Almost everywhere, burglary figures are falling. In Vilvoorde, they are rising again: 137 residential burglaries in 2025, compared with 132 in 2024, or +3.8 %. The movement is modest, but it is enough to set the municipality apart from the general trend — and it is largely explained by the very shape of Vilvoorde's building stock.
Seven years of figures in Vilvoorde
The offences recorded by the federal police give the following series for Vilvoorde.
| Year | Residential burglaries in Vilvoorde |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 160 |
| 2020 | 139 |
| 2021 | 193 |
| 2022 | 147 |
| 2023 | 165 |
| 2024 | 132 |
| 2025 | 137 |
Over six years, the decline reaches 14.4 % — a slow erosion, with no break. None of the seven years stands out clearly from the others: the municipality fluctuates within a narrow band, with a recent high in 2021 and a low in 2024. Older reference points show where this plateau comes from: 236 incidents in 2000, 207 in 2015. The current level is therefore historically low, but it is no longer falling.
In real terms, 137 incidents represent 2.6 residential burglaries per week. And of the 166 burglaries in buildings recorded in Vilvoorde in 2025, 83 % concern a home: here, it is houses that are burgled, not shops. It is this very high share that makes the layout of the building stock decisive.
Vilvoorde's building stock: terraced at the front, open at the back
Vilvoorde is neither a compact urban centre nor a suburban villa municipality. It is an outer-urban fabric: rows of terraced and semi-detached houses, small back gardens, garages, sheds, extensions and garden huts, all cut through by railway lines, waterways and business parks that leave many backs poorly lit and unoverlooked.
This configuration produces a very clear asymmetry. On the street side, the façade is exposed: passers-by, neighbours, street lighting, parking. An intruder forcing a front door in Vilvoorde works under the gaze of the whole neighbourhood. On the garden side, the situation is completely reversed: the backs are reached via a service path, a low wall, an embankment or the neighbour's garden, and once behind the house, nobody sees anything any more. The entry point actually used is therefore, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a rear opening: kitchen door, living-room French window, basement window, or garage service door.
The garage deserves a special mention, because it is the most frequent blind spot in installations. Many houses in Vilvoorde have an attached garage linked to the home by an internal door that is rarely locked, with an up-and-over or sectional door that is no serious obstacle and which, once closed again, gives the intruder a workspace invisible from outside. A system that detects nothing until the internal door has been passed leaves the break-in all the time it needs.
Three practical consequences follow. Protect the rear openings with magnetic contacts rather than relying on a single motion detector in the hall. Treat the garage and the extension as full-fledged spaces, equipped in the same way as the living room. And, when the garden is deep or served by a rear passage, move the alert outdoors with outdoor detectors, to signal the approach rather than record the intrusion.
Municipal grant: what to check, and what no grant covers
Some Belgian municipalities grant a home security premium. Before relying on it, two checks with your municipal administration are essential: whether the scheme exists for the current year, and its exact scope.
On this second point, the rule is constant and must be stated clearly: these grants fund mechanical protection — reinforced cylinders and locks, burglar-resistant glazing, sturdy doors and frames — and they almost always exclude alarm systems and cameras. No municipal grant reimburses an alarm. Commercial websites that suggest otherwise are selling an administrative illusion.
This division is not absurd: municipalities subsidise what delays the break-in, because the time spent on an opening is the main reason burglars give up. The alarm, for its part, signals. The two functions are complementary, and the logical order remains that of the grant: first reinforce the rear access points, then detect.
The burglary prevention adviser's free visit
Vilvoorde comes under the Lokale Politie Vilvoorde-Machelen (5411), which provides residents with a burglary prevention adviser — diefstalpreventieadviseur — free of charge. The visit is free, the adviser has nothing to sell, and the assessment covers your real access points, not a catalogue. The police zone describes the procedure on its page dedicated to burglary prevention. It is written in Dutch, like all of the zone's communication: bear this in mind if you submit your request in writing.
Alarm and camera: Belgian obligations, the same everywhere
These rules are federal. They apply in Vilvoorde as in the other two regions, and do not depend on the municipality.
Alarm: declaration via police-on-web within ten days of installation, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance and mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. Our guide on the declaration of an alarm system explains each step.
Camera: declaration on declarationcamera.be, visible regulatory pictogram, register of processing activities, and a ban on filming the public road or the neighbour's property. In a row of terraced houses in Vilvoorde where small gardens adjoin, this restriction is anything but theoretical: it often means lowering the camera and narrowing it to your own terrace. See the camera law in Belgium.
A coherent installation for a house in Vilvoorde
The reasoning follows directly from the building stock: protect the back, the garage and the extensions, not just the entrance hall.
- A control panel with no compulsory subscription, sized to cover house and garage on a single system: see the Ajax control panels and our guide which Ajax alarm to choose in Belgium.
- Contacts on all rear openings, including the garage service door.
- Photo-verification detectors in the living room and the garage: they turn a notification into actionable information and serve alarm verification — see detection with photo verification.
- An outdoor siren on the garden side, where the intruder works, and not only on the front — see the outdoor sirens.
- A camera covering the rear access if the garden opens onto a service passage, framed on your own property only.
For a terraced house in Vilvoorde with an attached garage, equipment typically costs between €800 and €1,800, depending on the number of access points to be covered. The alarm kits suit simple configurations; as soon as the garage, an extension and two rear openings are within the perimeter, a custom set is more economical than a kit added to over time.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries took place in Vilvoorde in 2025?
137 residential burglaries were recorded in Vilvoorde in 2025, compared with 132 in 2024, an increase of 3.8 %. Over six years, the level remains 14.4 % below the 160 incidents of 2019. That represents 2.6 burglaries per week.
How do burglars get into a house in Vilvoorde?
Almost always through the back. Vilvoorde's building stock consists of terraced houses with small gardens, garages and extensions, whose backs can be reached without being overlooked. Kitchen doors, living-room French windows, basement windows and garage service doors account for most break-ins, while the street façade remains exposed to view.
Can a municipal grant fund an alarm in Vilvoorde?
No. Where municipal security grants exist in Belgium, they cover mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames — and almost always exclude alarms and cameras. Check with your municipal administration which scheme applies for the current year.
Where can you get free burglary prevention advice in Vilvoorde?
From the burglary prevention adviser of the Lokale Politie Vilvoorde-Machelen (5411). The visit is free and has no commercial interest: the adviser examines your real access points and makes recommendations. The police zone communicates in Dutch.
Can I film the passage behind my garden in Vilvoorde?
No, not if it is a path accessible to the public or a neighbour's property. A private camera must be limited to your own land, declared on declarationcamera.be and signposted with the regulatory pictogram. In a row of terraced houses, this usually means narrowing the framing to the terrace and the back door.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Vilvoorde municipal fact sheet. Prevention: Lokale Politie Vilvoorde-Machelen (5411). Municipal support schemes change from one year to the next: check with your administration before incurring any costs.