Openbaar Ministerie

About Openbaar Ministerie

People suspected of committing a criminal offense will deal with the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The OM is the only institution in the Netherlands that can bring suspects before the criminal judge. The OM ensures that offenses are detected and prosecuted. To this end, it collaborates with the police and other investigative services. The public prosecutor leads the investigation. The OM also has the task of ensuring that the judge's verdict is executed; fines must be paid, prison sentences served, and community sentences properly carried out. Together with the judges, the OM is part of the judiciary. The OM is therefore not a ministry in the usual sense of the word. The OM is a national organization divided into ten districts. These correspond to the police organization. In addition, there is a national office that focuses on combating (international) organized crime, and a functional office that combats crime in the areas of environment, economy, and fraud. At the ten district offices, public prosecutors, supported by administrative and legal specialists, assess the several hundred thousand cases that arrive each year. Cases in which appeals are filed go to one of the four branches of the Appellate Prosecution Service. There, the representative of the OM is called the 'advocate-general'. The prosecution services are headed by chief public prosecutors and chief advocates-general. The national leadership of the OM rests with the College of Prosecutors General (the College) in The Hague. The Minister of Security and Justice is politically responsible for the OM. Together with the College, he sets the priorities in investigation and prosecution.