The two officers that came to our house yesterday said we should go to the police station today to file charges againt the neighbour that forced his way in our home yesterday and threatened to kill us. We had to call the station and make an appointment with a detective because our neighbour is a ''known suspect". That means he's been in contact with police before. So this morning i called to see at what time we could come by.
Well, first i had to talk talk talk to convince the officer who anwsered the phone to connect me through with a detective. Then i told the detective why i was calling, she wrote everything down and said she would call me back after reading everything about last night in the computer. She did call back but only to inform me that there was nothing about yesterday in the computer..... uh, let me see... we called 112 (Dutch 911) twice, called directly to the station twice, two officers came to our place and said they would put it all in the system and now they can't find anything? Sigh.... Dutch Police
But, who needs the report from those officers? I don't! We can file charges without them. The detective told me she would talk it over with the IVD, something like Sherrif i guess, the boss. She'll call us back to make an appointment to file charges. She did warn us that what our neighbour did will probably not be enough for the OM (district attorney) to actually DO anything.
Basicly she told me a threat is not a threat untill you're almost dead.....
Welcome to The Netherlands.
We could file charges for blackmail & stalking... I mean, he said he would kill us if we'd ever go to the police again and/ or will not move to a new house. That's blackmail.
Are the police in Den Haag on drugs like in Am'dam? Or - are they just LAZY GITS?
You know you can come over and get the protection of Sparky & Obo 24 / 7!!! We mean that!!!
Keep us posted....
bout time you wrote some positive things , you have this real foreigner look at our country , that keeps me having that""american" foreigner look towards the godforsaken USA.
Great Blog! My only request would be more frequent updates. Your daily experiences are fascinating.
I have also spent time in Holland, living briefly in Maastricht and in Leeuwarden. I'm Canadian and wanted to really integrate in the Dutch society but it was difficult. I found Dutch difficult to learn so only spoke English. I hardly ever met other Canadians, Americans or British unless they were on holidays.
As for the police, other than "registering" with the Foreign Police office I never had any problems. They were relaxed and helpful, atleast with me, and not scary, like say, Chicago cops. I enjoyed drinking in the cafes, dancing at clubs, biking on the fiets pads and watching boats chug by on the canals. I even liked the grey rainy weather. I miss it. I married a Dutch woman and we frequently talk about moving back.
Please keep your writings up - I enjoy reading them.
Season's Greetings,
Robert