A new shooting broke out in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in Saint-Gilles, near the Gare du Midi, leaving two dead and three injured. Tired of the slow reaction of the justice system in the face of insecurity, the mayors are taking the lead with a series of proactive measures aimed at fining dealers and consumers more quickly. Thus, Fabrice Cumps and Philippe Close, respectively PS mayors of Anderlecht and the City of Brussels, have amended the law on municipal administrative sanctions (SAC) in order to fine traffickers more quickly.
This is also the case for Christoph D’Haese (N-VA), mayor of Aalst, who took this measure this week. “Drug traffickers are not a sufficient priority for justice, which is why the city is taking measures itself. Certain criminal phenomena could now be subject to rapid municipal administrative sanctions. This measure should make it possible to avoid nuisance as much as possible allowing the local police to react quickly”, he explains.
Tracking down dealers via municipal administrative sanctions has been a reality in the City of Brussels since May. This measure is also in force in Anderlecht. “When a dealer is arrested, he generally does not have a lot of goods on him. The arrest is then not brought to justice and the trafficker is quickly released. The administrative sanction therefore makes it possible to punish the little one despite everything. offender”, explains Mayor Fabrice Cumps. “However, it is important to differentiate between a group of non-solvent drug addicts who consume crack around the Gare du Midi station and the cocaine sellers in the Peterbos area. The former areas must be the subject of a preventive and medical, while the latter take a repressive approach.”
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In addition to administrative sanctions, Fabrice Cumps decided to go a step further by issuing a ban on going to “drive-ins”, the name given to places frequented by drug dealers, such as in certain places in Peterbos. , punishable by fine. “People who do not have a valid reason to be in this place are fined. In three months, we have fined about a hundred. Naturally, the question arises of the transfer of insecurity to the neighborhood and we remain attentive to this phenomenon. For example, we observe that dealers are found further down, around Westland Shopping. We are therefore taking individual measures to prohibit access to this or that person.”he adds.
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The story is quite different from Vincent De Wolf, mayor MR. “It is inconceivable to impose an administrative sanction on a cocaine dealer who can earn 30,000 euros in turnover in one day. This makes no sense and implies a lack of prosecution by the prosecution. This amounts to legitimizing the traffic,” he castigates. “My philosophy is simple: we must be extremely strict with dealers by seizing their assets, their buildings, their financial accounts, tracking them down all over the world, and having them extradited. They are merchants of death, we must go all out.”
40% of minor drug cases end in criminal transactions
Concretely, the drug trafficker caught in the act receives a letter from the sanctioning official inviting him to pay an amount of up to 500 euros, depending on the merchandise seized. If he refuses to pay, the criminal aspect then kicks in with a risk of seizure of his property. The administrative sanction therefore differs from the immediate transaction, in force in particular during shoplifting, during which the individual in violation must immediately pay the amount of up to 350 euros.
This second procedure is in force in several municipalities, both against consumers and traffickers. It was issued as part of a circular adopted at the end of 2021, modeled on the model of “Covid offenses” in force during the health crisis. Since then, the number of drug transactions has exploded.
“A ‘blind’ justice”
“Since 2022, around 40% of small drug-related cases end in criminal transactions, which is alarming,” explains Christine Guillain, professor of criminal law at Saint-Louis University. “Rather than transferring the files to the public prosecutor, we impose criminal transactions to be paid on the spot. This is routine justice because there is no longer a magistrate to look into the file, the circumstances or the personality of the offender. It is justice ‘blindly’ against petty criminals.”
In order to improve cooperation between the police and the justice system, a meeting was organised this Wednesday between the Brussels mayors and the magistrates of the accelerated justice chambers. A second meeting should be organised in two weeks with the national drugs commissioner Ine Van Wymersch.
