In 2025, almost 3 million people in the Netherlands fell victim to traditional forms of crime such as violence, sexual offences and property crimes, while 17% of the population were victims of online crime. Police expenditure in 2024 totalled € 8.1 billion, representing 32% of the Ministry of Justice and Security’s total budget. An audit by the Netherlands Court of Audit has found the police to have many different priorities in criminal investigations. These sometimes competing priorities mean that not all serious crimes reported or notified to the police and causing major societal harm are processed. On top of that, details of the outcomes of investigations launched by the police themselves are not recorded. Similarly, the Minister of Justice and Security and the police commissioner have no information on the share of the total police budget spent on criminal investigations.
Almost a quarter of serious crimes reported are not processed
Image: Politie, BOSZ 2024; WODC and Netherlands Court of Audit. CHI; Netherlands Court of Audit. As the figures are rounded to the nearest 50, the total of the individual numbers differs from the total number of crime reports that were not processed.
Of the 42,000 reported serious crimes, almost a quarter (over 10,000) were not processed. More than half of these were classified as other crimes, 3,450 as aggravated burglary, 550 as violent crime, 200 as sexual offences, 750 as other high-impact crimes and 100 as crime that undermines society.
Almost a quarter of serious crimes reported were not processed
Almost a quarter of crimes (or over 10,000 incidents) with a high Crime Harm Index score and reported in 2024 were not processed during the year. These crimes, reported or notified by citizens and businesses, include violent crimes, as well as crimes such as the production of hard drugs and identity fraud. Around 7,000 crime reports were immediately dismissed by the police, while a further 3,000 were discontinued at an early stage owing to a lack of capacity at the police or the Public Prosecution Service. The Court of Audit found major regional differences. The Rotterdam police, for example, immediately chose not to investigate a relatively high (19%) number of serious crimes reported in comparison with their counterparts in East-Netherlands (12%) and Limburg (11%). By contrast, decisions to discontinue investigations at an early stage were seen more often in Limburg (13%) than in East-Netherlands (8%) and Rotterdam (7%).
Lack of information on investigation expenditure and outcomes
In 2024, the police themselves launched almost 12,000 investigations based, for example, on their own intelligence. Although over 12,300 FTE (or almost three quarters of total police numbers assigned to criminal investigations) were deployed on these activities, it is not known whether they resulted in interventions, such as arrests or prosecutions of suspects.
Little insight into investigation results
Similarly, neither the Minister of Justice and Security nor the commissioner is able to state or establish how much of the police budget is spent on criminal investigations. This is because the police’s administration system does not provide a break-down of the relevant expenditure. As well as this making it largely impossible to manage investigations efficiently and effectively, it also impacts on the House of Representatives’ ability to subject the budget to proper parliamentary scrutiny. According to the Court of Audit’s own calculations, the police are estimated to spend € 3.3 billion (41%) of their total budget on criminal investigations.
Criminal investigation account for highest estimated share of the costs of the 4 statutory tasks
Image: Beeld: Politie, Financiële administratie 2024; edited by Netherlands Court of Audit. As the FTE figures for each police investigation team are rounded off to the nearest 100, the total of the individual FTE differs from the total of 16,600 FTE primarily deployed in investigations.
The estimated cost of criminal investigations is €3.3 billion; the estimated cost of other law enforcement duties is €0.3 billion (both under the authority of public prosecutors). The estimated costs of protection and security, maintaining public order and safety, and assisting people in need are €0.3 billion, €2.6 billion and €1.9 billion respectively (all under the authority of mayors).
Crime Harm Index
For the purposes of this audit, the Court of Audit developed a Crime Harm Index (CHI) for the Netherlands in liaison with the Dutch Research and Data Centre (WODC). This method expresses the severity of a crime as the average number of days of detention imposed for that crime, as shown in the following table.
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Relatively low severity |
Relatively high severity |
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Competing priorities present challenge for the police
Decisions on which crimes to prioritise are taken at various levels and from various perspectives. At a national level, priorities are set by the Minister of Justice and Security in the Security Agenda and by the Public Prosecution Service in the Investigation Guidelines, while some scope is also available for regional and local prioritisation. These many different priorities, some of which may compete with each other, are difficult to handle, given that police capacity is by definition limited.
The audit found that crimes of relatively low severity are sometimes prioritised at the expense of more serious crimes or crimes causing greater societal harm. The Minister of Justice and Security, for example, prioritises cybercrime and crimes involving digital technology, whereas many (but not all) of these crimes have only a low or moderate CHI score. The same applies to certain crimes prioritised by the Public Prosecution Service, such as shoplifting caught in the act of being committed and the possession of hard or soft drugs. On the other hand, some serious crimes, such as arson and identity theft, are not regarded as priorities. Meanwhile, high numbers of serious crimes, including some violent crimes, are assigned to frontline teams, even though these teams are not properly equipped to handle them.
Recommendations
The Court of Audit recommends that the Minister of Justice and Security and the Public Prosecution Service should reconsider and, wherever possible, simplify the priorities set for criminal investigations. The Minister of Justice and Security and the Public Prosecution Service should also ensure an appropriate focus, in practice, on investigations of serious crimes and consider whether the Crime Harm Index can be of added value in this respect. The commissioner is recommended to improve the recording of criminal investigations because this is a prerequisite for ensuring these investigations are managed efficiently and effectively. Lastly, the Court of Audit calls on all parties to provide an annual account of the results of criminal investigations, including the associated costs. With that recommendation in mind, the Court of Audit draws the minister’s attention to the need to ensure that the police’s current budget of around € 8.5 billion can be subject to proper parliamentary scrutiny.