Dutch police investigate rising crime levels among CEE immigrants

Dutch media is reporting that Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians that disproportionately responsible for rising crime levels in the country.

“We have a strong suspicion that this is the case,” a Dutch police spokesman told the ANP News Agency, “but we want to see if this is backed up by the figures.”

“The results of the research, which will be known this summer, will help the police on how best to solve this problem,” the spokesman added.

A key goal of the research is to determine whether those who carried out crimes were immigrants who had lost their Dutch jobs and turned to crime, or whether the culprits were figures who had already fallen foul of the law in their native countries.

It has been suggested that Poles are particularly responsible for burglaries, while Bulgarians have been especially involved in bank card fraud.

Nevertheless, at the close of December, the Dutch Ministry of Labour disclosed that only a tiny proportion of Polish immigrants were claiming welfare or unemployment benefits. (nh/pg)