175 residential burglaries in Etterbeek in 2025, or 3.4 per week. Fifteen per cent fewer than in 2024, but only 7.9 per cent fewer than in 2019: the municipality has not broken away, it is fluctuating. And in such a tightly built fabric, the point of entry is almost never the one residents keep an eye on.
Seven years of Etterbeek figures: a curve that keeps bouncing back
The series published by the federal police does not show a decline, but a plateau.
| Year | Residential burglaries in Etterbeek |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 190 |
| 2020 | 125 |
| 2021 | 192 |
| 2022 | 208 |
| 2023 | 186 |
| 2024 | 206 |
| 2025 | 175 |
2020 must be read separately: 125 incidents, in a year when homes were occupied all the time. Residential burglary requires an absence, and absence had disappeared. It is the following four years that count: 192, 208, 186, 206 — four values within a corridor of twenty-two incidents, with no direction. The 175 of 2025 are the lowest point outside lockdown, but this is the movement of a single year, and the improvement on 2019 is only 7.9 per cent. Etterbeek long remained on a plateau of two hundred incidents a year, which it has only just left.
The decline exists if you take a longer view: 353 residential burglaries in 2015, the peak year, and 281 in 2000. The 175 incidents of 2025 represent half of that. One last benchmark, and it shapes everything else: of the 220 burglaries in buildings recorded in Etterbeek in 2025, 80 per cent targeted a home.
A continuous built fabric: it is not the bay window that gives way, it is the flat’s front door
Etterbeek is a municipality of façades aligned along the street, apartment buildings and townhouses divided into flats. This layout does not reduce the risk; it shifts it.
In a detached house, the intruder goes round the building and works sheltered by the garden. In Etterbeek, this detour generally does not exist: adjoining plots, block interiors enclosed by neighbours, ground floors opening onto a busy pavement watched by the windows opposite. Attacking a street façade in Etterbeek means working in public.
The intrusion therefore goes through the inside of the building. Once past the street door — shared code, expected parcel, tailgating behind a resident, communal garage strike plate — the intruder finds themselves in an enclosed stairwell, out of sight, with time on their hands: the function of a villa’s enclosed garden, transposed upstairs. The flat’s front door becomes the only real obstacle, and often the weakest in the building — the original panel from the conversion, a single unprotected cylinder, a wooden frame, exposed hinges.
The consequence is direct: a system whose detectors all watch the living room signals a presence that has already got past everything. In an Etterbeek flat, useful detection starts at the front door — a magnetic contact on the door leaf, a detector in the entrance hall, and only then the living space.
The building with several entrances: the municipality’s blind spot
Etterbeek’s second weak point is collective, which explains why nobody deals with it: cellars, bicycle room, underground car park with a slow door, service staircase, rear terrace accessible from an adjoining building. These access points belong to the co-ownership, and therefore to nobody in particular, and no one has an interest in paying alone for reinforcement that will benefit the whole building.
Two things are nevertheless up to the occupant. First, treat the cellar and the lock-up as exposed spaces: out of sight, out of earshot, often closed with a decorative padlock. Second, do not confuse the perimeters — a camera covering your private doorstep is your business; a camera in the communal hall or garage involves the co-ownership and is decided at the general meeting. Our Wi-Fi cameras are suited to the first case.
The Etterbeek municipal subsidy: 25 per cent, and not a single euro for the alarm
Etterbeek grants a subsidy for securing homes against burglary: 25 per cent of the costs, up to a maximum of €250 per home, raised to €500 for multi-unit buildings. You must be registered in the population register, have the work checked by the theft prevention adviser, protect all access points equally and submit the application within three months.
This subsidy covers neither alarm systems nor surveillance cameras. It funds mechanical protection: reinforced cylinders and locks, resistant doors and window frames, burglar-resistant glazing. No quote and no wording will get a control panel or a detector included. The detailed conditions are set out on the subsidy page of the municipality of Etterbeek.
