The drug violence that has swept Brussels this week has again sparked debate about the provenance of the problems and how to deal with them. Highlighting the enormity of the challenges, local officials have pointed to international criminal networks willing to wield increasingly deadly instruments to assert their supremacy.
At the same time they call out a chronic underfunding of police forces which leaves officers without the resources to stem the lucrative flow of substances. The city's Minister-President likened the task of police to "mopping up with the tap wide open", frustrations that echo those of the local police chief, who spoke of a 20% funding deficit – equal to some 200 missing personnel.
Without the means to lead effective street-level operations nor the capacity to dismantle international organisations, the sense that drug gangs have the upper hand is growing. Residents of the neighbourhoods most affected by dealing and drug use have attested to the lack of intervention, often despite sounding the alarm for years.
At the same time, lethal weapons have become synonymous with the trade. Just yesterday a Kalashnikov was discovered in a police check; in December Belgium was found to have Europe's fourth-highest rate of gun violence. One federal police arms specialist admitted that "You only find as much as you actively look for."
But treating the issue as a Brussels problem is a hopeless approach, regional and federal authorities concur. To prevent an endless whack-a-mole cycle of localised repression, coordination is needed at the national and international levels. The major Sky ECC drug probe proved the power of concerted efforts, significantly disrupting chains of criminal command and leading to hundreds of heavyweight arrests.
Others have even suggested revising drug laws as a means of undermining the market that makes the trade profitable. This wouldn't eradicate the problem but would no doubt change how it is perceived and how to remedy it. Though with the matter now framed as a deadly crisis, longer-term policy shifts will be for later.
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5. Today in History: Sabena Flight 548 crashes just outside Brussels Airport
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