Policing in Belgium

Law enforcement in Belgium is conducted by an integrated police service structured on the federal and local levels, made up of the Federal Police and the Local Police. Both forces are autonomous and subordinate to different authorities, but linked in regard to reciprocal support, recruitment, manpower mobility and common training.

In 2001, the Belgian police underwent a fundamental structural reform that created this completely new police system. A Belgian parliamentary report into a series of pedophile murders accused the police of negligence, amateurism and incompetence in investigating the cases. The loss of public confidence in the police was so great that the whole population deemed the reform indispensable.

The three former police forces, the municipal police, the national law enforcement service (Rijkswacht/Gendarmerie) and the judicial police (assigned to the offices of the public prosecutors) gave way to an integrated police service structured on two levels.

The federal police (Dutch: Federale Politie; French: Police Fédérale; German: Föderale Polizei) is in charge of both specialized and supralocal law enforcement operations and specialized criminal investigation operations. The force is also tasked with delivering support to the local police forces. The federal police consists of approximately 12,300 personnel members (civilian and operational staff).

The federal police is led by a general commissioner, a senior officer who holds the rank of chief superintendent. He or she heads the general commissioner's office. This office is responsible for management, strategy and policy of the federal police; ensuring the functioning of the integrated police (by coordinating with local police forces); coordinating and supporting the federal police units; internal and external communication and international cooperation. It is composed of the:

The directorate of international police cooperation (CGI) within this office is Belgium’s national central bureau for the European Police Office (Europol), Schengen Information System and International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Falling under the authority of the General Commissioner's Office, are two operational and one non-operational general directorates:

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