Due to an error by the Judicial Information Service, hundreds of people in the taxi industry or childcare have worked while they may not have been required to have a VOG (certificate of good conduct). As a result, potential sex offenders could continue to work in childcare.
That is stated in a letter that outgoing State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken sent to the House of Representatives on Friday evening.
Since 2018, relevant information about 705 people has not reached the correct authorities. That information could have led to their VOG not being extended.
Of these 705 people, 302 still work in childcare and 175 in the taxi industry. 335 of them may not have been allowed to receive a VOG on suspicion of an offense and 142 because of a possible crime.
In six cases it concerns a possible sexual offense: three suspects work in childcare and three in the taxi industry. In five cases it concerns suspicions that did not lead to prosecution. Of the 101 possible crimes by childcare workers, 96 have now been assessed. In one case, an employee has been suspended.
“People in vulnerable positions, including children, may be at risk as a result,” writes Struycken, who calls the situation “very serious.” Measures are said to have been taken in the meantime so that the Judicial Information Service (Justid) passes on the correct information again.
Earlier mistakes at Justid
Justid cannot ascertain whether all relevant information before 2016 reached the correct authorities. The data from 2016 and 2017 can be traced, but that process would be “complex and time-consuming”. Struycken says he will report on this before the summer recess.
According to the minister, the errors discovered at Justid are “of a different nature” than the problems recently brought to light by the Netherlands Court of Audit. At the end of May it turned out that mistakes have been made for years when drawing up judgments. In 867 cases, the name of the convicted person was incorrect.
Struycken says that this has not led to innocent people currently being imprisoned. He “cannot say with certainty at this time” whether convicts have escaped their punishment.