Theo Veltman

My wife and I have seen four annual series now. First year for me was a funny. The series grows more and more with depth of characters and with growing realism. It gives i.e. valid attention to the position of women and how they have to fight more to be taken seriously. As well as discrimination within and outside the police. It also pictures the inside world, where people (mis)use their power to favor others and keep good ideas from developing, where you have to be really courageous, accepting isolation by your peers, when signalling possible misuse of power outside in the real world. Although not many police persons will meet all the special cases this team meets in one episode, it is reality: that kind of cases happen, sometimes all the time. The world of police persons is a tough one. For which they often don't get enough credit. One can imagine that their perception of the world and people in general is shaped by experiencing day after day not always the best part of society. We hope that these series create some understanding of the continuous pressure police persons live under and the sometimes lack of flexibility with some of them that you as a civilian would wish. Why procedures are needed to enable them doing their job as safe as possible. Having said all that: I really wish that the series get rid of the feel-good-sauce all over it when it concerns relationships in the corps. The relationship-world is more diverse. In the police world relationships are more easy thrown out of balance through what persons experience or have experienced that day or by fear or whatever. This job is an unnerving one, to say the least. It is difficult to keep a neutral, stable emotional stance with all that, all the time. So, let's show it. In general, we feel a little less stereotyping types like criminals, lawyers and prosecutors. They are not all the same :) Anyway: we love the series and are looking forward to season 5 and 6 and onwards, as long as it keeps growing and tackling real world issues in their way. We feel it is one of the best (and more realistic) police series we have seen in decades. So, please, keep it coming :)