Dutch police chief rejects link between racism and fatal police violence

Speaking at an event in Amsterdam on Monday, Janny Knol said she would not draw a conclusion about institutional racism in officers’ conduct from figures presented by the independent group Controle Alt Delete, Dutch news agency ANP reported.

The group has recorded deaths during or shortly after police intervention since 2016. A death following police contact is not necessarily a death caused by police violence or unlawful conduct.

Knol said she did not recognise the suggestion that officers respond to incidents or carry out checks based on a person’s background, but did not rule out that it happens. She said officers had been challenged over such behaviour and that it had led to dismissals in some cases.

The discussion, at the Melkweg venue, also heard from public prosecution chief Rinus Otte. He said an officer was not automatically a perpetrator when someone died after police contact, and that judges had the final say on whether police violence was unlawful. Relatives of people who died after police contact spoke in videos shown at the event.

The police have a programme intended to improve how officers conduct checks. In a March 2025 survey, 153 of 319 responding community policing employees, or 48%, said they knew the force’s guidance on professional checks. The survey was sent to 1,500 randomly selected employees, a response rate of 21%. It measured familiarity with the guidance, not the causes of deaths following police contact.