Cont
ents
relevant regulations. The Commissions believe that there is room for improvement
in seven units.
The final area of concern in the field of police custody is record-keeping. For
example, the log in which all contacts with the detainee and any points of note are
recorded is not always complete. The Commissions see room for improvement in
five units with this regard.
Royal Netherlands Marechaussee
The Detention Areas Supervisory Commission of the Royal Netherlands
Marechaussee, which is part of the NPM, monitors the care of detainees in detention
facilities managed and used by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. This
Commission was relaunched at the end of 2017 with three new members. In 2018,
the Commission visited nine of the 30 locations in the Netherlands 4.
Generally speaking, the treatment and care of those held in the detention facilities
of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee are adequate. Sufficient attention is also
paid to the safety of both detainees and staff. However, the Commission still sees
room for improvement.
The requirements for camera use within the inspected locations are interpreted in
different ways, for example. In addition, the Commission recommends that the
record-keeping system should be modified so information on suspects’ drug use and
risk of suicide or aggressive behaviour is always recorded in detail. The Commission
also believes that the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee should sign up to the
covenant between the police and the mental health care sector, so people with
mental health care issues are not detained or are detained for as short a time as
possible.
4
The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee has operations throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Detention facilities which are used and managed by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee can also be found
in the Caribbean Netherlands. The Commission’s monitoring of these facilities does not form part of the
activities in the context of the NPM, because the NPM was only established for the European part of the
Kingdom.
8