Martial Law Powers proposed for Dutch Federal Police

[rmstock]

Minister Van der Steur will soon release a policy memorandum on the issue.
Foto: Serge Ligtenberg
Martial Law Powers proposed for Dutch Federal Police
Approval for shooting policemen
Fri 30 oct 2015, 05:40 CET | 139 reacties
by Charles Sanders en Gijsbert Termaat
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/24678144/__Bijval_schietende_agenten__.html

  "Amsterdam - Police who have shot down a suspect, would no longer be
   automaticly prosecuted for murder or manslaughter.
 
   For this `the pool of 19 top Barristers' are pleading, who will start
   operating the day after tomorrow by special request of the National
   Police force, to assist officers legally after shooting incidents.
   Therewith the same procedure for police officers should be followed as
   now happens with our Military on international missions. For instance
   with a shooting incident it must be examined if the policeofficer
   acted according official police instructions. Military involved in
   shooting incidents are not automaticly seen as suspects. Public
   Prosecution and the Royal Military Police in the first instance consider
   them as witnesses.
   
   "Also with the police, investigations into shootingincidents can
   sometimes take years", according Professor of International Criminal Law
   Geert-Jan Knoops, one of the Counsels inside the pool, while policemen
   are waiting unemployed for reports from the State's Criminal Investigation
   Department. "Careers are broken, private lives become trapped."
   
   The not automatic prosecution of shooting policemen requires a
   legislative amendment and will only be in force by mid 2017, provided
   that the House of Representatives will accept. The Ministry of Safety
   and Justice endorses the plea made by Knoops and consorts.
 
   Minister Van der Steur finds it undesirable that policemen who
   from their function must exercise violence are seen as the suspect
   of a crime. This is taken into account inside a system reform
   that is ongoing and for which we next month hope to send a policy
   memorandum to Parliament", said a spokesman.
 
   Annually, an average of ten policemen are prosecuted after use
   of their service weapon. The condemnation of a cop from Kerkrade
   to two years in prison this summer led to great commotion.
 
   The man as a member of a SWAT team opened fire. Justice threw out
   the case, but still a prosecution followed after the injured suspect
   stepped to the court."

Here follows my reaction which was refused by the moderating team
(noviafacts.nl) from the Dutch Telegraaf Newspaper :

   "Police who have shot down a suspect, would no longer be
    automaticly prosecuted for murder or manslaughter. [ ... ]
    Justice threw out  the case, but still a prosecution followed
    after the injured suspect stepped to a court of justice.""
    `Injure a suspect' will now become `kill a suspect' to prevent
     the legal aftermath from happening. I have no problem with
     that as long i can have a Heckler & Koch G28 shelved."

Where i may add, that the proposed amendment for the Dutch
National Police rather resembles a kind of Martial Law legislation,
where the National Police will obtain the same rights and responsibilities
as Special Ops Military forces on a mission in Afghanistan to take down
the Taliban. Will we in the Netherlands be witness of the same war
and battlefield scenery as in the Middle East ?