From 23 to 27 June 2026, the international training program Policing Below Sea Level was held at various locations of the Dutch Police Academy. For a week, 23 participants from Police Academies in twenty countries jointly addressed current issues surrounding the theme of strategic leadership. This is also one of the key themes in the Police Academy’s new Strategic Agenda.
Policing Below Sea Level has been held for more than ten years. The program focuses on international networking, knowledge exchange regarding police education, and research. Each country provides one participant. From the Netherlands, this year that was Nils Filius, who works in higher police education.
The Police Academy organizes Policing Below Sea Level in close cooperation with the Association of European Police Colleges (AEPC). “Most participating countries are European, but Hong Kong and the Caribbean Netherlands, in the form of Bonaire, were also represented this time”, says Johan van Lare, Head of International Affairs at the Police Academy and Vice-President of the AEPC. “Broadening the scope beyond just Europe truly adds value. In the Caribbean Netherlands, for example, they are also working on the further development of various educational themes. During the preparation, we looked for a topic that truly matters within the police and education sectors and aligns with our Strategic Agenda. Together with various partners, we arrived at this topic. How do we handle strategic leadership within the police force, both now and in the future? Many countries find this a very interesting subject”.
The week was opened on Monday in The Hague by Olivia Kramers, Director of Education. Peter van der Noort from the School for Police Leadership spoke about what strategic leadership entails within the national police force. Professor Maike Gieling took the participants through how diversity is handled within the police. Dennis Maier spoke about his role as sector head of Knowledge & Research and explained how strategic leaders are trained at the Police Academy.
On Tuesday, the Master of Science in Policing program and the topic The Impact of Digitalisation were discussed. On Wednesday, the participants visited the Police Academy in Ossendrecht. There, they were briefed on crisis and conflict management and received an explanation of Team Resource Management: a working method aimed at preventing human errors. On Thursday, a visit was paid to MensenWerk in Apeldoorn, the experiential exhibition for police colleagues. On Friday, the focus was on Gen Z and how to deal with this generation regarding leadership within the organization.
Friday was also the day the participants received a certificate in The Hague, presented by Johan van Lare. “I am proud that we were able to organize this week again. A word of thanks goes to Paul Moss, who guided this entire week. It was a wonderful week, with a lot of interaction between all participants on the various topics.
