network congestion, but this has not yet been confirmed. The ministry and the National Police have announced that they will thoroughly investigate the incident. However, this does not inspire much confidence among officers and unions, who have heard similar promises too often without noticeable improvements.
The question remains how often the police will have to rely on a system that fails time and time again. While technology advances, C2000 seems stuck in the previous century. For police officers and emergency services, the cup is full. “If the system is not addressed, the safety of both citizens and police officers is at stake. That is unacceptable,” concludes Meijerink.
