In terms of computer crime, there will be 254 incidents in 2023, almost a hundred more compared to 2019, the reference year, and 36 more than 2022.The fight against computer crime is not easy because the criminals pass through foreign countries. Compared to 2023, the increase is almost 16%“, explains the commander, insisting that the best weapons are prevention and deterrence. An information session with Waterloo residents has already taken place and Michel Vandewalle would like to hold others.
Despite the drop in accidents and crime, Waterloo and Braine-l’Alleud will turn the street lights back on at night
Another black spot in Waterloo police statistics: accidents. There were 131 in 2023, an increase of 28% compared to 2022, including 116 with minor injuries. “As a result of covid, we are seeing an upward trend in accidents with minor injuries. Many take place with weak users, and even between weak users, but also with the famous scooters. We have even seen, and very recently, accidents in large car parks where the right priority has not been respected. This is included in the statistics for minor injuries and, knock on wood, we have few accidents with serious injuries. (5 for the year 2023)”. Most accidents take place on the main roads, the Chaussée de Bruxelles (N5) in the lead with 37 accidents followed by the Drève Richelle and the Chaussée Bara (8 each), the Chaussée de Bruxelles (N5) de Charleroi (7) and boulevard Henri Rolin (5).This is why you often see Lidar popping up on major roads.“But the commander recognizes that there is still work to be done on speed.
Moreover, for the Brussels roadway, the head of the corps later explained, “itIt’s a jackpot. We put in a radar/Lidar, for 6 days and we have 3,000 infractions but we must not blame everything on Waterloo. When you see the Brussels-Charleroi axis how the population has grown in certain municipalities, where Waterloo it was 28,000 people in 1988 and today 30,000“, and with the Ring, the proximity to Brussels, Waterloo is a transit municipality for many neighboring localities. However, controlling speed on the main roads is complicated for the police forces, especially since the Brussels roadway depends of the Walloon Region and negotiating the installation of radars and facilities has already earned the commander a few gray hairs, he confides almost without irony.
Overall facts on the decline
Overall, crime tends to decrease in Waterloo, despite the priority given to certain offenses such as robbery, speed and drunk driving, drugs and even domestic violence. If crimes, 2,303 in 2023, are stable compared to the previous year, 2024 promises to be a year with less crime. Thus, burglaries in homes have decreased by 5% compared to 2022: 239 committed against 256 (and 284 in 2019). “For 2024, the figures are not yet final and we are in a bad period with the holidays. But know that I experienced crime at the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s, with 500, even 600 thefts in homes.“.
In terms of drugs (49 incidents in 2023), the decrease is gradual and far from the 213 misdeeds in 2019. But it must be said that the police are focusing more on dealers than on consumers.
Unarmed violent robberies (26 in 2023) and armed robberies (4) are also down in 2023, but it should be noted for this year 2024 a slight increase in cases of armed robberies following robberies by two times from the Proximus store. “But the result is positive. The first perpetrators were arrested on Tuesday and the others, from the same gang, the next day. So don’t be surprised if this figure increases in 2024“.
Wave of robberies in Waterloo, a seasonal phenomenon: “As the holidays approach, some are thinking of making easy money”
On the other hand, physical violence in public spaces increases by 10% in 2023 with 85 crimes. On the other hand, 2024 suggests a decrease. Same thing for nuisances: for 460 cases in 2023 and 452 in 2022, 2024 currently accounts for 225 incidents, which will not increase enormously by the end of the year.
Bicycle theft has also stabilized compared to 2022 (41 incidents) where a big increase occurred during the pandemic. But the massacre of this type of theft mainly concerns large cities like Brussels. In addition, local Waterloo police work with rail and federal police to catch thieves. In any case, with 25 cases currently, the numbers for 2024 seem to be decreasing.
Finally, there remains the paradox of intra-family violence. The covid years are not the most important but 2022 with a peak at 283 events, this continues to decrease in 2023 with 250 and this should be confirmed in 2024. But the head of the unit is not happy about it. “There is a black figure which is far too important, but we do not have the data there. Hence my leitmotif of coming to file a complaint. I know that it is very difficult for complainants, because they are mostly complainants, to file a complaint, hence the implementation of many things so that they are well received and listened to within our area. I am intractable at this level“.
