Safety first

During the last two decades, Dutch citizens have become increasingly worried about a wide
variety of public safety problems. Consequently, a new policy domain regarding local public
safety has emerged and established itself in the Netherlands. Public expenditure on local
safety has grown enormously and traditional problems such as disturbances of local order
and petty crime, were soon complemented by newer concerns including drug-related
nuisance, domestic violence and organized crime.
As Dutch mayors are responsible for providing order in local society, all eyes generally turn to
them when a new problem arises. The national government has granted them various powers
to tackle new threats to public safety. However, not all sections of Dutch society are happy
with these developments, and a public debate was triggered in which the Dutch mayors were
accused of behaving more like local sheriffs, and less in accordance with their traditional role
of shepherds of local communities.
This research combines national and local studies on the position and role of Dutch mayors
in local safety governance between the years 1990 and 2010, and concludes that an ever
growing trend of securitizing local issues has fostered an expansion of the mayor's formal
position, as well as new actions and roles in daily public safety governance.