The Netherlands Seeks to Strengthen Structural Police Cooperation Across the Kingdom
KRALENDIJK – The Netherlands aims to further structurally strengthen cooperation between the police services of Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten, the Caribbean Netherlands and the European Netherlands. As part of this effort, the liaison officer based in Curaçao will play a role in developing a Kingdom-wide strategy for the exchange of police information.
This is outlined in the new Dutch vision on international police cooperation, submitted as an annex to the first semi-annual police report of 2026. According to The Hague, the small scale, geographical location and geopolitical context of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom call for a targeted approach to mutual police cooperation.
Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten remain independently responsible for law enforcement. Cooperation with the Netherlands is based on Kingdom agreements and the Kingdom Police Act. The ministers discuss this cooperation twice a year in the Justice Four-Party Consultation.
Board of Police Chiefs
One significant concrete step is that the Board of Police Chiefs will receive structural funding from the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security starting in 2026. This is intended to enable the cooperative body to establish a more robust governance structure and, together with The Hague and the Dutch National Police, formulate a long-term strategy.
According to the document, the liaison officer in Curaçao will work with the various police forces toward a joint Kingdom strategy for information sharing. This is relevant to combating cross-border crime — such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and money laundering — in which the islands depend on rapid information exchange with partners in the region and in the Netherlands.
Caribbean Criminal Investigation Cooperation Team
The Caribbean Criminal Investigation Cooperation Team (RST) also remains subject to reassessment. The RST supports the four countries of the Kingdom in investigations into cross-border and high-impact crime. An evaluation is scheduled for 2027. In preparation, an assessment will be made of whether the team’s current deployment still aligns with the evolving nature of crime in the region and the demand for investigative capacity.
The parliamentary letter itself contains no announcement of additional detectives, officers or new funding. Annex 2, which officially addresses international and Caribbean cooperation, focuses primarily on Dutch cooperation within Europe and police missions outside the Kingdom. The concrete direction for therefore lies in the long-term vision: more structural cooperation, improved information sharing and a fresh review of the RST.
