[brnt]

Even so, liquidations are on the up in the Netherlands, and they are almost always drug-mob related. There's not enough money to patrol the south-Dutch countryside for illegal production and disposal, which is turning into the number one environmental issue the country has (apart from climate-related problems). The Police of Amsterdam had to shutter their major crimes unit for lack of funding, Dutch Police has some of the worst solving rates in Europe anyway, liquidations are predominantly in this city and are spilling over into non-criminal life, lawyers are being killed in the streets, are recusing themselves every day.

Thing may not be as violent as in Britain, but the country is on course for it, mainly due to drug related criminal activity. Some newspapers, even the justice minister recently, theorize that the lack of experience of Police in dealing with major crime is just not well developed in general, which together with a generally relaxed attitude and a central and well connected location in Europe (port of Rotterdam, airport of Amsterdam) make the country an ideal place to conduct such drug-business in relative quiet.

[rocgf]

> lawyers are being killed in the streets

I mean... that happened once.

[brnt]

Derk Wiersum, Philippe Schol recently. I lost track of the number of recusations. The professional club has openend a hotline for judges and laywers in case of threats (which largely go unreported in the media for obvious reasons) [1].

This all is unprecedented.

[1] https://www.advocatenorde.nl/nieuws/contactpunt-beroepsgroep...

[rocgf]

I stand somewhat corrected. There was indeed just one lawyer killed in the, Derk, while Philippe was only shot in the leg.

Either way, this is terrifying and would have never expected this in the Netherlands.

[brnt]

Most liquidations (attempts) are indeed other criminals, so far, but also that number is rising. A somewhat dated (2016) timeline from Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool [1].

The scary thing is that the Netherlands basically doesnt have major crimes units. There a good forensics bureau, which is also under heavy strain [2], and a small department at the National Police. That makes is trivial for hardened criminals to stay under the radar: there is (almost) no radar.

[1] https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/tijdlijn-de-vete-in-de-marokkaa... [2] https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/07/13/nfi-onderzocht-wegens-v...

[rocgf]

This saddens me deeply. The Netherlands is my favorite country.

Is this something that concerns people around you? Is it like a major shock to everybody?

[brnt]

Unfortunately, I think a less favorable Dutch trait lies at the root for a lack of interest in such matters: people believe so strongly this is a nice and 'civilized' place, most people refuse to even entertain the idea anything could be seriously out of whack in 'paradise'.

There is a sort of reinforcing feedback loop to preferring to pretend all is well: to most people things of course are usually well and if everyone thinks all is well most people will behave well. But if you're one of the unlucky ones affected by such issues, you'll find it very difficult to convince people, after all, all is well.