The latest Security Monitor survey has found that 19% of residents in the Brussels-Capital Region feel unsafe in their own neighbourhood. The increase in the percentage of people in the capital that don’t feel safe in the area where they live is linked to nuisance caused by the consumption and sale of narcotics and other crime related to the trade in illegal drugs. The Federal Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal) describes the figures as “worrying” and has once again called for the merger of the Brussels’ six local police services into one local police force for the whole of the Brussels-Capital Region.
The latest Security Monitor survey, a survey of around 150,000 people from all over Belgium, shows that around 10% of people in Belgium often or always feel unsafe in their own neighbourhood. In Flanders the figure is lowest at 7% cent. 13% of people in Wallonia often or always feel unsafe where they live, while in Brussels this figure is 19%.
The Federal Interior minister Bernard Quintin says that it is worrying that the percentage of people in Brussels that don’t feel safe has increased. In the last Security Monitor survey that dates from 2021 the figure for Brussels was 16%. Mr Quintin told journalists that “In some Brussels neighbourhoods, a lot of problems on top of each other: nuisance caused by drugs, intimidation on the streets, damage to vehicles, fly-tipping… We need a structural response to that”.
1 local police service for the whole of Brussels
“To my mind it is clear that the fragmentation caused by having six local police services in Brussels is no longer tenable. We need an integrated approach with one policy, one vision, one strategy, working both at the level of policymaking and on the ground.”
Mr Quintin intends to move forward “very quickly” with the merger of the Brussels’ 6 local police services. Such a unified police service should lead to more intervention capacity and more provide community police officers on the ground. The Interior Minister also calls for a regional security plan to be drawn up by the public prosecutor's office, federal police and the local police services. “The situation in the capital is complex. It requires cooperation, clarity and determination. Only by working together can we succeed.”
Mr Quintin also called for greater attention to be paid cleanliness. “Visible squalor, such as broken windows, fly-tipping and empty buildings, fosters a feeling of insecurity and encourages petty crime. Investing in cleanliness, infrastructure and maintenance also makes people feel safer”.