Utrecht curbs wolf-whistling on the street with security wardens

The city takes a decidedly proactive stance in the wake of a new national anti-harassment legislation

On 1 July, a new anti-harassment law entered into force in the Netherlands. Its aim is to make not only physical but also verbal sexual harassment in public places a punishable offense. This means that it’s now up to the police officers to decide when to impose fines and warnings to people who hiss, wolf whistle or make sexual remarks to other people on the street.

One Dutch city – Utrecht – however, decided to take a more proactive stance in order to ensure that the law would get effectively enforced in a way that would really lead to a change in street behaviour. On the same day when the law came into effect, the city launched a pilot project involving the use of plainclothes council wardens, colloquially known in the Netherlands as BOAs.

What will the BOAs do?

Utrecht’s security wardens receive extensive training to deal with the issue diplomatically, but also to be more vigilant about it. They can talk to offenders and draw up a report for the police. The report allows the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute perpetrators. The pilot seeks to investigate how this works in practice.

Verbal sexual harassment is better known as street intimidation in the Netherlands and includes a variety of specific behaviours, usually performed by men that seek to bully, humiliate and threaten the feeling of well-being and safety of other people in the public space. The victims of this practice are predominantly young women; however, many young men have also reported being harassed.

In 2021, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) conducted its first national survey on street intimidation among young people aged 12 to 25. In the four major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, an average of 77% of young women reported having been harassed on the street. 

Turning street intimidation into a crime was seen as problematic for a long time due to criticism that this could impinge on the freedom of speech and expression.