Belgium's Federal Police has drawn up a 24-point list of energy-saving measures on Saturday, Het Nieuwsblad reports. Among them, police vehicles have been asked to respect a maximum speed limit of 100km/h on motorways, which has not gone down well with police unions.
Alongside the speed limit, which will apply to "non-emergency" operations, the police has also proposed to no longer allow for personal electrical appliances to be charged in the workplace, lowering thermostats to 19°C during business hours and 14°C outside of them.
The police aim to bring their energy consumption down through these proposals, which would reduce their energy bill costs by 15% in light of the country's ongoing energy crisis.
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However, these measures have not been met positively by police unions, with Joery Dehaes of the CSC-ACV union telling Het Nieuwsblad that staff is once again being ignored in favour of cost-cutting measures.
He explained that the installation of solar panels had been suggested years ago but "this costs too much of course, instead staff have to stay in the cold and go home with a flat battery in their electric bikes."
Police staff have already been growing discontent with what they perceive to be a lack of investment from authorities, having announced a month of strikes to that end in March.
