More city wardens on The Hague’s streets

The roles and responsibilities of the various wardens in the city will be redesigned in an effort to combat dog poop, street litter and illegal parking The municipality will join forces with the police to improve enforcement.

The municipality now is not firm and visible enough when it comes to enforcing the rules. This is because coordination of the various wardens (parking wardens, surveillance teams, internal waters and market inspectors) is too fragmented and the wardens themselves do not have enough of a presence in the city.

The Hague Municipal Executive has submitted a proposal to the Municipal Council to redesign the roles and responsibilities of the various wardens in the city. Each warden will now become one of The Hague’s 250 city wardens and will get one clearly-recognisable uniform. They will also patrol the streets in the evenings and weekends. A mobile brigade of city wardens will patrol the city on bikes.

More authoritative powers

The wardens will also get more authoritative powers. This should result in more fines, from 150 per city warden at the end of 2011 to 250 by the end of 2013.

The wardens working in Liveability and Surveillance (Leefbaarheid en Toezicht) will be expanded next year from 100 to 125 and their work will be overseen by Politie Haaglanden. The 125 parking wardens will remain under the direction of the municipality. Their main task will be to crack down on illegal parking but they will also be able to give a fine if they see someone throwing rubbish on the street or walking with an unleashed dog. Members of the Liveability and Surveillance Team will likewise also take steps to correct people who have parked their car illegally.

The municipality aims to get residents more involved in keeping the city clean, safe and in good condition. Neighbourhood organisations will be approached to discuss how this can best be handled.