Belgium
| Author | Timothy Ocnaschek, Nathan Moran, Robert Hanser |
| Pages | 209-214 |
Page 209
Official country name: Kingdom of Belgium
Capital: Brussels
Geographic description: Country in Western Europe bordering the North Sea
Population: 10,364,388 (est. 2005)
Before police reforms and institution of the Federal Police, Belgian law enforcement was composed of three levels: the Gendarmerie, the Judicial Police, and Municipal/Rural Police forces.The Gendarmerie, literally translated as "guard of the kingdom," was the federal component of Belgian law enforcement until the integrated police force was established. Initially, the gendarmerie was a branch of the Belgian military, but lost that status in 1992. By the end of 1999, over 16,000 personnel were assigned. The Gendarmerie included several specialized assignments, such as the Central Intelligence Bureau, Special Intervention Squadron, Railroad Police, Maritime Police (including maritime, fluvial, and harbor police), Airport Police, Court and Corrections Police, Transport Police, and a General Reserve. For the Railroad Police, the rank of the officer in charge determined the size of the jurisdiction around the railroad stations. The Transport Police were also assigned the railways, airport and maritime, and roads as well as control of trucks, buses, and personal cars including weight, needed papers, security, and driving times. The General Reserve was composed of two infantry and two mounted companies. The mounted companies provided the Royal escort and also were available for riot control. Gendarmerie duties also included schools, antiterrorism, antidrug enforcement, protection and security of the Belgian embassies in foreign countries, close protection for VIPs, transfer of prisoners. The force was commanded by the Lieutenant-General Commander of the Gendarmerie.
The Judicial Police were created in 1919 to compensate for the lack of other Belgian police available for criminal investigations. There was also a need to provide magistrates the disposal of its own police department. There were about 1,400 officers broken down into 23 brigades, under overall command of the Commissioner-General. Twenty-two of the brigades were assigned to the 27 judicial districts in the country, while the 23rd was assigned as a national brigade against "high criminality." Each brigade was commanded by a Chief-Commissioner who reported to the Prosecutor of the King. They all worked in plainclothes. Assigned duties included a
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national computer crime unit and judicial police laboratories.
The Municipal/Rural Police comprised a total of about 18,000 personnel. The large cities were headed by a Chief-Commissioner and the smaller cities by a Commissioner. Small communes were led by a Commissioner of Rural Police. There were 589 departments, all with emergency police and traffic brigades. The largest departments had judicial brigades and antiaggression brigades assigned.
A "Committee P " was also established as a permanent control committee for the police services, akin to many agencies' internal affairs divisions. This unit was assigned to the Federal Parliament and was composed of police officers coming from various forces and departments around the country and also included a retinue of civilians.
The SGAP was also formed to provide general service and support for the police and to assist with coordination between various departments and agencies. This agency provided central judicial and police documentation, a central description bulletin (of searched persons, etc.) support to Interpol and Europol, as well as management of the Municipal Police departments' electronic system.
Major reform was initiated April 15, 2000, involving all law enforcement in the country, combining agencies and streamlining overall structure. Law enforcement currently operates at two levels: federal and local. Soon after the reform, one report noted the Federal Police employed about 12,000 police officers and approximately 2,500 other workers. According to Chief Inspector Yvon Goffard of the Belgian Federal Police in March 2004, the establishment of the Federal Police and Local Police was finalized on January 4, 2001, and January 1, 2002, respectively, with a current total of 40,000 policemen. 11,000 are assigned to Special Services under the Federal Police and the remaining 29,000 comprise the Local Police community policing efforts divided into 196 police zones (territories). Belgian cities fall within various police zones.
Some special investigation departments are available to help the local police in their investigations, to include: the strategic analysts' special unit, behavioral sciences' special unit (profiling), a special unit for the hearing of children, and the polygraph special unit. Testing for drugs and human samples is conducted on both local levels and at national laboratories depending on the situation.
The hierarchy of Belgian Police is as follows:
General commissioner: Commander of the Belgian Police
General director (rank of police chief): 5 general directors are in charge of the 5 general directions of the staff headquarters of the Federal Police
General officer: chief of police (in charge of a police zone)
Officer: police captain
Noncommissioned officer: Lieutenant
Police inspector
Police assistant
Special police services include:
Canine support department
Air support department
Special Intervention Unit (DSU), special forces of the police
Traffic police
Railway Police
Waterway police
Protection services (protection of the King and VIPs) and international missions
Scientific and technical police
Disaster Victim Identification
Monthly salary...
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