The Dutch police have launched an investigation to determine whether Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians in the Netherlands are increasingly involved in criminal activities.

“We have a really strong gut-feeling that this is the case, but we want to find out if we can substantiate that feeling with data,” a spokesperson for the Council of Police Force Commanders (Raad voor Korpschefs) said on Wednesday. His remark came in reaction to reports in national daily AD.

The police believe Polish nationals are increasingly involved in burglaries, while most Romanian suspects are arrested for skimming bank cards.

The investigation is to be completed before summer. ''We want to find out how criminal behaviour among members of these groups is developing and who they are. The investigation is also to provide an answer to whether the suspects are people who become involved in crime as a result of unemployment or whether they planned their crimes when they were still in their country of origin.

With these results in hand, the police say they will be able to decide “How best to address the problem.”

(gsh/nc)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide