The spate of drug violence that gripped the city in February – specifically, the municipality of Anderlecht – has fuelled the question of public safety in Brussels and focused especially on the structure of the city's police forces, which are divided into six distinct zones.
The series of fatal shootings that took place on successive nights, in known problem areas, by perpetrators insouciant of security forces, only added to the impression that police in Brussels are ineffective, reactive at best and lacking the organisational framework that could challenge the mafias whose operations extend far beyond the bounds of Belgium's capital. And it's not as if this was out of the blue: gun crime soared last year, driven by the same motives.
In light of this, the argument for centralising police zones in Brussels has gained momentum. Indeed, it would be impossible to say there are no efficiency gains to be made in the current system. But the debate is deeply politicised, framed as an effort by Flemish parties to undermine the independence of the Brussels mayors, who belong overwhelmingly to francophone parties.
As opposition flares, details of how the zones interact, the powers of federal versus local police, and how funding is allocated, are obscured. Nor are the boundaries between police zones questioned, the current arrangement allowing crime to be pushed outside one zone onto the territory of another.
And how do local police differ from their federal counterparts? How do they coordinate? These questions are fundamental to the debate, though are often obscured as the dispute gets heated. But with the Interior Minister now declaring a merger "inevitable", a summary of police responsibilities in Brussels is a handy reference to understand how the actual system came to be, how it's supposed to work, and its flaws.
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