Dutch police patrol the streets on the Third Tuesday of September for Budget Day near Palace Noordeinde in The Hague, The Netherlands, September 2011. Photo by BGNES
The Dutch police have launched an investigation to determine whether Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians are increasingly involved in criminal activities.
"We have a really strong gut-feeling that this is the case, but we want to find out if we can substantiate that feeling with data," a spokesperson for the Council of Police Force Commanders Raad voor Korpschefs said on Wednesday, as cited by Dutch News.
''We want to find out how criminal behaviour among members of these groups is developing and who they are. The investigation is also to provide an answer to whether the suspects are people who become involved in crime as a result of unemployment or whether they planned their crimes when they were still in their country of origin."
The police believe Polish citizens are increasingly involved in burglaries, while most Romanian suspects are arrested for skimming bank cards.
It was not immediately clear what allegations have been raised against the members of the Bulgarian community in the country.
The investigation will be wrapped up before the summer.