PhD defence B.J. (Bas) van der Pool

Summary:

Four dramatic incidents: the murders of 'the girl from Nulde', 'the Maas girl', former minister Borst and Hümeyra, are examples of incidents with an enormous impact. Incidents like these lead to accountability and learning. However, the lesson from inspections about the incidents is always the same: cooperation must be improved. Professionals often see only the photo, a snapshot, but not the film, a long track of events. Collaboration is necessary so that professionals inform each other well and call each other to account on agreements made, a matter of learning and accountability. This is the reason for this study to investigate the relationship between accountability and learning in case consultations about robbers, domestic violence, confused persons, subversive crime and youth protection. Incidents can be prevented there. This study shows that because of poor team formation and insufficient support for cooperation, professionals do not always share information properly and do not always hold each other accountable for agreements made. Moreover, the urge for accountability in the event of incidents reduces the chance of learning, which in turn increases the chance of accountability. Things go better when a team of professionals from different organizations work together and do not just consult together. This is where learning takes place and accountability does justice to the complexity of the cases that must be addressed and doing what is necessary to properly handle each case. Accountability and learning reinforce each other again and again and in this way we can further reduce the risk of incidents.