Institutional crises and reforms in policy sectors

Arjen Boin

Paul 'T Hart

pp. 9-31

in: Hendrik Wagenaar (ed), Government institutions, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

On 7 December 1993 the mayor, chief prosecutor and police commissioner of Amsterdam publicly announced the dissolution of an interregional criminal investigation team (IRT). The IRT — one of several such teams in the Netherlands —had been established in 1989 to fight organized crime. The main reason for its termination had been the use of inappropriate investigation methods (such as the use of civilian informers, and the "controlled" import and distribution of illicit drugs), but this information was not revealed at the time. Shortly after, the police commissioner of the Utrecht police force, which had participated in the same IRT, alleged that the true reason for the dissolution had been corruption within the Amsterdam force. He claimed that top-secret information about the criminal gangs under investigation had been leaked from Amsterdam to the very targets of the investigation.