Police anti-racism coordinator thinks a police officer should be able to wear a headscarf

A police officer should be able to wear a headscarf or other religious symbols at work, Commissioner Johan van Renswoude said in an interview with NRC. He was appointed national coordinator against racism and discrimination within the police.

Van Renswoude argues that it is more appropriate for this time to “allow diversity – also in your appearance”. Police say they don’t want to say anything more about Van Renswoude’s statements. It is currently not allowed in the Netherlands to wear religious symbols or clothing as a uniformed police officer.

The discussion about the possible wearing of religious clothing or symbols has been raging within the police for some time. In 2017, Amsterdam’s chief commissioner, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, announced the ban want to discuss. The call led, among other things, to an agent in Amsterdam went out into the street with a scarf “assess the reactions”.

The then Minister of Justice, Blok, said in reaction on Aalbersberg nothing to do with a permit because according to him “a uniform neutrality and uniformity” radiate. Then-police chief Erik Akerboom also responded. disdainful. According to him, there was “no support for the idea at the moment”.

Van Renswoude was appointed coordinator this year after a series of reports about racism within the police. This is what the (former) police officers said in the documentary The blue family of the KRO-NCRV than themselves or their colleagues because of their skin color or their origin bullied, harassed and discriminated against and management does not intervene. News also came out of a closed WhatsApp group in which a group of Rotterdam agents are involved. racially speaking.

Van Renswoude also acknowledges in NRC that the debate over allowing religious symbols and clothing is a sensitive social issue, but also within the police. He therefore wishes to bring together a group of experts to discuss this further.

The police union NPB, through its president Struijs, says it sees little in Van Renswoude’s suggestion. According to Struijs, wearing a headscarf or yarmulke would “primarily evoke aggression”. He says the priority should be to create an inclusive and safe police organization and that is hard enough.

Xander Simonis, president of the ANPV union, also believes that more work must first be done, among other things, on the prohibition of discrimination within the police and that only then can a discussion have place on religious clothing.

President Miriam Barendse of the police union Equipe says in the NOS Radio 1 News understand that Van Renswoude is “looking for solutions to stay in touch with society”, but agrees with Simonis that the police “have their hands full” with issues such as discrimination and diversity.

Justice Minister Yesilgöz said in a letter to parliament in March that as far as she is concerned, “a discussion about the police uniform is not up for discussion.” “The police, as representatives of the state, are totally neutral,” she wrote. “The legitimacy of the actions and the neutrality of the police are underlined, among other things, by not expressing or taking a position on religious or philosophical beliefs.”

Including National Coordinator Against Discrimination and Racism Rabin Baldewsingh reported in September to disagree with the neutrality argument. According to him, wearing religious expressions does not detract from the professionalism and neutrality of the government. “I think the idea that they cannot carry out their function impartially is incorrect and unnecessarily stigmatising.”

The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights had already stated in 2017 that the police discriminated by not having a Rotterdam employee wear a headscarf when she is in uniform. But according to the European Court of Justice, employers are allowed to prohibit the visible wearing of religious or political symbols. The employer must then be able to prove that neutrality is necessary for the organization and that allowing it has a detrimental effect.

While in many western countries it is not allowed to wear religious clothing as a police officer, there are also countries where it is allowed. For example, Police Scotland have an official headscarf which officers are permitted to wear. This decision was taken, among other things, to attract more women with an immigrant background. There is also an official headscarf in New Zealand and various police forces in England.