Armament
The armament of the police depends on the position.
Some of the personnel in operational positions do not have a firearm. This mainly concerns personnel in the supervisory positions.
Below pictures of the weapons I carried with the police during my career from 1976 unitl 2021.
My first pistol was an FN model 22.9 mm, with the inscription RV and the number 252 on top of the slide. RV stands for Rijks Veldwacht. A kind of Gendarmerie.
After my training for the mobile unit I also got the US Carabine .30.
At that time, the police officers did not have a gun safe at home. But because they were available 24/7, the weapons were simply kept at home.
In 1980 I trained as a firearm teacher. In that year, the retraining of the FN to the Walther P5 was also started. As a result, I may have assisted some of my colleagues with retraining.
I was allowed to do that again in 1992 when the US Carabine was replaced by the HK MP5
A complete insight into the armament of the Dutch police between 1945 and 2005 is very much described in the book POLITIE BEWAPENING
The book has been published in the Dutch language and has been sold out for some time
The FN,model 22
Uniformed officers are equipped with pepper spray, which is carried along to the flock. A smaller spray can is available for officers who work in regular clothing.
The extendable baton was introduced in 2018. In the photo above this can be seen together with the predecessor
The US Carabine .30
The police expect to start using the new 9 mm cartridge in September 2020. The cartridge is called Action NL and is supplied by RUAG. Also new is that the empty tubes are reused.
Police and chain partners such as the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee and the Transport and Support Service have tested the cartridge for three weeks during the tendering procedure. In addition, the 9 mm firearms and ammunition used by the government have been extensively tested by the shooters who work with them. During the tests, the Action NL cartridge never caused any malfunction. The combination of weapons and ammunition works well. Furthermore, the ammunition offered by the various manufacturers for this tender was tested by the Netherlands Forensic Institute.
The Heckler & Koch MP5 was taken into use by the National Police in the 1970s. Initially in the automatic version. The weapon was used by arrest teams and the uniform detachment in charge of the security of Schiphol Airport. The weapon could be mounted in the gun turret of the Shoreland armored cars.
In 1992, the Winchester M1 carbines were taken away and instead some of the state police's carbine gunners were retrained to shoot the semi-automatic version of the MP5.
The Walther P5 has been in use from 1980 to 2015. The caliber was 9 x 19 mm. From the introduction to the replacement by the Walther P99Q-NL, different types of ammunition have been used.
The ammunition types specially designed and manufactured for the Dutch police have caused extreme wear to the weapon. Particularly because the projectile was of a harder material than what the weapon was designed for. To push the projectile through the barrel again a heavier powder charge was needed
The Walther P99Q NL is the official service weapon of the Dutch police, the Customs and and Extraordinary Investigation officers such as the employees of the Transport & Support Service (DV&O) and forest rangers.since 2012. It replaces the heavily outdated Walther P5. .This resulted in metal fatigue, as a result of which the running and cabinets tore through the use of modern and sturdy Action4 ammunition. This problem was such that in 2005, the Arrest Teams of the police could no longer rely on the reliability of these Walthers due to the many shootings. They switched to using the Glock 17 pistols from the Ministry of Defense.
What is the difference between the P99Q NL and the standard P99 models from Walther .. ?? That is not really much. The Dutch police wanted an RFID chip in their arms to be able to register users, as well as their own series of weapons. The biggest difference is actually in the barrell. Because the Dutch police ammunition, the RUAG Action4 NL cartridges, has a higher speed, and the ball head is entirely made of brass, this has consequences for wear on the barrel. Walther has adjusted the end of the room (the part where the sleeve clamps in the course) in such a way that the wear has a lot less impact.