RIEC-congress 2024
RIEC Rotterdam

The Regional Information and Expertise Centre Rotterdam (RIEC) concluded 2024 well with an important conference. Just like 2 years ago, VKOZ had the honour of organising this together with the RIEC and the conference took place in the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre.

This year, the topics of synthetic drugs and drug labs, explosive violence, and human trafficking and smuggling were central. These are themes that the RIEC cannot ignore in the fight against undermining crime, the focus area of ​​the centre. The participants were from administrative level, such as mayors and other important officials involved in the fight against undermining and crime, including employees of the municipality of Rotterdam and other RIEC locations.

The programme was structured around three important objectives: looking back at the working method, looking ahead to the reinforcement programme within the RIEC, and emphasising the urgency of the themes discussed.

It was special that the new mayor of Rotterdam, Carola Schouten, was present to give a speech and to get acquainted with an important organization for Rotterdam, if it is the RIEC. None other than presenter Ewout Genemans, who has a great affinity with crime as is evident from his TV programs, was the chairman of the day. With his impressive experiences he was able to take the participants along in the program throughout the day. Lawyer Onno de Jong spoke about his work with crown witnesses. And the live podcast of crime journalist Paul Vugts was a valuable addition to the program to put the themes even more on the map. The day was concluded with a spoken word by poet Derek Otte. He summarized the day with an inspiring closing speech.

Did you know that… the goodie bag that all participants were allowed to take home contained a 30 Seconds game, completely personalized with terms related to the RIEC? Original, right?

In addition to inspiring speakers, we attach great value to interactivity and experience during a conference. We do this to offer variety and not only inform the visitors, but also to let them really experience a feeling with the information. Chairman Ewout Genemans ensured involvement during the first plenary part by asking a few participants questions. This was a powerful kick-off to the day. The program also consisted of various knowledge sessions, in which participants followed workshops and played substantive games with each other. In addition, there were three mobile escape rooms from which the visitors had to escape. One escape room simulated a drug lab, another a smuggling car, and the third was all about undermining. All in all, it was a varied program in which both content and experience were central!