Police forces from the Netherlands and Ghent are collaborating in the context of the Informal Defence Council
On 23 and 24 September 2010 the Informal Defence Council will be held in Ghent. In this context, a Dutch police squad will come and assist the Ghent force.
From 1 July through Friday 31 December 2010 Belgium holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Within this context, numerous European meetings will be held in Belgium. Ghent will also receive a number of delegations. For instance, the European ministers of defense will be holding an informal meeting here on Thursday 23 at Friday 24 September 2010.
On Friday morning 24 September 2010 the ministers of defense will be gathering in the Sint-Pietersabdij. In order to provide sufficient security for the location and the attendants, a large number of police staff will be deployed, not only from the Ghent police force, but also other teams from the Federal Police. Since this Informal Defence Council will have a major impact on public safety, the Police Zone Ghent submitted a request to the Benelux secretariat to enlist the services of a Dutch squad to assist with law enforcement.
Based on the Treaty of Senningen (2004) police forces of the Benelux countries may call upon the services of staff from other Benelux countries for certain events/assignments. That is why during the meeting session of the ministers and the delegations, on Friday 24 September 2010, the security for the immediate vicinity of the Sint-Pietersabdij will be partially provided by the Dutch colleagues.
The Dutch squad comes from the police region Limburg-Zuid and is led by the Dutch squad commander Bert Vermariën, chief of the basic unit Heerlen-Noord. A part of the staff is assigned to Heerlen, another part to Sittard and the third part to Maastricht.
"Flikken Maastricht" (cops of Maastricht)
The police forces of Maastricht and Ghent are no strangers to one another. A couple of years ago, the Maastricht police took over the concept after the example of our ‘Flikken’ cops series, to make their own television series ‘Flikken Maastricht’. The series is a huge success and is currently completing production on its fifth season.
"Flikkendag Maastricht" (cops day Maastricht)
What’s more, on Saturday 25 September 2010 the second ‘Flikkendag’ (cops day) Maastricht will be organized. After 10 successful ‘Flikken’ days in Ghent the torch will be definitively passed to Maastricht. This will also happen quite literally: substitute police chief Wim Van Hulle will travel on 25 September to Maastricht to symbolically hand over the ‘Flikkendag’ torch (in the form of the gragon of the city of Ghent) to the Dutch colleagues.
For more information:
Kaatje Natens (spokeswoman Federal police): 0473 800 733
Luk Lacaeyse (spokesman Dirco): 0476 962 748
Enny de Wit (spokesman police Central and West Brabant – the Netherlands): 0031 6 46 27 38 61
Wim Van Hulle (substitute police chief police zone Ghent): 0477 681 771
Also see www.flikkendagmaastricht.nl
