In Braine-l'Alleud, the number of residential burglaries is higher in 2025 than in 2019: 216 compared with 181, a 19.3% increase. Above all, the municipality is coming out of an exceptional year in 2024, with 278 incidents, which left its mark — many Braine-l'Alleud residents installed an alarm or a camera in its wake. Some of them did so without complying with legal obligations which, for their part, carry penalties.
A municipality that has not followed the Belgian trend
The incidents recorded in Braine-l'Alleud trace an irregular path: 181 residential burglaries in 2019, 209 in 2020, 201 in 2021, 161 in 2022, 182 in 2023, 278 in 2024, 216 in 2025.
The spike of 2024 is the key event in the series: a jump from 182 to 278 in a single year, at a time when the national trend was moving in the opposite direction. The fall in 2025 — 22.3% lower than in 2024 — brings the municipality back into its usual range, without erasing the fact that it remains 19.3% above its 2019 level. One good year does not make a trend: this is precisely what the Braine-l'Alleud series shows, since the low of 161 incidents in 2022 was followed by two consecutive increases.
The longer-term context tempers this finding. The municipality's peak dates from 2000, with 342 incidents, and 2015 still had 327: over a quarter of a century, Braine-l'Alleud has indeed seen a decline. However, the current rate — 4.2 residential burglaries per week — remains high for a municipality of this size, and has not returned to the low of 2022. And the target is almost exclusively homes: of the 250 burglaries in buildings in 2025, 86% involved a home.
What Belgian law requires of an alarm, and what it penalises
An alarm installed in Belgium is not a neutral private object: it is governed by the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007, which imposes five obligations that most users are unaware of or forget.
- Registration within ten days of commissioning, via the police-on-web portal. It is free of charge and takes a few minutes.
- Annual confirmation of this registration. This is the most frequently neglected obligation: the system remains registered on paper, but the user has not confirmed it, and the situation becomes irregular without any warning.
- Outdoor siren limited to three minutes. A siren that wails for twenty minutes is no more of a deterrent; it is non-compliant — and it turns the neighbourhood into an adversary.
- Annual maintenance of the system.
- Mandatory verification before any police intervention: the police do not send a patrol on the basis of an alarm alone. There must be something confirming the intrusion — a call, an image, a witness.
This last rule has the most far-reaching consequences for a Braine-l'Alleud household, because it determines what needs to be bought. A system that merely sounds produces an unverifiable alert. A system capable of providing an image at the moment it is triggered provides verification. This is the whole point of photo-verification detectors, which attach a few pictures to the notification: the difference between ‘my alarm went off’ and ‘here is what set off my alarm’. Our guide to registering an alarm system in Belgium sets out the full procedure.
For a camera, framing is the constraint, not the equipment
This regime is separate and often confused with the previous one. A private CCTV camera must be registered on declarationcamera.be, signposted with the regulatory pictogram at the entrance to the filmed area, and accompanied by a register of processing activities. Above all, it may film neither the public road nor a neighbour’s property.
In a residential municipality such as Braine-l'Alleud, this ban is anything but theoretical. The typical layout — a house set back from the road, a driveway, a back garden, a shared hedge — naturally leads people to install a camera that covers the driveway all the way to the street, or that sweeps across the garden next door. This framing is illegal, and it is the most frequent cause of complaints between neighbours. The technical solution is simple: lower the angle, choose a narrower focal length, and opt for an adjustable bullet camera whose field of view can be controlled, rather than a wide-angle camera mounted high up that takes in the whole neighbourhood. Privacy masking in the software is a useful addition, not an excuse for poor placement. Our article on Belgian CCTV camera law covers all the obligations.
A note on method: the alarm interrupts, the camera explains afterwards. Our comparison alarm or camera sets out the choice in the right order.
The Braine-l'Alleud grant exists — but most residents are not eligible
Braine-l'Alleud does have a home security grant scheme, managed through the police zone's Techno-prevention service. Two clarifications that nobody gives clearly.
Firstly, it is very restrictive. It is reserved for people who have been victims of a theft or attempted theft, as well as for people aged 60 and over subject to a cadastral income condition, on the basis of an application filed with the Techno-prevention service. In other words: a Braine-l'Alleud household in their forties that has never been burgled falls into neither category. The amount is not published in the available documents, which makes it impossible to quote a figure.
Secondly, and this is the decisive point: this grant covers neither alarm systems nor CCTV cameras. Like other Belgian municipal grants, it covers mechanical security — reinforced cylinders and locks, locking points, burglar-resistant glazing, reinforcement of doors and frames. Do not build your budget hoping for a partial refund of your alarm: there is none. Details of the conditions are available from the Techno-prevention service of the Braine-l'Alleud police zone.
The techno-prevention adviser: free, and knowledgeable about local housing
The Braine-l'Alleud police zone (5273) offers a free advisory visit. The adviser has nothing to sell, and their report is in any case a prerequisite for a grant application for those who are eligible.
Their main contribution, in a residential municipality, concerns the rear of the building. A typical Braine-l'Alleud house has a well-kept front façade visible from the street, and a rear that concentrates all the risk: living-room French window, patio window, conservatory, kitchen door opening onto the garden. These access points are glazed, invisible from the road, and reached via a garden often enclosed by a hedge — which protects the intruder once they are through. An alarm whose detectors are all indoors detects a presence that is already in the living room; the appropriate approach is early detection, with outdoor detectors aimed at the rear access points, a siren that makes the break-in noisy from the very first second, and a control panel that manages the whole system without requiring a subscription.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were recorded in Braine-l'Alleud in 2025?
216 residential burglaries, according to the Federal Police’s crime statistics. That is 22.3% fewer than in 2024, an exceptional year with 278 incidents, but 19.3% more than in 2019 (181 incidents). The average is 4.2 incidents per week.
Does the Braine-l'Alleud grant cover an alarm or a camera?
No. The Braine-l'Alleud grant covers mechanical security — locks, cylinders, locking points, burglar-resistant glazing, frames. Alarm systems and CCTV cameras are not eligible. It is also reserved for victims of a theft or attempted theft and for people aged 60 and over subject to a cadastral income condition, which excludes the majority of households.
What are the risks of not registering your alarm in Belgium?
Registration via police-on-web within ten days and its annual confirmation are legal obligations under the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. An unregistered system is in an irregular situation, and failure to confirm annually is the most common breach. Registration is free of charge and done online.
Can my camera film my driveway up to the street in Braine-l'Alleud?
It can film your driveway, but it may not include the public road or your neighbour’s property. This is the most common mistake in residential areas: lower the angle, narrow the field of view to your own plot only, register the camera on declarationcamera.be and display the regulatory pictogram.
Where can I get free theft prevention advice in Braine-l'Alleud?
From the Techno-prevention service of the Braine-l'Alleud police zone (5273). The visit is free of charge, has no commercial purpose, and its report is required to file a grant application for those who are eligible.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Braine-l'Alleud municipal fact sheet. Grant conditions and techno-prevention: Braine-l'Alleud police zone. Grant amounts and conditions change from one financial year to the next: check before incurring any costs.