- Marechaussee
- Organisation
Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee
The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee falls directly under the Minister of Defence, to whom he is accountable for some of the Marechaussee’s tasks. In addition, the commander chairs the Marechaussee Board, the most senior decision-making body in the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
As of 31 May 2012, Lieutenant General J.A.J. (Hans) Leijtens is the new Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
Between 1981 and 1985, Lieutenant General Leijtens attended the Sociology and Psychology course at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. He took his Royal Netherlands Marechaussee officers’ training course at the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee Training Centre in Apeldoorn in 1988 and 1989.
In the intervening years (1985 – 1987), he was platoon commander of 13 Armoured Air Defence Artillery Battery of the Royal Netherlands Army.
In 1989, he joined the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, where he fulfilled several positions. He was, for example, Head of Operations of the Schiphol District Police Service from 1992 to 1996.
From 2003 to 2004, Leijtens was a university lecturer for Law and Police Sciences at the Royal Netherlands Academy. Between 2004 and 2007, he worked at the Ministry of Defence as a policy adviser.
Among his other positions were Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee South District, Commander of Contingent Command in Afghanistan and, from 2011, Deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
As Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, Lieutenant General Leijtens is also the Governor of the Residency (The Hague) and is consequently responsible for military ceremonies held in that city.
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