Does wearing a uniform make you conservative? Is standing firmly on your own two feet intimidating to someone else? Are all police officers bastards, heroes, or something in between? In the exhibition All Cops Are which can be seen from May 12 to June 6 in the Atrium City Hall, a group of police officers are profiled twice by random passers-by on the street: first in their own clothes, then in uniform. Based on posture, gaze, skin color, gender, or tattoos, passers-by give a profile of the police officer standing in front of them.

The title All Cops Are refers to the anti-police slogan All Cops Are (A.C.A.B.), a phrase that frames the officer as an accomplice of an oppressive government. In the videos shown in the exhibition, the officer is framed again, not by a particular group, bu by different individuals who view the officer through the lens of their own frame of reference.

With the exhibition All Cops Are in the Atrium City Hall, the police are placed right at the center of The Hague’s society. All Cops Are sparks dialogue about the complex relationship between the police and the public. In this exhibition, visitors are challenged to look not only at the officer but also at the observer: do you go along with the profile that is sketched, or do you draw a different conclusion?

All Cops Are is collaboration between the police and artist Yuri Veerman.