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Belgian policemen in riot gear during a nationwide protest against the new government’s plan to reform special pension schemes in Brussels on February 13, 2025.
It is not easy to be a policeman these days in Belgium, particularly not in Brussels, the self-proclaimed ‘heart of Europe.’ Law enforcement members are forced to chase armed gang members shooting at each other in broad daylight, or, if luckier, try and shut down legal and innocuous gatherings of conservatives (on occasions, also defending them from aggressive Antifa mobs) or arrest peaceful demonstrators.
As a result, the law enforcement profession is probably not very popular these days, judging by the announcement made by Belgian police leaders the other day: a clean criminal record will no longer be required from future applicants. The change applies to police officers in both federal and local forces, Brussels Times (BT) reported, citing Flemish outlet Het Laatste Nieuws on Friday, June 13th.
The police recruitment process “has been updated to allow individuals with criminal records to apply,” BT said, quoting the police as noting that the change in recruitment policy is “not intended to address staffing shortages, though it may help.” The announcement also stressed that it is not a relaxation of standards, and clarified that candidates involved in drug trafficking or murder would not be accepted.
Well, that is reassuring, otherwise, it would be hard to tell who the criminals and who the law enforcers are.
Nicholas Paelinck, head of the Westkust police zone and head of the Standing Committee of Local Police, justified the move by citing young people convicted of petty offences, such as noise disturbance or drug use, as examples of who should not be excluded from applying to the police force.
All this comes as residents of the Belgian capital keep witnessing a wave of street crime over the past years, with innocent passersby hurt as members of organized crime groups engaged in shootouts.
A recently released major survey has shown that in the capital city, one in five residents feels unsafe in their respective neighbourhoods, a figure twice as high as the national baseline. While around 10% of all Belgians often or always feel unsafe in the area where they live, and 13% in the Socialist-led Wallonia say the same, 19% of Brussels residents reported feeling unsafe in their neighbourhoods, up from 16% since the last Security Monitor survey was published in 2021. Mostly, the reason for residents feeling unsafe is the steady increase in drug-related crimes.
Police not only have to deal with mostly migrant-related organized crime—they also face hindrances by politicians. In April this year, police officers in Brussels sent an anonymous letter to press agency Belga expressing their support for the merger of the Belgian capital’s six police zones and complaining about “anomalies and even abuse” that they observe in their daily work. In the letter, the police officers said the merger would also bring to light abuses of the police for political or personal purposes. In some areas, they alleged, mayors ask officers to perform tasks that have nothing to do with their duties, such as driving them to appointments in a police vehicle. In addition, they complain about practices such as reducing the number of crime reports in order to maintain the area’s statistics, especially in the run-up to elections.
But now the police brass seems to have found a solution: allowing those with a criminal record in. Good luck with that to them—and to all Belgians.
Belgian policemen in riot gear during a nationwide protest against the new government’s plan to reform special pension schemes in Brussels on February 13, 2025.
It is not easy to be a policeman these days in Belgium, particularly not in Brussels, the self-proclaimed ‘heart of Europe.’ Law enforcement members are forced to chase armed gang members shooting at each other in broad daylight, or, if luckier, try and shut down legal and innocuous gatherings of conservatives (on occasions, also defending them from aggressive Antifa mobs) or arrest peaceful demonstrators.
As a result, the law enforcement profession is probably not very popular these days, judging by the announcement made by Belgian police leaders the other day: a clean criminal record will no longer be required from future applicants. The change applies to police officers in both federal and local forces, Brussels Times (BT) reported, citing Flemish outlet Het Laatste Nieuws on Friday, June 13th.
The police recruitment process “has been updated to allow individuals with criminal records to apply,” BT said, quoting the police as noting that the change in recruitment policy is “not intended to address staffing shortages, though it may help.” The announcement also stressed that it is not a relaxation of standards, and clarified that candidates involved in drug trafficking or murder would not be accepted.
Well, that is reassuring, otherwise, it would be hard to tell who the criminals and who the law enforcers are.
Nicholas Paelinck, head of the Westkust police zone and head of the Standing Committee of Local Police, justified the move by citing young people convicted of petty offences, such as noise disturbance or drug use, as examples of who should not be excluded from applying to the police force.
All this comes as residents of the Belgian capital keep witnessing a wave of street crime over the past years, with innocent passersby hurt as members of organized crime groups engaged in shootouts.
A recently released major survey has shown that in the capital city, one in five residents feels unsafe in their respective neighbourhoods, a figure twice as high as the national baseline. While around 10% of all Belgians often or always feel unsafe in the area where they live, and 13% in the Socialist-led Wallonia say the same, 19% of Brussels residents reported feeling unsafe in their neighbourhoods, up from 16% since the last Security Monitor survey was published in 2021. Mostly, the reason for residents feeling unsafe is the steady increase in drug-related crimes.
Police not only have to deal with mostly migrant-related organized crime—they also face hindrances by politicians. In April this year, police officers in Brussels sent an anonymous letter to press agency Belga expressing their support for the merger of the Belgian capital’s six police zones and complaining about “anomalies and even abuse” that they observe in their daily work. In the letter, the police officers said the merger would also bring to light abuses of the police for political or personal purposes. In some areas, they alleged, mayors ask officers to perform tasks that have nothing to do with their duties, such as driving them to appointments in a police vehicle. In addition, they complain about practices such as reducing the number of crime reports in order to maintain the area’s statistics, especially in the run-up to elections.
But now the police brass seems to have found a solution: allowing those with a criminal record in. Good luck with that to them—and to all Belgians.
