361 residential burglaries in 2000. 342 in 2015. 330 in 2025. In a quarter of a century, Forest has hardly moved — while other municipalities have seen their figures melt away. This stability completely changes how a security budget should be reasoned: it is not about accompanying a decline, but about dealing with a level that does not come down on its own.
A municipality where the curve refuses to fall
| Year | Residential burglaries in Forest |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 380 |
| 2020 | 228 |
| 2021 | 313 |
| 2022 | 360 |
| 2023 | 352 |
| 2024 | 350 |
| 2025 | 330 |
The peak of the series, 380 incidents, was in 2019. The 2020 low, at 228, corresponds to the lockdown: homes permanently occupied, and an opportunistic crime that requires an absence. By 2022, the municipality was back at 360, and since then it has moved within a band of thirty incidents: 352, 350, 330. The fall over six years is 13.2%, and over the last year 5.7%. These are real declines, but slow ones, and the long-term comparison is telling: Forest today is roughly where it was in 2015 and in 2000.
Two figures complete the picture. The municipality records 6.3 residential burglaries per week. And of the 386 burglaries in buildings recorded in 2025, 85% concerned a home — a very high share. In Forest, it is residents who are targeted, not shops.
What gets burgled in Forest is a flat
Forest’s housing is dense: apartment buildings, terraced houses divided into several homes, buildings with multiple entrances and shared stairwells. The break-in scenario has nothing in common with that of a house with a garden.
The street door is almost never forced: it is walked through. An intercom answered without checking, a door that does not close fully, tailgating behind a resident coming home with their arms full — and the intruder finds themselves in a closed stairwell, with no witnesses, no time limit, and several flat doors to choose from. This is where everything is decided.
The flat door is therefore the real point of attack, and most often the only security feature of the home: original cylinder, single-point lock, lightweight frame. Next come the windows accessible from a walkway, a flat roof, an adjoining balcony or a drainpipe — common configurations in Forest, where buildings touch each other.
The budget for a Forest home, item by item
In a flat, the budget is built the other way round from a house: few access points, but each one decisive, and a need for discretion and reversibility that rules out major works.
- The flat door first, before any electronics. A security cylinder and a multi-point lock offer the best ratio between spending and time gained against a break-in. It is also the only item that municipal grants generally agree to fund, where they exist.
- Opening detection. One magnetic contact on the flat door, and one per window that is genuinely accessible from outside. In a typical upper-floor flat, that means two to four devices, not fifteen.
- The control panel and the controls. A compact control panel and a keypad or an arming remote: a system that is not switched on because it is a nuisance to use serves no purpose. The alarm kits cover this configuration well, as it is the most standardised on the market.
- An indoor detector with photo verification in the room people pass through. In an apartment building, it answers a precise problem: telling a false alarm from a real intrusion without having to cross the city. See the detection with photo verification.
- An indoor camera, possibly, pointed at the entrance to the home — see the Wi-Fi cameras. An outdoor camera on the façade is rarely practicable here, for legal reasons explained below.
For a flat in Forest, the equipment typically costs between €400 and €1,000, depending on the number of access points to cover. The variable item is very small here: that is the main budget difference between a flat in a building and a house.
In a co-owned building, part of the problem is not yours
This is the Forest specificity that quotes ignore. In a building, the street door, the hallway, the stairwell and the façade are common areas. You cannot install whatever you like there: drilling into a façade, putting a camera in the hallway or modifying the shared front door is a matter for the general meeting and the property manager, not for your individual decision.
Two practical consequences. For a tenant or a single co-owner, the only realistic installation is wireless, indoor and reversible — which, incidentally, can be removed and reinstalled when you move. And if the problem is collective — a street door that does not close, an intercom out of order, faulty hallway lighting — the relevant expense is not an additional individual system: it is an item on the agenda of the next general meeting. A street door that locks properly protects every landing in the building at once.
The free item, and what no grant will reimburse
Forest falls under the Midi police zone (5341), shared with Anderlecht and Saint-Gilles, which provides residents with a technoprevention adviser. The visit is free, with no commercial interest, and the assessment covers your actual access points — including the shared part of the building, which is useful for making your case at the general meeting. The process is described on the zone’s technoprevention adviser page.
For financial support, contact your municipal administration: some Belgian municipalities offer a grant for securing homes. One rule must, however, be built into the budget from the very first line: these grants fund mechanical protection — reinforced cylinders and locks, burglar-resistant glazing, sturdy doors and frames — and almost always exclude alarm systems and cameras. In other words, the part of the budget that a grant can lighten is the flat door, not the detection.
The legal obligations, and the cost of forgetting them
They are federal, so identical in all three regions. An alarm must be declared via police-on-web within ten days of installation, confirmed every year and maintained annually, and its outdoor siren may not sound for more than three minutes — in an apartment building, this limit is as much a protection for the neighbours as a rule. Alarm verification remains mandatory before any police intervention: see our guide on the declaration of an alarm system.
A camera must be declared on declarationcamera.be, requires a pictogram and a register of processing activities, and may film neither the public highway nor other people’s property. In a narrow Forest street, a camera mounted on the façade almost inevitably frames the pavement and the building opposite: this is why, here, video is designed first and foremost inside the home. The full framework is set out in our article on the camera law in Belgium. As for the monthly subscription, it is in no way compulsory: see the alarm with no subscription.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were there in Forest in 2025?
330 residential burglaries were recorded in Forest in 2025, or 6.3 per week. This is 5.7% fewer than in 2024 (350 incidents) and 13.2% fewer than in 2019 (380 incidents), the peak year of the series.
What budget should you plan to secure a flat in Forest?
Less than for a house, because the number of access points is smaller. The equipment typically costs between €400 and €1,000 depending on the number of access points to cover, plus reinforcement of the flat door and the legally required annual maintenance of the alarm. A remote monitoring subscription remains optional.
Can I install an alarm in a rented flat in Forest?
Yes, provided you choose a wireless, indoor and reversible system that requires neither drilling into the façade nor changes to the common areas. The street door, the hallway and the stairwell belong to the co-ownership: any work there goes through the property manager and the general meeting.
Can a municipal grant fund an alarm in Forest?
No. Where municipal home-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 to find out which scheme applies, but build your detection budget without taking it into account.
Where can I get free burglary prevention advice in Forest?
From the technoprevention adviser of the Midi police zone (5341), which covers Anderlecht, Forest and Saint-Gilles. The visit is free and has no commercial interest. The adviser examines the access points of your home and can also give an opinion on the common areas of the building.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Forest municipal fact sheet. Technoprevention: Midi police zone (5341). Municipal support schemes change from one budget year to the next: check with your administration before incurring any costs.