Brussels Prosecutor Julien Moinil ordered the police services and his staff to crack down on traceable stolen goods.
Growing frustration among Brussels residents might lead to acts of vigilantism, as geolocated stolen goods often receive unsatisfying responses from the police.
At around 21:30 on 18 August 2023, 33-year-old Canadian traveller Tony Aubé’s bookbag was snatched at Brussels-Midi station.
Aubé was able to locate his laptop after tracing it to a building in Molenbeek. He then went to the police and explained the situation, only to be met with despair. According to him, the police explained that there was nothing they could possibly do, as the location could not be used to determine which apartment the stolen laptop was in.
Furious, he then decided to go to remarkable lengths to track down the thieves and shared his experience in a viral TikTok video.
The next morning, Aubé was able to locate his laptop at another address in Jette. He decided to take matters into his own hands and go to the location, waiting for several hours until the thieves emerged from a squat they were occupying.
He then followed them to a second-hand electronics shop and, without making contact with the thieves, alerted the police. The police entered the squat and discovered not only the stolen laptop, but also hundreds of smartphones, computers and iPads. The laptop was returned to Aubé, and the other items were seized in an attempt to trace and return them to their rightful owners.
One person was arrested at the squat site but was then shortly released. An investigation is still ongoing.
Other recent cases, reported to the Brussels prosecutor’s office, appear to have irritated the public prosecutor Julien Moinil. Already up against it, he sent a circular to police services across the capital and to his own staff, ordering that such situations must not be repeated.
From now on, every theft report accompanied by geolocation data must trigger immediate and active follow-up.
"The absence of any reaction from the criminal justice chain, whether the theft involves violence or not, creates immense frustration for victims," Moinil wrote in the directive, which Le Soir has seen. "They perceive a lack of will or capacity, leading to widespread incomprehension. It discredits both the police and the justice system, accused of not reacting quickly enough, or at all. Worse still, it risks encouraging vigilantism and undermining public trust in the justice system."
Moinil's new instructions are clear: police must now alert a magistrate immediately and in real-time whenever a complaint is filed, accompanied by geolocation evidence. Prosecutors, for their part, are told to act with urgency. In the event of a flagrant theft, magistrates are to support the police in searching the identified premises, if this has not already been done. Where the theft (or offence) is not red-handed, the magistrate must contact the investigating judge on duty to obtain a search warrant.
Finally, Moinil insists on better communication. If, for instance, the precise location can not be determined, the police are expected to provide clear explanations rather than leaving the victims in the dark.