This exclusion is not a judgement on alarms, but a division of labour: the municipality pays for what delays an intrusion, because an abandoned burglary is almost always one that took too long; the alarm signals. The requirement for equivalent protection on all access points says the same thing as the reading of the buildings above: a reinforced front door is useless if the service door next to it is still the original one.
The theft prevention adviser of the Montgomery zone, and then the law
Etterbeek falls under the Montgomery police zone (5343), which it shares with Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. Its theft prevention adviser visits free of charge, sells nothing, and the adviser’s inspection is required for the subsidy anyway: starting there costs one appointment and avoids buying the wrong equipment. Once the equipment is installed, two separate regimes apply, both federal — neither Etterbeek nor the Montgomery zone adds anything to them.
Alarm. Registration within ten days via police-on-web, confirmation every year, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance, mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention. In an Etterbeek street where façades face each other, the three-minute limit is what separates a siren from a neighbourhood dispute. Details in our guide on the registration of an alarm system in Belgium.
Camera. Registration on declarationcamera.be, visible regulatory pictogram, data processing register, ban on filming the public road or other people’s property. On a narrow street, this rule decides everything: pointed straight ahead, the camera films the pavement and the windows opposite, which is illegal; tilted towards your own doorstep, it is compliant. See our article on the law on CCTV cameras in Belgium.
A proportionate set-up for a home in Etterbeek
Translated into equipment, this reading of the buildings gives a short configuration, centred on the entrance to the home rather than on its volume.
- A control panel with no compulsory subscription — see the Ajax control panels and Ajax alarm without a subscription.
- A magnetic contact on the flat’s front door, which detects the opening instead of waiting for movement in the living room.
- A detector in the hall, the unavoidable passage whatever access is used; photo verification turns the alert into actionable information and meets the alarm verification requirement.
- A contact on the cellar or lock-up door, the space the building forgets, and a siren, whose noise remains the main factor in abandoning a break-in in progress.
As an order of magnitude, a flat in Etterbeek needs €400 to €900 of equipment, depending on the number of access points to cover. The alarm kits cover the standard configuration; on choosing the control panel, see which Ajax alarm to choose in Belgium.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many burglaries were recorded in Etterbeek in 2025?
According to federal police statistics, 175 residential burglaries were recorded in Etterbeek in 2025, an average of 3.4 per week. This is 15 per cent fewer than in 2024 (206 incidents) and 7.9 per cent fewer than in 2019 (190 incidents).
Does the Etterbeek municipal subsidy fund an alarm or a camera?
No. The Etterbeek subsidy, 25 per cent of costs capped at €250 per home and €500 for multi-unit buildings, covers neither alarm systems nor cameras. It only funds mechanical protection: reinforced locks and cylinders, doors and window frames, burglar-resistant glazing. The theft prevention adviser’s inspection is mandatory and the application must be submitted within three months.
How do intruders get into a flat in Etterbeek?
In a continuous built fabric like Etterbeek’s, the street façade is too exposed to be attacked: the intrusion most often goes through the building’s communal entrance, then the flat’s front door, in a stairwell that is out of sight. Cellars, lock-ups and communal areas form the second weak point, because they belong to nobody in particular.
Who can I contact for free theft prevention advice in Etterbeek?
The theft prevention adviser of the Montgomery police zone (5343), which covers Etterbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. The visit is free of charge and has no commercial interest, and the adviser’s inspection is a condition for the municipal subsidy.
Can I install a camera in the communal areas of my building?
Not on your own initiative: a camera covering the hall, the staircase or the garage is a matter for the co-ownership and is decided at the general meeting. Like any camera, it must be registered on declarationcamera.be, signalled by the regulatory pictogram and entered in the data processing register, without ever filming the public road or a neighbour’s property.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Etterbeek municipal fact sheet. Municipal subsidy: Etterbeek, securing homes against burglary. Amounts and conditions change from one financial year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.