The police recruitment process has recently been updated to allow individuals with criminal records to apply, according to a report by Het Laatste Nieuws on Friday.
The police assured that candidates involved in drug trafficking or murder would not be accepted. It further refrained from calling it a relaxation of standards.
Applications can still be rejected later in the selection process after character assessments. The law requires impeccable conduct for police officers, but this does not necessarily mean a clean criminal record. The updated measures apply to police inspectors in both federal and local forces.
Nicholas Paelinck, head of the Westkust police zone and head of the Standing Committee of Local Police, justified the move by citing an example: a student convicted for noise disturbance, drug use, and importation after a noisy party where cannabis from the Netherlands was used. Refusing such candidates is unnecessary, he argued.
The adjustment to the recruitment process is not intended to address staffing shortages, though it may help. In the northern part of the country, for instance, only 19 out of 98 police zones have sufficient officers.
