Municipal law enforcers: towards a new system of local policing in the Netherlands?

Since the early 2000s, Dutch city councils have sought to professionalise City Wardens (Stadswachten), transforming them into Municipal Law Enforcement Officers (MLEOs). MLEOs, who hold limited police powers, are now regarded as ‘Special Investigative Officers’ (Buitengewoon Opsporingsambtenaren – BOAs) and are mostly appointed to supervise local neighbourhoods and town centres. Compared to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs, who are lower-rank police officials) and private (or commercial) security guards, MLEOs are a different type of ‘plural’ or ‘auxiliary’ policing agents, employed by the municipal authorities. This paper explores why MLEOs have become so popular in the Netherlands; the practice and practicalities of municipal policing; and whether the Dutch police will maintain their central position in a highly fragmented system of local security governance. The underlying purpose here is to reflect on the particularities of auxiliary policing in a non-English-speaking nation.