Police union sees a direct link between shooting in Lodelinsart and “budgetary malaise” in the police

The DSU (Special Units Directorate) of the federal police raided a house in Lodelinsart, near Charleroi, on March 18. However, the officers were immediately fired upon. A 36-year-old police officer was killed and two other members of the special forces were injured.

Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden provided explanations in Parliament two days later. She emphasized that the DSU will only proceed with an operation if the necessary people and resources are available. Read: the search in Lodelinsart was carried out with sufficient troops and security equipment. She also emphasized that 50 additional employees will be recruited for the DSU this year, which brings the framework to more than 90 percent and is more than what was agreed within the government in 2022.

But the police unions, who had their turn on Tuesday/today in the House Committee on Internal Affairs, did not spare their criticism of the minister. According to Joery Dehaes of ACV Police, the staff at the DSU is incomplete, while crime is becoming increasingly serious. The POSA units of Ghent and Charleroi (Protection, Observation, Support and Arrest) have to make do with only half of the planned troops, he complained. The DSU needs 11 million euros every year to maintain the equipment, but only receives 7.7 million. And Verlinden promised 1,600 recruitments a year, but only achieved just over 1,000 last year, he said.

It forces Dehaes to conclude that there is indeed a “causal link” between the “malaise and savings” in the police and the facts of March 18, although the post-intervention file is not yet available. “For us, there is an effective link between savings, the increased workload and staff shortages: these mean that people go to great lengths to do their jobs, and that entails risks.”

The other trade unionists present were slightly more cautious in their conclusions, but Thierry Belin of the police union NSPV also pointed to staff shortages at the DSU. “This means that the existing staff have to work more often, that rest periods become shorter, that there is more fatigue and that their well-being deteriorates. But they cannot afford a moment of inattention because it could be fatal,” he said. Belin also pointed to the service’s bulletproof vests, some of which are said to be outdated. “I do not question the bulletproof vest of the deceased colleague, but officers are allowed to take risks because they think with a calculator in hand. that is unacceptable.”

In fact, no savings were made during the past legislature, but an additional half billion euros were invested in the police. But things have been at odds between the unions and the government since the latter ended the favorable end-of-career scheme for police officers and a pay increase agreed with Verlinden had to be introduced in phases. The liberal police union VSOA was waiting for the minister last weekend at the CD&V election conference in Mechelen.