Chapter 1108: Big things are beyond your control
Xiao Peng sat in the car, looking at the scenery outside the window and thinking silently.
Walter, who was driving, suddenly said, “Boss, there is a car following us.”
Xiao Peng came back to his senses: "Who are they? How many cars?"
Khedira, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said, "Boss, it's a police car!"
"..." Xiao Peng asked in confusion: "Did we break the law?"
Walter said: "Follow us when we left The Hague."
Xiao Peng sighed, "They're so afraid I'll get lost! This is misusing public property for personal gain! I'm going to file a complaint against them!"
Khedira laughed and said, "Boss, this is the Netherlands! You'll get used to it! They can't handle big things, but they take small things very seriously."
Xiao Peng was helpless. He found that the Germans were not as rigorous as he had imagined. At least they were very talented when complaining about their "neighbors".
The Netherlands is actually a very interesting place.
Take public security for example. The public security in the Netherlands looks completely different in the eyes of foreigners, locals and the police.
In the eyes of foreigners, especially those who speak out among the "public intellectuals" on Daxia's internet and those who promote overseas study abroad programs, the safety and security here are simply touted: prison life is like a vacation; the crime rate is low; prisons are so empty that they rent them out to foreigners... They call it a paradise on earth. Amsterdam, in particular, has been voted the safest city in Europe for several consecutive years due to its low crime rate.
What do the police think? Data speaks for itself: Take The Hague, for example. Despite having a population of just over 500,000, police receive three million calls annually, an average of over 8,000 calls per day.
Of course, these calls include traffic accidents, requests for help, and false reports, but it's still astonishing, isn't it? This is in The Hague; places like Amsterdam receive even more calls! That's why the police complain about being understaffed, and why some police stations in Amsterdam close at night.
And what do the Dutch people think?
Hey, what are the police? We're better off without them! We can solve any problems ourselves!
An interesting phenomenon has emerged in the Netherlands: petty theft and robbery are common, but police, understaffed, often delay or ignore many cases. And the Dutch people, on the other hand, believe the police are useless and prefer to handle cases themselves. Consequently, many choose not to report a crime to the police at all.
Honestly, the Netherlands has generally good public safety standards in Europe, but to say it's particularly safe here seems a bit disingenuous. In Amsterdam, the streets are filled with the smell of marijuana, and robberies are common. Furthermore, it's a famous party destination in the Netherlands, and drunken people are everywhere at night, so you can imagine how troublesome it is. Furthermore, the number of homicides here is increasing year by year, which all reflects the real situation here.
The low prison population in the Netherlands is due to a combination of factors: Marijuana and the porn industry are legal here, and the legal restrictions are very low. Many crimes that would be considered crimes elsewhere are not considered crimes here. Naturally, the crime rate is low. Citizens distrust the police and prefer to solve problems on their own. Furthermore, the police's crime-solving rate is incredibly low—how can they send people to prison if they can't catch them?
How low is the case handling rate of the Dutch police?
What's the most popular threat method in the Netherlands right now? Grenades!
Want to intimidate people here? Just stick a grenade on someone's door—the real thing.
In 2017, there were 22 grenade threats in Amsterdam; in 2018, there were 44; in 2019, there were more than 70. In short, the number is rising steadily.
Anyway, this thing is cheap here, 20 euros each, and there are discounts for bulk purchases.
For example, if a store offends someone, the criminals will simply stick a grenade on the store door, and the police will temporarily close the place, sometimes even permanently.
Isn't this a terrifying case? Shouldn't it be treated as a major crime and arrested first? But in all these years, only two people have been arrested! And they were only detained for six months before being released...
From this perspective, Dutch law is really awesome.
The low crime-solving rate cannot be entirely blamed on the Dutch police. There is basically no surveillance here, and even if there is surveillance, the accident scene cannot be clearly seen due to darkness. The police can only rely on clues provided by the public and continuous investigations to solve the case.
The relationship between the Dutch public and the police is really not good. For example, during the epidemic, there were large-scale demonstrations in the Netherlands. They used water cannons and other things, and they still expected the public to provide them with clues?
This is what Khedira meant by "not being able to handle big things".
There's a startling statistic: The Netherlands defines cases occurring after 1988 as "historical cold cases"—cases that carry a sentence of twelve years or more but remain unsolved for at least three years. Just how many "historical cold cases" are there? The case files on these cases alone total over 30 million! It would take a century to read them all! Assuming 300 files represent one case, that means there are still 100,000 major crimes that remain unsolved, not to mention the smaller ones!
And what about what he said, 'small things are more important than the sky'?
The Hague police received a call in 2018. Someone reported that his neighbor had left his dog on the balcony. His neighbor did not get off work until 7:30. He heard the dog barking and was worried that the dog would be hurt, so he called the police. When the police arrived, they dispatched a 22-ton crane and a fire brigade platform truck to carry out the rescue. The entire rescue lasted for an hour and a half and the dog was finally rescued. This is how taxpayers' money is used.
Xiao Peng waved his hand and said, "Ignore them. Let's go to the Amsterdam Police Station first. Rescue that unlucky guy!"
The 'unlucky guy' he was talking about was naturally Jelena, who is now imprisoned in the Amsterdam Women's Prison. There is one thing that is indeed undeniable about the Netherlands. They have had a special women's prison in Amsterdam since 1598. Of course, this is much later than Spain - Spain started this initiative in 1519.
The laws in the Netherlands are so lax that throwing grenades around to intimidate people only gets you six months in prison, yet Jelena was sentenced to two years for theft. There's clearly something fishy going on here.
All I can say is that Jelena is very brave: she and a group of bad boys robbed a villa, the owner of which was a member of the Dutch Senate.
The Dutch Parliament is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives, with the latter responsible for making decisions and then submitting them to the Senate for approval. In other words, they stole into the home of a member of the Dutch power center. Of course, they would be severely punished!
Carl could have solved this problem with money, but Jelena had reached her belated rebellious phase. Not only did she refuse Carl's help, she even refused him visits. She was then sent to a women's prison for two years. She hasn't even sent a single message home.
Aren't Dutch prisons famous for their high welfare? Xiao Peng wondered if she was addicted to living there!
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