A poll carried out by the Dutch Socialist Party shows that most police officers are unhappy in their work and have little faith in their superiors or in politicians. More than 8500 police officers took part in the online poll.

Sixty percent of respondents said they enjoyed their work less and less in recent years. Forty percent said they are considering leaving the force. Two-thirds thought their superiors had no idea of the problems facing ordinary officers and 90 percent said the same about politicians. Eighty-five percent thought they were not sufficiently appreciated by the general public.
 

Seventy percent complained that they had too little opportunity to maintain a presence at neighbourhood level. Sixty-seven percent believed that public safety would be improved by small police posts at local level.
 

SP leader Agnes Kant says the results represent a "serious warning" about policy and that "we need to listen to the police officers themselves". She added that Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst's plans for substantial cutbacks in the police budget would lead to a "reduced police presence on the street and in the neighbourhoods".