Federal Police (Belgium)
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The Belgian Federal Police ( nl, Federale Politie; french: Police Fédérale; german: Föderale Polizei) is the national police force of the
Kingdom of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...
. It carries out specialized and supra-local administrative and judicial police operations, and supports local police services when needed. Additionally, the Federal Police is responsible for patrolling and ensuring the safety of the country’s highways. The Federal Police has approximately 12,300 officers and civilian personnel. The Federal Police is commanded by General Commissioner (CG)
Marc De Mesmaeker Marc De Mesmaeker (born 13 May 1961) is a senior Belgian police officer. Since 15 June 2018 he has been General Commissioner of the Federal Police (Belgium), Federal Police, becoming the fifth person to hold the post and the first to take it after a ...
, who holds the rank of chief commissioner. He is in charge of the General Commissioner's Office, which comprises three general directorates: the General directorate of the administrative police (DGA), the General directorate of the judicial police (DGJ) and the General directorate of resources and information (DGR). Each general directorate is led by a general director (DG), who also holds the rank of chief commissioner.


General Commissioner's Office (CG)

The General Commissioner 's Office ( nl, Commissariaat-Generaal; french: Commissariat-Général; german: Generalkommissariat ) incorporates all the top-level central services of the Federal Police. It is commanded by the General Commissioner who directs and manages the Federal Police and ensures regular contact with the Local Police. The Office is responsible for integrated police operations, coordination, cooperation with local police and foreign police, intelligence gathering and management, dispatching and external communication.


Directorates of the Commissioner General's Office (CG)

*Directorate of the international police cooperation (CGI) *Directorate of the communication (CGC) *Directorate of the well-being (CGWB) *13 decentralised Directorates of Coordination and Support (CSD/DCA) **Intervention Corps (CIK) (11 platoons) The Directorate of International Police Cooperation (CGI) is Belgium's national central bureau for the European Police Office ( Europol),
Schengen Information System The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a governmental database maintained by the European Commission. The SIS is used by 31 European countries to find information about individuals and entities for the purposes of national security, border co ...
and International Criminal Police Organization (
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
). The General Commissioner's Office also includes decentralized Coordination and Support Directorates (CSD/DCA) located in each judicial district. The CSDs, headed by coordinating directors (DirCo's), represent the Federal Police in the field and act as the link between the Local and the Federal Police. They play a key role in the integrated functioning of Belgium's police, together with the decentralized Directorates of the Judicial Police (FGP/PJF) which are also present in each judicial district. The CSD/DCAs offer support (logistical, personnel-related, managerial) and coordination to both local police forces and the other federal police units. In other words: the CSD/DCA's provide mainly administrative police services, while the FGP/PJFs offer judicial police services. The Coordination and Support Directorates of the capital city of each province and of Brussels each command a platoon of the federal police's non-specialized intervention reserve: the Intervention Corps (CIK). The CIK consists of 500 non-specialized police officers which can be requested by local police forces and federal units for support in diverse missions.


General directorate of the administrative police (DGA)

This general directorate, abbreviated as DGA ( nl, Algemene Directie Bestuurlijke Politie; french: Direction Générale Police Administrative; german: Generaldirektion Verwaltungspolizei), is the uniformed branch of the
Belgian Federal Police The Belgian Federal Police ( nl, Federale Politie; french: Police Fédérale; german: Föderale Polizei) is the national police force of the Kingdom of Belgium. It carries out specialized and supra-local administrative and judicial police oper ...
which provides both specialized and supra-local services. Its counterpart is the General Directorate of Judicial Police, containing the non-uniformed investigative personnel. The Administrative Police consists of several directorates which command the different federal police units. The DGA performs administrative police operations such as traffic policing on the main roads, waterway policing on the North Sea and waterways, railway policing on the railways and in the stations, air policing at the national airport and in the five regional airports, immigration and border control, air and police dog support. The members of this general directorate also carry out protection missions, such as escorting the transport of valuables or the protection of royal palaces. Moreover, the directorate supports the administrative authorities and the Local Police, for instance by supplying specialized staff and equipment (water cannons, etc.) for order maintenance missions.


