The Home Office established a
committee of preparation and asked
it to answer the following questions:
• What should a single set of
national K- 9 regulations look like?
• How should they be organized?
• How should they work in
practice?
People of high reputation, such as
KNPV board member A.P. School;
Lt. J. de Bruijn of the Rotterdam
Police Department K- 9 Unit; J.C.
Zoodsma of the Korps Rijkspolitie;
and L. Roosjes of NBDH (the
second largest civilian dog club after
KNPV) were on the committee. They decided to establish
the Netherlands’ National Bureau of Law Enforcement, K- 9
Certification, and Quality Control under the direct
responsibility of the Dutch Home Office. Logistically, the
new Bureau was placed in the organization of a new
national police agency, the Netherlands’ National Police
Agency, which replaced the old Korps Rijkspolitie.
Smaller
agencies also
decided for
themselves
how to
certify their
handlers.
The Bureau is part of the K- 9 unit for special canines in the
town of Nunspeet in central Holland, and all certifications
are planned, arranged, and archived from there.
The first committee of chairmen of judges, the highest
institute that is responsible for inspecting the Bureau, was
established at the same time, and comprises members of the
committee of preparation who were sworn law-enforcement
officers. Besides inspecting the bureau, those chairmen are
responsible for judges ruling in a correct way. Among the
first chairmen of judges were highly respected K- 9 handlers/
instructors such as N. Ram (Rotterdam-Rijnmond PD),
J. Boele (Military Police), A. R. Massop (KLPD) and
H. Herman (Utrecht PD).
Setting Up the Standards
The first national standards for patrol dogs were instituted
on January 1, 1994 and by the beginning of 1996, all Dutch
patrol dogs were certified according to one national standard. The committee of chairmen of judges inspects the
Netherlands’ National Bureau of Law Enforcement, K- 9
Certification, and Quality Control annually and reports to
the Minister of the Home Office.
