Ever since ethnic unrest broke out in the provincial town of Culemborg at New Year, the local authorities have been searching for a strategy to keep a tighter lid on conflicts. Culemborg may be able to learn from Overtoomse Veld in Amsterdam. Once notorious for repeated riots, the district has calmed down considerably over the past six years.

Amsterdam police say the turnaround is thanks to community surveillance by police officers from various cultural backgrounds. One of their main duties is to keep young people, parents and social workers communicating with one another.

Integration in Holland

Through the centuries, immigrants have come to live in the Netherlands and have assimilated to a great extent.

Portuguese Jews of the 15th century, European-Indonesian migrants who came after World War Two are examples. They learned the Dutch language and customs and passed these on to their children. Not only did they transform themselves, they also changed the society around them, influencing the speech, cuisine and many other aspects of Dutch culture. As this transformation was happening, few took notice.

Today this is very different. As immigrants adapt to Dutch society, the process is being studied as if under a microscope. Academic researchers, politicians and journalists are continuously observing and commenting on integration.

Some paint a negative picture of today's immigrant: preferring the burqa to blue jeans, couscous to cabbage and potatoes. Unwilling or unable to learn Dutch, taking little on board and offering little in return to the culture.

Naturally this is a narrow view, though it's clear the differences between Dutch and immigrant cultures are a source of conflict. Integration can be a painful - and painfully slow - process. As it continues, Radio Netherlands Worldwide explores some of the problems encountered, and the solutions offered, on the path to integration.

”I’m not afraid of making contact with people. I can even be pretty cheeky sometimes. I’m happy to ring doorbells and say ‘I’m the new police community officer. Just dropped by to introduce myself.’ People know I represent the authorities. They’re not blind: I’m wearing a uniform. But at the same time, they can see I’m making the effort to speak their language. And that’s something they appreciate a lot. It’s only then that you gain their trust.”

Moroccan culture
Community officer Mustapha Rahali explains that relations between the police and the district’s young residents used to be poor. In the late 1990s, unrest was rife in the predominantly Moroccan district of Overtoomse Veld. The youth crime rate was high. There were armed robberies and even riots. Distrust of the police was endemic.

And the police had real trouble getting their finger on the pulse in the neighbourhood, because so few officers spoke Arabic or were familiar with Moroccan culture. The time was ripe for community officers of Moroccan origin – people like Mustapha Rahali – to bridge the gap with residents.

This approach – introducing officers who speak the language and know the culture – seems to be reaping rewards. Last year the district was able to report a 50 percent drop in crime over six years and a sharp drop in public disturbances.

Balance
But what is it like to represent the Dutch authorities while having to take action against your fellow Moroccans? For Mustapha, it’s all a question of balance.

“It’s very important to strike the right balance between repression and social contact. If you’re too repressive, doors will slam in your face. But if you’re too sociable, people will walk all over you. So you have to balance things out and that’s what I’ve managed to achieve in the past four years - quite effectively, if I say so myself. The gentleman I’ve been chatting too is just as likely to get a fine from me as anyone else, because at the end of the day I’m a law enforcer. And that’s something people understand.”

Recruitment
The Amsterdam police force has been trying for years to recruit more officers from ethnic minority groups, but still only twelve percent are from a non-Dutch background. That’s nowhere near enough in a city where cultural diversity is the norm. As a Moroccan, Mustapha too had additional obstacles to overcome in order to join the police.

“We come from a country where the government treats its citizens very differently. So it was a big deal to convince my parents that the Netherlands is different, that we live in a democracy, and that the Dutch police are here to serve the people, not suppress them. It wasn’t easy. But I kept on going and now you can see the results.”