The directorates of the DGA

*Directorate of the operations of administrative police (DAO) *Directorate of the road police (DAH) *Directorate of the railway police (SPC) *Directorate of the waterway police (SPN) *Directorate of the aviation police (LPA) *Directorate of air support (DAFA) *Directorate of canine support (DACH) *Directorate of public security (DAS) *Directorate of protection (DAP) The Directorate of protection (DAP) consists of two units: its Royal Palaces Security Detachment is responsible for protecting the
Belgian Royal Family Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's ...
and their palaces, while the other unit of DAP, its Security Detachment at the SHAPE protects the
SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...
headquarters which is located at
Casteau Casteau ( wa, Castea) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Soignies, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. With the other villages Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, Soignies (town), and ...
north of the Belgian city of
Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
. The Road Police has approximately 1000 officers who monitor traffic on the major highways. The Waterway Police regulates ship navigation on inland waterways and on the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. The
Railway Police Railroad police or railway police are people responsible for the protection of railroad (or railway) properties, facilities, revenue, equipment (train cars and locomotives), and personnel, as well as carried passengers and cargo. Railroad police ...
is divided into five divisions and its 470 officers patrol the railways and stations to prevent crime and damage to rail property. The Directorate of the aviation police maintains security at
Brussels International Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...
and at five regional airports. Finally, the immigration and border protection police is responsible for manning border crossing points and controlling immigration. The Directorate of air support offers specialized support to the police such as event management (traffic jams, plane crashes, crowds, sporting events, etc.). The group's five
helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
and two planes also search for missing people, suspects, clandestine laboratories, etc. The protection of VIPs and the transport of funds is also part of the mission. The Directorate of canine support has 35 dog teams. Some dogs are trained to detect drugs, human remains, hormones or fire accelerants. About a third are tracker dogs trained to find or identify living people. These teams are often deployed to earthquake areas to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. The federal police's explosive detector dogs are attached to the CGSU special units.


General directorate of the judicial police (DGJ)

The General Directorate of the Judicial Police ( nl, Algemene Directie Gerechtelijke politie; french: Direction Générale Police Judiciaire; german: Generaldirektion Gerichtspolizei) is a large component that operates at both the central level (from its Brussels-based headquarters) and local levels (through local directorates (FGP/DPJ) in each judicial district).http://www.polfed-fedpol.be/org/org_dgj_nl.php/ ''the Federal Criminal Investigation Department'' (available in Dutch, French and German)


The directorates of the DGJ

The DGJ's 4 central directorates coordinate serious crime investigations at the national and international level: *Central Directorate of the operations of judicial police (DJO) *Central Directorate of the fight against serious and organized crime (DJSOC) *Central Directorate of the technical and scientific police (DJT) *Directorate of special units (DSU) *14 local Directorates of Judicial Police (FGP/PJF) The Central Directorate of the operations of judicial police (DJO) manages the use and payment of police informants. It also coordinates and supports the operations of the decentralised investigation bureaux. The DJO also manages the national center for police information management and criminal analysis. Moreover, the operations section assists in the deployment of special units. The Central Directorate of the fight against serious and organized crime (DJSOC) combats
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
at the strategic level as well as the operational and tactical levels. Its purview currently includes
Italian Mafia Organized crime in Italy and its criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially Southern Italy, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions since at least the 19th century. There are six ...
, Asian, Balkan, Russian and
Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...
crime gangs. The DJC also operates the Belgian
witness protection program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
. The Central Directorate of the technical and scientific police (DJT) operates the
fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...
identification system and maintains laboratories for
forensic Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to Criminal law, criminal and Civil law (legal system), civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standard ...
and scientific work, audio and video analysis, and research and development. Other sections concentrate on profiling, special interrogation techniques and polygraphs. The Directorate of the special units (DSU) is Belgium's police special units (with an intervention unit, an observation unit and a technical unit at the central level, and the five so-called Protection, Observation, Support and Arrest (POSA) platoons at the decentralized level), but also encompasses the Disaster Victim Identification unit.


