Rotterdam council wardens again handed out more fines for breaking local bylaws than they did in Utrecht, The Hague and Amsterdam last year, according to local media channel Vers Beton.

In 2021 port city officials issued 663 fines to people caught peeing in public, 512 to people carrying open bottles of alcohol and 358 to people for ‘drinking alcohol in a public place’ where the consumption of alcohol is banned.

In total, the fines generated over €184,000 for the city. Wardens also handed out 30 fines to people who were smoking marijuana in public, and over the past five years, 15 people have been fined for having a barking dog.

A council spokesman told the media outlet that the job of a warden is ‘not to issue fines’ but to reduce public nuisance. ‘That is what residents who do stick to the rules ask us to do,’ the spokesman said.

Rotterdam currently has 400 city wardens, or boas, and the new administration plans to increase that to 500.