The Netherlands is set to deploy 27,000 police officers at the planned NATO summit in The Hague next year.
This will make it the biggest security operation in the history of the Netherlands, with almost half the Dutch police force being involved, news agency ANP reported.
At the summit on June 24 -25, some 45 heads of state and leaders of government will be present, together with 45 foreign affairs ministers and 45 ministers of defence.
In addition, 6,000 delegation members and 2,000 journalists will also attend the summit amid numerous side meetings and dinner, all requiring a high degree of police protection.
Additionally, police will be on duty along the road from Schiphol Airport to the city.
“Among those 27,000 colleagues, many are involved in support roles,” said national commander Willem Woelders, who oversees preparations for the NATO summit.
“For instance, if one of our vehicles gets a flat tire or communication systems fail, someone has to fix it. It takes a large team to ensure the entire operation runs smoothly.”
Next to accommodation for the summit attendees, the police will also need logistical support, including transportation, meals and sleeping quarters.
Because so many officers are needed for the NATO summit, fewer will be available for other events during its ongoing.
As a result, the police issued a request to mayors this summer to organise as few events as possible around the time of the summit, even small-scale markets and sports events would be difficult to organise, they said.
“It is unfortunate if events cannot go ahead because of this but the reality is that because of the summit, we have to be extra frugal with our deployment. We can only deploy each colleague once,” Woelders said.
To raise 27,000 police officers, leave requests have been prohibited during the period surrounding the summit.
“This ensures we have sufficient capacity to manage the NATO summit smoothly while maintaining essential regular police operations,” Woelders said.
It will be the first time a NATO summit has been held in the Netherlands.
The decision to hold it in the home country of current NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was made before the took the reins of the organisation and it was announced by his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg.
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