The directorates of the DGJ (FGP/PJF)

Eighty-five percent of the DGJ's personnel is assigned to 14 local investigation directorates, abbreviated as FGP/PJF. Manpower at each district varies: small bureaus can have as few as 40 personnel whereas the large ones can exceed 200. The organisation and management of these units are entrusted to the judicial directors (DirJud) (Dutch:''gerechtelijk directeur''/French: ''directeur judiciaire''/German: ''Justizdirektor''). Each local FGP/PJF is made up of several sections directed towards the region's main criminal phenomena and executes specific support or criminal investigation missions. Although organisation differs from one district to another, sections dealing with drugs, people smuggling, financial and organized crime, vehicle theft rings are the most common. In addition, the PJF/FGP provides support services for the federal and local police, such as computer crime units, technical and forensic support, criminal information, operational criminal analysis and coordination with the administrative police.


Communication and information service of the district (SICAD)

Each judicial district has a "Communication and information service of the district" ( nl, Communicatie- en informatiedienst van het arrondissement; french: Service d’information et de communication d’arrondissement; german: Stadtinformations- und Kommunikationsdienst), which is part of the Coordination and support directorate of each district. The SICADs are manned by federal and local police officers that gather, assess and spread intelligence and information within the local and federal police forces. This is to facilitate the coordination of investigations and even day-to-day police operations. Each SICAD processes the criminal data from the local and federal police forces to analyze recent cases and events, thus identifying trends and issuing any necessary warnings. It also correlates the connections between cases, people, vehicles, etc. and sorts information for operational and strategic purposes. Each SICAD contributes to the cross-border exchange of police data and supports the managers of the police zones with data processing capabilities. Each chief of investigations has overall responsibility for a SICAD but a department chief ensures the daily management of the centre.


General directorate of resources and information (DGR)

The DGR ( nl, Algemene directie van het middelenbeheer en de informatie; french: Direction Générale de la gestion des ressources et de l'information; german: Generaldirektion der Verwaltung von Mitteln und Informationen) performs the administrative, resource management, logistical and recruitment support for all federal police units and for local police forces in limited terms. The department also provides the local and federal police with equipment, support and training.


The directorates of DGR (PLIF)

*Directorate of human resources (personnel) (DRP) **National Police Academy (ANPA) *Directorate of logistic resources (DRL) *Directorate of police information and ICT (DRI) *Directorate of finance (DRF) The Directorate of human resources (DRP) is, among other things, responsible for the recruitment and the training programs for the entire Belgian police. It analyses training needs and drafts a global training plan for the integrated police. As a think-thank, this directorate provides advice regarding the training of the involved agencies. Specific educational tools are regularly developed by the directorate, either upon request or at its own initiative. DRP ensures the proper application of the various training programs by means of managerial contracts with police academies and by approving training programs. Thus it ensures the conformity of training quality and guarantees financial equity between police academies. It represents Belgium on the governing board of the
European Police College CEPOL, or the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training, is an agency of the European Union dedicated to training law enforcement officials. The institution was founded in 2000 and adopted its current legal mandate on 1 July 2016. It is ...
(CEPOL) and pilots cross-border police training projects with
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. The Directorate of police information and ICT (DRI) is responsible for the management of police information and ICT. For police information shall mean any information any information as operational in nature within the meaning of article 44/1 of the law on the police function as information that supports the police organization as a whole. In this respect, they particularly support the preparation of the policy and rules on management and processing of the information., the development of police information concept, the definition of standards and technical standards, the implementation of systems information and communication.


