A History of the Dutch PoliceUntil recently, the history of the Dutch police in the nineteenth and twentieth century had never been the subject of extensive scholarly research. Thanks to an initiative led by a number of chiefs of police and police authorities, however, this area has now been researched in detail, culminating in a series of volumes written by Prof. Cyrille Fijnaut (project leader), Dr Guus Meershoek, Dr Jos Smeets, and Dr Ronald van der Wal. The four volumes examine the history of the municipal police, the national police, the police unions, and the police system in general, starting with the period of the Netherlands’ brief incorporation into the French Empire in 1810-1813. The series is completed by a fifth volume, a paperback summary by Cyrille Fijnaut, which is here translated into English.The book opens with a discussion of how the police system gradually emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, why it became increasingly divided by opposing forces around
