Better training and bodycams to improve police relations with public

The Brussels-Ixelles police force will acquire 231 bodycams, which will be put into operation in April, and provide training aimed at improving relations with the public.

The 2021 regular budget of the Brussels-Ixelles police is €258.7 million, or €24 million more than in 2020, the police zone announced this week.

Considering the significant increase in attacks against police officials on the one hand and accusations of police violence on the other, the police has developed a new recruitment policy, deployed a training panel and will increasingly rely on bodycams.

Overall, they aim to professionalise front-line interventions and improve the reception of victims. It is, among other things, a question of establishing a police standard during demonstrations to avoid the escalation of violence, of maximising the quality of identity checks or of improving the reception of transgender people and those with a disability as well as the care of victims of hate crimes and sexual or intra-family violence.

According to the specific plan "The experience of women in public space", included in the 2020-2025 zonal security plan, the Brussels-Ixelles police want to make officers more aware of sexist behavior.

It joined forces with the Brussels public prosecutor's office to devise a policy to combat sexual harassment in the street. In this context, police officers are deployed in civilian clothes in targeted neighbourhoods to catch perpetrators in the act.