The fight against ‘Loverboys’
On Thursday 31 May, the Minister of Security and Justice Mr Opstelten will be speaking at the full-day event on the Loverboys 2.0 pilot, organised by the Rotterdam-Rijnmond regional police force. On this day, the outcome of the pilot project, which has run for two years, will be presented and interested persons who are in any way involved in the fight against the so-called loverboys will be informed on insights gained, methods developed, bottlenecks found and (best) practises executed over the past two years.
During the pilot project, institutions such as schools, the care sector, municipalities, Joint Health Services (GGD), Social Services and Probation Services have been involved in the fight against loverboys. The most effective approach has been determined for each individual loverboy. An intensive use has been made of the Internet - where loverboys tend to operate - to compile personal files of the loverboys. The experience gained during the pilot and the recommendations made accordingly will be spread across the Netherlands in the next few years. The same goes for other 'best practises' involving the tackling of loverboy issues. The Action Plan “Nation-wide approach to loverboy issues” has prompted the Centre for Crime Prevention and Public Safety to draw up a guide on loverboy issues. This guide offers a framework for a proper approach to be applied by all parties involved in order to tackle loverboy activities comprehensively, yet based on each party’s discipline. The guide will be presented on the full-day event and will be distributed among (youth) care institutions, educational institutions, municipalities and police forces. These are the parties implementing national policy on a local and regional level, and the guide will be a convenient tool for assisting them in the process. After Mr Opstelten has made his speech and handed out the guide, members of the press will be given an opportunity to ask questions.