Brussels foresters are filing a complaint because they are no longer allowed to carry a service weapon, while they say they need it to properly perform their police duties, following a recent regional Ministerial Decree prohibiting them from carrying a firearm.
Due to a lack of regulations, forest rangers have not been allowed to carry firearms since 2010. Now, Brussels Environment Minister Alain Maron issued to Decree at the request of the Brussels Environment Agency.
"With a ministerial decision, we are now confirming the situation that has existed for years," Simon Vandamme, Maron's spokesperson, told Bruzz.
He referred to statements made by Brussels Prevention & Security (BPV) in November 2020, when they spoke out negatively about firearms being carried by forest rangers, "among other things because the risk of accidents is real, because a holder of a firearm can become a target of criminal gangs on the look for ammunition and because a weapon could scare civilians."
Officers of the judicial police
In practice, forest rangers are recognised as officers of the judicial police and must intervene in the event of infringements concerning agricultural land, Natura 2000 areas, regional parks and forests (tree felling, discharge of dangerous products in a forest, among other things).
"The other violations fall within the competence of the local or federal police, even if they occur in a forest environment," explained Vandamme, adding that the fact that the forest rangers were not allowed to carry firearms "did not prevent them from carrying out their duties in those 13 years."
The Brussels Environment forester brigade, however, argued that its members need armour to be able to perform their police duties properly and professionally, and collectively submitted a complaint to HR service provider Securex because they believe that this will worsen their working conditions and that carrying weapons is part of their status as officers of the judicial police.
Related News
- Flanders forest expansion: Not even a third of final target reached
- Nearly 250 wolf attacks on cattle since reintroduction to Flanders
"The arguments put forward by the minister are all plausible, but work needs to be done on a clear framework within which we can work," one of the Brussels forest rangers told Bruzz anonymously.
“As a forest ranger, we are officers of the judicial police, which means that we have to enforce the law," he said. "If people want us to be able to carry out our work professionally, we must also be given the resources and framework to do so. The lack of that creates a feeling of unease."
Not carrying a firearm, for example, is a problem when a forester wants to put an injured animal out of its misery in an ethical way, they said. "A forest ranger must now do that at his own discretion, with or without a knife and without any training. We believe that this can be done in a more professional manner and that requires a framework that is currently lacking."
