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Pieter Tops appointed Professor by Special Appointment Organised and Subversive Crime Studies Leiden University

The Dutch Police Academy funds several specials chairs in order to further its research position and form a closer alliance with the academic world. Starting 1 July 2020, Pieter Tops will hold the special chair Organised and Subversive Crime Studies. The chair will be hosted by the Institute Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University's Faculty Governance and Global Affairs. Pieter Tops is a lector at the Police Academy. He conducts research into (local) democracy and into undermining crime.

 

Pieter Tops on his appointment: 'I look forward to sharing my knowledge with students and by doing so strengthen the relationship between the police force and the academic world. My research will mainly focus on an international comparison of undermining (drugs related) crime: what is undermining and in what form and to what extend does it exist in the Netherlands?

 

Special Chair Organised and Subversive Crime Studies

Pieter Tops will, among other things, contribute to ISGA's educational programme and publish articles on a wide range of topics in the field of undermining and organised crime. This chair can also help to provide important contributions to the social debate on undermining and organised crime. Tops focusses on the measures to counter this, in particular on the collaboration between the police force and the other organisations involved, from both a national and international perspective.

Undermining

Over the last few years, the issue of 'undermining' has become increasingly important in the Netherlands. It has established itself firmly on the agendas of crime fighting institutions such as the Police and the Public Prosecution Service as well as on the agendas of governmental administrations on both a national and local level. Undermining refers the effects that organised crime has on society: what is the impact organised crime has on society? In short, it is the intermingling of the underworld and the upper world: potentially threatening the integrity of the corporate and financial world and public administration and the infiltration of criminal phenomena in neighbourhoods and residential areas.

Institute Security and Global Affairs

The Special Chair will be hosted by the Institute Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of the Faculty Governance and Global Affairs. ISGA was founded in 2016 and has in a relatively short period managed to build a strong national and international profile in both research as well as education in the field of security, (counter) terrorism, cyber security and intelligence services. ISGA is part of the Faculty Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA). FGGA is the youngest faculty of Leiden University and is located in The Hague. FGGA's research and educational mission is to study globally emerging social economic challenges such as terrorism, climate change, organised crime, and economic crises from a multi- and interdisciplinary perspective.

The Police Academy

The Police Academy is an educational and knowledge institute for the benefit of the Dutch National Police.  The Academy has its own research and knowledge group, headed by Prof. dr. E. Bakker. The group consists of eight lectors and approximately twenty researchers. The research group, in collaboration with the Police Academy, has formulated a strategic research agenda that has been formally adopted by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. The Police Academy operates on an independent basis when developing and conducting research.
The Dutch Police Academy funds several specials chairs in order to further its research position and form a closer alliance with the academic world.

Pieter Tops
Tops (1956) obtained his PhD at Leiden University for his dissertation "Afspiegeling en afspraak:  coalitietheorie en collegevorming in Nederlandse gemeenten (1946-1986)" on coalition theory and Dutch municipality council formations. From 1994 until 2018, he worked as a professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. In 2017, Tops drew nationwide attention with the publication of the book "De achterkant van Nederland. Hoe onder- en bovenwereld verstrengeld raken"; that he wrote in collaboration with journalist Jan Tromp of Dutch newspaper 'de Volkskrant' on the intermingling of organised crime in the Netherlands. In January 2018, it was succeeded by the book: "Een ongetemde buurt Achterstand, ondernemingszin en criminaliteit in een volksbuurtā€¯; a history of two notorious working class neighbourhoods in the city of Tilburg. In 2018, he also published the research report "Waar een klein land groot in kan zijn Nederland en synthetische drugs in de afgelopen 50 jaar"; on synthetic drugs in the Netherlands. From 2006-2013, Tops was a member of the Executive Board of the Police Academy.

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