Safety first

During the last two decades, Dutch citizens have become increasingly worried about a widevariety of public safety problems. Consequently, a new policy domain regarding local publicsafety has emerged and established itself in the Netherlands. Public expenditure on localsafety has grown enormously and traditional problems such as disturbances of local orderand petty crime, were soon complemented by newer concerns including drug-relatednuisance, domestic violence and organized crime.As Dutch mayors are responsible for providing order in local society, all eyes generally turn tothem when a new problem arises. The national government has granted them various powersto tackle new threats to public safety. However, not all sections of Dutch society are happywith these developments, and a public debate was triggered in which the Dutch mayors wereaccused of behaving more like local sheriffs, and less in accordance with their traditional roleof shepherds of local communities.This research combines national and local studies on the position and role of Dutch mayorsin local safety governance between the years 1990 and 2010, and concludes that an evergrowing trend of securitizing local issues has fostered an expansion of the mayor's formalposition, as well as new actions and roles in daily public safety governance.