Police in Rotterdam are implementing a novel approach to reduce crime: stripping young people of their expensive clothes and jewelry if the youths look too poor to own them. If the young people cannot prove that they own the items, the items will be confiscated.
Rotterdam police chief Frank Paauw told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, “They are often young guests who consider themselves untouchable. We’re going to undress them on the street. We regularly take a Rolex from a suspect. Clothes rarely. And that is especially a status symbol for young people. Some young people now walk with jackets of €1800 (roughly $2,200). They do not have any income, so the question is how they get there.”
Paauw added that many of the young men that have been stopped have no job and have been fined for previous convictions but still wear expensive items. He stated that this behavior “undermines the rule of law,” transmitting “a completely false signal to local residents.” He said, “Such an expensive jacket is for them what a speed boat is for an established drug boss.”
There is one group that the police especially want to focus on: the members of a Overlastgevende and criminal youth group.
The Dutch police had previously focused on expensive cars suspected criminals drove despite not having an income. In 2016, Rotterdam police managed to seize 11.5 million euros in illegal money and goods.