Super-quick courts for offences around the New Year don't look so super successful and a banker takes a new year's snipe at bonuses. Ministers are set to shelve a nanny-state charter, a car speeds into court history and a bread knife gift leads to a fine.
Quick courts hear few cases
Super-quick courts to try people for vandalism and violence committed round the 2010 celebrations appear not to be the panacea for the problems of 21st-century New Year's Eves we were led to believe. "Quick court hears only four cases" reads a headline in nrc.next.
The quick courts were introduced to deal with what was seen as the rising tide of violence and other anti-social behaviour around New Year's Eve. We were told that being held in police custody until a case was heard, at the most three days after the event itself, would have a deterrent effect.
Mohammed G was first up before the beak in Rotterdam on Saturday. He used a piece of wood to smash in a window of a sports hall. The 19-year-old explains he "just wanted a bit of fun" in front of his friends. He now feels ashamed and is sorry for the damage he caused. He was given 100 hours community service and will be under house arrest on New Year's Eve 2011.
However, the next case up involved Marco S who is supposed to have told a security guard "I'll shoot you dead". The problem is he denies everything and says his friends, who could vouch for him, weren't interviewed by the police. "Marco shouldn't have been brought to the super quick session. Super quick courts are more suitable for cases where the defendant pleads guilty," explains his lawyer. The case was deferred to a later date when the prosecution will have been able to prepare the case properly.
Banker swims against the bonus tide
Today's de Volkskrant has an interesting piece at the bottom of its front page about a banker who's quitting in protest at the continuing bonus culture in the sector.
Kilian Wawoe is giving up his job as senior personnel manager at what used to be the Dutch flagship bank, ABN Amro. That was before the bank went cap in hand to government for massive bailouts at the height of the credit crunch.
"I'm convinced that you've just got to forbid bonuses. If that's true, I can't just go on in the circus for another year, at least, not if I take myself seriously," he tells the paper. Mr Wawoe believes the bonuses give the wrong incentives and wants to spend time away from the bank devising a new salary system.
De Volkskrant hardly surprises us with the news that bankers seldom openly criticise the bonus system. The prevailing belief within the sector is that bonus excesses are best controlled through self-regulation. Mr Wawoe doubts that this is the best avenue of reform. "People aren't made to be self-critical, that includes bankers," he argues.
He believes that change has to be introduced to the banks from outside. The government is said to have wasted the opportunity it had for reform during the credit crisis when it ran scared of damaging the banks' shareholders.
Nanny state rejects rules
The Protestant daily Trouw has a sad little tale in a corner of its front page to greet the new year. Government plans to publish a charter on how to be a responsible citizen look like biting the dust. Some time ago, the cabinet, under pressure from its junior member the Christian Union (CU), announced the launch of a nationwide debate on our basic social values.
In the autumn groups came together throughout the Netherlands to talk about how people should treat each other. They discussed issues such as respect, civility, care for others and for the neighbourhood. The meetings provided countless recommendations on how to be an upstanding member of society. These tips have now been published in a calendar for 2010.
CU MP Ed Anker, however, doesn't want it left there but believes a charter is really needed to tell people that they should pick up their own rubbish, should treat public servants, the police and teachers with respect and should look after each other.
Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst however looks like backtracking on the idea of a good citizen's charter. She fears a document is likely to be seen as a diktat of the nanny state and, as such, will sooner be ignored than followed by the general population. What a naughty lot she must think us!
Black box shows car was speeding
Today's AD gives much of its front page over to a report of a first in Dutch court history. What it calls the black box of a car involved in a nasty Christmas accident will provide crucial evidence in a dangerous driving case. Four people were killed in the Boxing Day crash.
One of the cars involved had an event data recorder (EDR) and the prosecution in the case says the device will show the driver was travelling at 147 km per hour in a 30-km-per-hour area. "This is rock-hard evidence," crows a policeman. "In America, they've been using it for some time."
EDRs are not yet standard fittings in European cars but are due to become mandatory on cars in the United States by 2013. While he generally welcomes the equipment, a criminal law expert tells the paper that the reliability of EDRs should be independently tested. "You shouldn't rely on the manufacturer for information about reliability," he argues.
Free gift branded offensive weapon
Full of Yuletide cheer, De Telegraaf treats its mass-circulation readership to a nice bit of pleasure in other people's misfortune (the Dutch have a special word for it, 'leedvermaak').
A woman drove to her local baker in a village in the central Netherlands over the weekend and picked up a free bread knife as part of the shop's loyalty scheme. "It was nicely packed and I put it under the dash board before going on to the city of Zwolle to do more shopping ," she explains.
Later on, she was stopped at a routine police check and asked to show her driving licence. When she reached down for the papers, the officer saw the bread knife and fined her 60 euros for being in possession of an offensive weapon.
However, the tale does have a happy ending of sorts. The baker hearing about the "extremely childish behaviour of the policeman" has offered to pay the woman's fine for her.
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