The Federal Police of Belgium is taking measures to strategy its workings following last year's terror attack in Brussels, but says that eradicating the risk entirely is "impossible".
Several people including senior police officers were heard before the House Committees on Justice and Home Affairs on Tuesday regarding the Brussels attack on 16 October. Tunisian national Abdesalem Lassoued shot two Swedish football fans on Boulevard d'Ypres near Place Sainctelette, a 20-minute walk from Grand Place.
Tunisia had requested his extradition in August 2022, but the file was reportedly misplaced at the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office. This led to the resignation of Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne and is one of the reasons behind the hearing in the Committees.
As part of the hearing, senior police officers are providing explanations of their response on 16 October.
Police pictured near the Place Eugene following the terror attack. Credit: Belga
Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) stressed after the attack that the police had followed all procedures, an account confirmed by police chiefs on Tuesday.
However, Commissioner-General Eric Snoeck did explain that the hearing remains incomplete as long as the Comité P, which oversees police forces in Belgium, is still investigating the case.
In any case, according to the police boss, improvements can be made in terms of communication to reduce terror risks, which are being worked on now. Among other things, the Federal Police are working to improve IT systems and equipment for investigators.
For the Directorate of International Police Cooperation (CGI), which reportedly has to process an average of 1,600 messages manually every day, this means an automatic system for international information exchange from June.
Not all risks eliminated
But Snoeck stressed that, even after improvements are made, not all risks can be eliminated.
"We are dealing with hundreds and maybe thousands of possible perpetrators," he said. "It is impossible to detect them all, take the right measures at the right time and 100% guarantee that terror attacks will not happen, especially in a democratic state."
Parliamentarians, however, have more questions, mainly regarding how 16 different entities had information on Lassoued, yet the level of interaction was minimal.
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They pointed out the many obstacles interrupting information exchange between local and Federal Police forces and justice, a process they argued is crucial to prevent such attacks.
The lack of information sharing by security services was also brought up, as well as the need to do better at anticipating and preventing such incidents. A central hub for security data was believed to be key to this.