Police Academies

Belgium's police academies provide all the basic, specialized, revision and advanced courses for all the members of the integrated police, whether from the federal or local police. There are two types of police academies: the National Police Academy (ANPA) and the ten approved police schools. The ANPA provides specialized and refresher training of all kinds for all personnel (training for specialists 'use of force with/without firearms', training for gold commanders and silver commanders, etc.), the training for commissioners and chief commissioners and the training for investion officers (general training, training for computer crime investigations, training for technical and scientific investions, training for operational crime analysis, etc.). Every province in the country except
Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...
has a police training institution. These academies are either non-profit organisations or provincial or interregional institutions. There are a total of ten (in
Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
,
Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
,
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
,
Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...
,
Asse Asse () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. It comprises the towns of Asse proper, Bekkerzeel, Kobbegem, Mollem, Relegem and Zellik. Asse is also situated in the Pajottenland. As of 2020, Asse had a total popula ...
,
Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
,
Arlon Arlon (; lb, Arel ; nl, Aarlen ; german: Arel ; wa, Årlon; la, Orolaunum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in and capital of the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it is t ...
,
Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...
,
Jurbise Jurbise (; nl, Jurbeke; pcd, Djurbize) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 9,571 inhabitants. The total area is 57.86 km², giving a population density of 165 in ...
and one for the
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
region which is bilingual). A managerial contract between the Interior Minister and the school's management is concluded annually. Even though these schools are not directly part of the police structure, they play an essential role in police training.


Ranks

The ranks of the Federal Police are the same as those in use in local police forces. The ranks currently are civic, as opposed to the paramilitary ranks that were in use in the former Belgian /, which was the Federal Police's main predecessor. This was chosen during the 1998–2001 reformation of the Belgian police forces to emphasize the change to a less militaristic police force, because paramilitary traits were considered less transparent as well as less approachable and thus less desirable. The difference between local police and the Federal Police is shown by the different colors of the styling lines (orange for the Federal Police and light blue for local police) on the insignia, which are worn on the left chest pocket flap. Officers of both entities are hierarchically equal. Auxiliary officers are rather rare within the Federal Police and can mainly be found in the Air Police where they are deployed for traffic control at the Belgian airports.


Equipment


Weapons

Such weapons listed out is used to equip ordinary officers.
Federal Police Special Units The Directorate of special units (DSU) ( nl, Directie van de speciale eenheden; french: Direction des unités spéciales; german: Direktion der Sondereinheiten) is the police tactical unit of the Belgian Federal Police. In total, DSU consists of ...
possibility would gain other weaponry including rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and sniper rifles depend on the situation encountered. * : Nightstick Baton * :
Smith & Wesson M&P The Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) is a polymer- framed, short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol introduced in the summer of 2005 by the American company Smith & Wesson. It uses a Browning-type locking system. Whil ...
Pistol * :
Glock Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...
Pistol * :
Uzi The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
Submachine gun * :
Steyr AUG The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. It was adopted by the Austrian Arm ...
Assault Rifle * :
Heckler & Koch UMP The Heckler & Koch UMP (''Universale Maschinenpistole'', German for "Universal Machine Pistol") is a submachine gun developed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch. Heckler & Koch developed the UMP as a lighter and cheaper successor to the MP5, thoug ...
Submachine gun * :
Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...
Submachine gun


See also

*
Federal Police Special Units The Directorate of special units (DSU) ( nl, Directie van de speciale eenheden; french: Direction des unités spéciales; german: Direktion der Sondereinheiten) is the police tactical unit of the Belgian Federal Police. In total, DSU consists of ...
*
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 link ...
*
Belgian Royal Escort The Belgian Royal Escort ( nl, Koninklijk escorte te paard, french: Escorte royale à cheval) is a horse- and motorcycle-mounted unit that accompanies the Belgian monarch on ceremonial occasions. It also provides escorts for foreign visiting head ...


References

{{Customs National Central Bureaus of Interpol Federal law enforcement agencies of Belgium
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...