Dutch Police to Pose as Gays

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND -- Amsterdam police are considering sending undercover officers posing as gays out onto the streets of the Dutch capital in an effort to fight the recent increase in violence against gays in the city.

Chief of Amsterdam police Bernard Welten said this in an interview that appears in the Gay Krant Friday, "But only as an extreme measure, and only if victims have become much more willing to report incidents than they are now."

The number of violent attacks against gay people in Amsterdam is already higher this year than for all of 2006. 21 incidents of violence against gays have already been reported in Amsterdam this year and homosexuals were assaulted in other Dutch cities as well.

Welten says that the increased number of reported incidents may not necessarily mean an increase in the number of violent attacks. "We are just seeing and hearing about it more than we used to," he told Gay Krant.

According to Police figures, most of the hate-crimes against homosexuals are committed by young Moroccan and Eastern European immigrants.

Religious fundamentalism is the most significant cause of intolerance, the police chief said.