Due to a shortage of staff, the Brussels prosecutor's office wants to hand over the task of punishing more offences to local authorities in the region.
Earlier this year, the Brussels prosecutor's office, the most important of its type in the country, announced that due to a lack of magistrates, it would be taking "crisis measures," including a more lax approach to certain crimes.
It saw its staff reduced from 119 magistrates to 95 in the course of 2023, while many staff members are out on prolonged sick leaves. Meanwhile, in the past five years, the number of criminal cases closed without prosecution has risen by 157%.
The situation at the office, responsible for investigating and prosecuting criminal offences which take place in this region, remains in peril.
It is now looking to delegate the punishment of some offences to local authorities in the capital to ensure that crimes that until now are often not followed up on, will be punished after all through communal administrative sanctions.
What offences can be punished by local authorities have been set out in a new protocol agreement proposed by the acting public prosecutor Tim De Wolf, in accordance with the 2013 law on municipal administrative sanctions (SAC), L’Echo reported. This law gives municipalities the option of punishing around 15 criminal offences.
Assault and thefts
The draft protocol, which is still under negotiation, will expand this list. Specifically, it would allow the local level to deal with cases of assault and battery without aggravating circumstances, with the exception of domestic violence.
The Brussels public prosecutor's office also wants to leave punishing thefts of any amount up to the municipalities. Since 2013, simple thefts (such as shoplifting) involving a sum of less than €250 have been dealt with by means of municipal fines.
Another change put on the table by the public prosecutor's office is that the destruction or disabling of a vehicle with the intention of causing harm will also be prosecuted by the local authorities, with the exception of police vehicles and public transport vehicles.
However, when the matter was discussed with the municipalities before the summer within the Mayor's Conference, it did not receive unanimous support. Some mayors did not look favourably at these potential transfers, mainly due to fears that their workload would increase.
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Some sanctioning officials, meanwhile, pointed out that they are not as well-equipped as the public prosecutor’s office to deal with violence.
Yet it seems they will be left with little choice, as the Brussels prosecutor's office has said either the municipalities agree, or they will stop dealing with all these offences.
