AMSTERDAM'S KEY STONED COPS FACE DRUG CAFE BAN

Being drunk on duty is one thing, but the Dutch government is
concerned that too many of its police officers are getting stoned on
and off duty and is to ban them from "coffee shops", or drug cafes.

The interior minister, Johan Remkes, fears that the spectacle of
spliff-wielding police - in or out of uniform - is chipping away at
the force's respectable public image.

He also believes that the Netherlands' finest risk being accused of
hypocrisy when they carry out spot checks for drugs if they are
dabbling in the weed themselves.

"A police officer has an exemplary role to fulfil and has to show some
authority," he told De Telegraaf newspaper. "They could be in a
difficult position if they have to stop and search people for drugs."

Although the country's 1,500 "coffee shops" are tolerated by the
authorities, the amount that pot lovers can buy is limited to five
grams (a sixth of an ounce) at a time, and hard drugs are not allowed.
Mr Remkes says he wants to ban police officers from frequenting coffee
shops both on and off duty.

And his VVD liberal party is pushing for a ban on other officials,
such as mayors and government ministers.

The government is under pressure to act after a television documentary
revealed that senior officers in Amsterdam regularly used hard drugs
and even dealt ecstasy and cocaine to colleagues.

The documentary, the work of investigative crime journalist Peter de
Vries, led to the sacking of 12 officers.

Based on a leaked report from the police's internal affairs
department, two of the 12 claimed that a quarter of the Beursstraat
station's personnel (in central Amsterdam) used hard drugs.

The investigation was launched after a detective saw a police
brigadier popping ecstasy while on a stakeout.

Witnesses described occasions when officers were so high on ecstasy
that they could not even find Amsterdam's main shopping street,
Kalverstraat, just two minutes away from the station.

They also alleged that officers went on drug-fuelled holidays, where
they would smash up holiday homes in a narcotic frenzy.

The Dutch police union, the NPB, believes Mr Remkes is going too
far.

"Visits to coffee shops are not forbidden, so it is strange that
police officers would be barred from going in their free time," said a
spokesman.