Police want to stop handling non-urgent reports
Officers spend a large share of their capacity dealing with people exhibiting confused behaviour, while care services and councils are not always immediately available.
The police no longer want to become automatically responsible for non-urgent reports involving people exhibiting confused or incomprehensible behaviour. According to recent analyses, pressure on officers is increasing, while the underlying problems often lie in care, housing or council support.
The police are receiving increasingly more reports in which no direct criminal offence or immediate threat is involved. Officers then find themselves dealing with people with mental health problems, homeless people, people in debt or people with other vulnerabilities. The police say they do not want to stay away from safety problems, but want to prevent themselves from becoming structurally the first and only service provider.
RTL Nieuws reported, based on research by the Police Academy and the national police, that almost 170,000 reports of nuisance caused by confused people were registered in 2025. According to the same analysis, the issue accounted for more than 20 per cent of police deployment to 112 emergency calls. An earlier overview by the Dutch Safety Board recorded 149,827 police registrations for 2024; the figures therefore concern different years and methods of measurement.
The police have long been calling for better triage in emergency control rooms. A specialised care worker could assess whether the police, an ambulance, acute mental healthcare or a council team would be best placed to respond. More 24-hour facilities, accommodation places and long-term support are also cited as conditions for preventing repeat reports.
The problem is that not every report clearly falls into a single category. A situation that begins as a request for care can turn into a threat, vandalism or danger to bystanders. Officers must therefore remain able to intervene when safety is at stake. At the same time, police action can worsen the situation for someone in psychological distress, especially when no suitable follow-up care is available.
The debate therefore touches on the division of public responsibilities. Councils are responsible for some forms of support, care institutions for treatment and crisis care, and the police for safety and criminal offences. As long as those services are not properly connected everywhere, there is a risk that reports will continue to circulate between agencies. The police are therefore asking not only for fewer reports, but above all for a different system behind the initial report.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- The police register many reports involving people exhibiting confused or incomprehensible behaviour.
- Some of those reports are not urgent and do not primarily call for criminal-law intervention.
- The police, councils and care institutions have different responsibilities.
- The police want better triage and more suitable follow-up care.
Left
Arguments Confused behaviour should primarily be treated as a care and basic-security issue. Investment in mental healthcare, housing and social services can prevent police contact and escalation.
Values Human dignity, inclusion and public responsibility for vulnerable people.
Consequences More care capacity costs money, but can limit detention, homelessness and repeated crises.
Centre
Arguments No single agency can solve this alone. A practical system with joint emergency control rooms, clear triage and continued police deployment when there is danger is the most feasible.
Values Co-operation, proportionality and institutional clarity.
Consequences The approach could become more efficient, but requires agreements on funding, data sharing and responsibility.
Right
Arguments The police should concentrate on safety and criminal offences. People causing nuisance should not automatically disappear from view because their behaviour has a care component.
Values Public order, responsibility and protection of local residents.
Consequences A stronger safety framework can protect victims more quickly, but without care capacity the problem will keep recurring.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The capacity pressures described and the figures cited are linked to publicly available research and reporting. The text distinguishes between registrations from 2024 and 2025.
- confirmed In 2025, there were almost 170,000 police registrations concerning nuisance caused by confused people. — RTL Nieuws links this figure to research by the Police Academy and the national police. source
- confirmed The issue accounted for more than 20 per cent of police deployment to 112 emergency calls. — This is stated in the same reporting on the research. source
- confirmed For 2024, the Dutch Safety Board records 149,827 registrations. — The figure appears in the Dutch Safety Board's report. source
- confirmed The police are calling for better triage and closer links with care services and councils. — This recurs in reporting by NOS and Pointer on the police approach. source
Editor's note
The scale of the reports and their share of police deployment come from different studies and years. The precise cause of the increase has not been established.Sources
- Politie heeft handen vol aan onbegrepen gedrag: kost 20 procent van de inzet — RTL Nieuws
- Kunnen doen wat nodig is — Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid
- Verward gedrag: als hulp te laat komt — Pointer
More on this in Dutch media
- NOS — „politie verward gedrag”
- Het Parool — „politie verward gedrag”
- Trouw — „politie verward gedrag”