Education Netherlands Police Academy: Training and care for control-room operators in dealing with disturbing events Written on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 ‘Stay calm and keep a cool head. But be sure to obtain enough information to guide units on the ground to a disturbing event.’ This is how Ben Mouw, coordinator of the Netherlands Police Academy’s training programmes for control-room operators, summarizes the work of these operators. On 26 August 2025 (at 19:30 pm), he was on RTL Nieuws to talk about the work of the control rooms. The item was prompted by the disturbing and violent incident of the murder of the 17-year-old Lisa, just on the outskirts of Amsterdam. In the news item, Ben explained that control-room operators are frequently confronted with disturbing incidents. They’re contacted by people in great distress. ‘It really gets under your skin. If it all ultimately turns out well, there’s a sense of satisfaction, but if not… it’s very hard. In that situation, police colleagues and the organization as a whole ensure the person receives the care and support they need. And that applies not only to police on the ground, but also to control-room operators.’ The Control Room plays an important role in operational policing. Together with the officers on the ground, the control-room operators make sure the right assistance gets to the scene as quickly as possible. So here we’re thinking about a situation like an accident, a fire, or another incident. Control-room training Given the importance of the Control Room, there’s a good reason that the Police Academy have been providing training in this area for many years now. Students learn how to carry out an intake interview, and the right way to enter the data into the system. As well as that, students learn how to communicate with the person who reports an incident, and with other emergency assistance providers. While an incident is ongoing, control-room operators coordinate the response: they inform and guide the units on the ground. Real-time Intelligence Centre An important part of the Control Room is the Real-time Intelligence Centre (RTIC). Here the employees gather data relating to the incident and investigate information. They monitor the security situation constantly: 24 hours a day, 7 hours a week. RTIC employees are good at prioritizing. They know which notifications require an immediate response and which can wait a little. The training courses are intended for people who already work for the Netherlands Police. Further information can be found in our overview of police training.