Down 57.2 per cent in six years. No other statistic lends itself so well to a reassuring headline, and none deserves closer scrutiny. Berchem-Sainte-Agathe went from 215 residential burglaries in 2019 to 92 in 2025 — but in between, the curve twice did the opposite of what was expected of it.
The Berchem curve, year by year
The federal police publish the recorded incidents municipality by municipality. Here is the complete series for Berchem-Sainte-Agathe.
| Year | Residential burglaries |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 215 |
| 2020 | 116 |
| 2021 | 121 |
| 2022 | 147 |
| 2023 | 127 |
| 2024 | 127 |
| 2025 | 92 |
Two older benchmarks complete the picture: 139 incidents in 2000, and 246 in 2015 — the municipality’s peak. The 92 incidents of 2025 are therefore the lowest of all available benchmarks, and the year-on-year decline reaches 27.6 per cent.
What the curve really hides
Four observations prevent this decline from being read as a victory already won.
The starting point was a peak. Measuring the change from 2019 flatters the municipality, because 2019 was still in the wake of the 2015 peak (246 incidents). A 57.2 per cent fall says as much about the abnormally high level of the mid-2010s as about the current situation.
The 2020 drop was not the result of prevention. The fall from 215 to 116 corresponds to the lockdowns: residential burglary requires an absence, and when a whole neighbourhood stays at home, the opportunities disappear. The proof lies in what came immediately afterwards — 121 in 2021, then 147 in 2022, as soon as life returned to normal.
The 2023-2024 plateau is a real plateau. 127 incidents, then exactly 127 again. Two identical years do not describe a downward dynamic: they describe a stable floor, one the municipality was unable to break through.
The 2025 drop is recent and isolated. Going from 127 to 92 in one year is a strong movement, but a single data point does not make a trend — especially after a two-year plateau. It will take the following year to know whether Berchem-Sainte-Agathe has changed course or simply had a good year.
What the curve does not hide, however, is the residual volume: 92 incidents still means an average of 1.8 residential burglaries per week. And of the 108 burglaries in buildings recorded in 2025, homes account for 85 per cent: in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, it is homes that are burgled. To put these figures in a national context, see our summary of burglary figures in Belgium.
Outer-ring buildings, and rear access points
Berchem-Sainte-Agathe is not central Brussels. The municipality is closer to a suburb than to a dense city: terraced houses with gardens, small blocks of flats, housing estates, adjoining garages and outbuildings, and residential neighbourhoods bordered by open spaces to the west.
This layout shifts the point of entry. In a city-centre building, the weak link is the flat’s front door. Here, it is the rear: the kitchen door onto the garden, the living room French windows, the conservatory frames, the bathroom window accessible from the garage roof. These access points share three characteristics that account for most break-ins — they are glazed, they are not visible from the street, and the fenced garden serving them hides the intruder from view as soon as they have passed the gate.
Direct consequence: an alarm with all its sensors indoors detects a presence that is already in the living room. The logic that works for these buildings is perimeter detection on the garden side, before the glass is broken rather than after. The rest is built around a control panel, photo-verification detectors in the through rooms — which provide the alarm verification required by law — and an outdoor siren. For a first installation, alarm kits cover a home with one or two sensitive access points; a Wi-Fi camera on the terrace completes the set-up if the garden is deep.
The Berchem-Sainte-Agathe municipal subsidy: what it pays for, and what it does not
This is the point on which almost all commercial websites mislead their readers, so let us be clear.
The municipality does indeed grant a security subsidy: 25 per cent of purchase and installation costs, capped at €250 per home per year. It is open to owners, holders of real rights and co-ownership boards. Two conditions deserve attention. The first is a consistency requirement: all access points must be protected to the same extent — the municipality does not subsidise a security door next to an original window, which is also the right technical reflex. The second is a deadline: the application must be submitted within four months of the invoice, which makes the subsidy easy to lose through a simple administrative delay.
This subsidy does NOT cover alarm systems, and it does NOT cover surveillance cameras. It funds mechanical protection: reinforced locks and cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, resistant doors and window frames. Not a single euro will go to a control panel, a detector or a video recorder. This is not peculiar to Berchem — several Brussels municipalities apply the same exclusion.
This should not be seen as a rejection of alarms but as a division of roles: municipalities subsidise what delays an intrusion; the alarm signals. The logical order is that of the subsidy — first reinforce the access points, then detect. The full regulation is on the theft prevention page of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe.
The theft prevention adviser of the Brussels-West zone
Berchem-Sainte-Agathe falls under the Brussels-West police zone (5340), which provides residents with a theft prevention adviser. The visit is free of charge and the adviser has nothing to sell: the assessment covers the cylinders, the window hardware, the resistance of the rear doors and the visibility of the surroundings. In practice, it determines the relevance of the subsidy application, since the subsidy covers exactly these elements. Requests go through the municipality or the zone.
What Belgian law requires once installed
Two separate regimes, both federal, with no municipal variation.
Alarm: registration within ten days via police-on-web, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance and mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. Details are in our guide on the registration of an alarm system in Belgium.
Camera: registration on declarationcamera.be, visible regulatory pictogram, data processing register, and a ban on filming the public road or the neighbouring property. On a terraced house in Berchem, where gardens touch, this constraint effectively determines the orientation and mounting height — see our article on the law on CCTV cameras in Belgium.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many burglaries were there in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe in 2025?
According to police crime statistics, 92 residential burglaries were recorded in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe in 2025. This is 27.6 per cent fewer than in 2024 and 57.2 per cent fewer than in 2019, when there were 215 incidents. It is the lowest level of all available benchmarks for the municipality.
Does the Berchem-Sainte-Agathe municipal subsidy cover an alarm?
No. The Berchem subsidy, 25 per cent of purchase and installation costs capped at €250 per home per year, only funds mechanical protection: reinforced locks and cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, resistant doors and window frames. Alarm systems and surveillance cameras are excluded.
What are the conditions of the subsidy in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe?
It is open to owners, holders of real rights and co-ownership boards, with a ceiling of €250 per home per year. All access points must be protected to the same extent, and the application must be submitted within four months of the invoice. Amounts and conditions change from one financial year to the next: check with the municipality.
Does the 57 per cent fall mean the risk has disappeared?
No. The decline is real but it starts from a very high level, and the 2025 drop follows two identical years at 127 incidents. With 92 residential burglaries, the municipality still averages 1.8 incidents per week, and homes account for 85 per cent of burglaries in buildings.
Do you have to register an alarm in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe?
Yes, as everywhere in Belgium. Registration is done via police-on-web within ten days of installation and must be confirmed every year. This obligation stems from the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007 and does not depend on the municipality.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Berchem-Sainte-Agathe municipal fact sheet. Municipal subsidy regulation: theft prevention page of the municipality of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe. Subsidy amounts and conditions change from one financial year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.