Hamit Karakus

Hamit Karakus (born 22 February 1965) is a Turkish-Dutch politician and police officer, who previously served as a member of the Senate and as an alderman in Rotterdam. He is a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). Born in Turkey, Karakus grew up in Steenwijk and later moved to Rotterdam to work as a police officer. After ten years of service and reaching the rank of police sergeant, he became deputy director of a real estate brokerage firm in 1998. He continued working there until he was appointed Rotterdam's alderman of housing and spatial planning in 2006. He resigned from that position eight years later, after his party had suffered losses in the 2014 municipal election with Karakus as lijsttrekker. He subsequently became CEO of the organizations Platform31 and IVO and served as a senator between 2021 and 2023. He was appointed chief of the North Holland police in September 2023.