There is no reassuring curve in Roeselare. There is a series that rises and falls again: 101 residential burglaries in 2021, 163 in 2023, 114 in 2025. It is precisely this instability that should guide a security budget — not the average, and certainly not the last good year.
A jagged series, and why it matters
Police crime statistics give the following series of residential burglaries for Roeselare.
| Year | Residential burglaries |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 168 |
| 2020 | 101 |
| 2021 | 101 |
| 2022 | 151 |
| 2023 | 163 |
| 2024 | 134 |
| 2025 | 114 |
The temptation is to read a decline: 168 in 2019, 114 in 2025, or 32.1% fewer, and 14.9% fewer in the last year alone. That is correct, but incomplete. In between, the municipality climbed back to 163 incidents in 2023, a level close to that of 2019. The low point of 2020 and 2021 corresponds to periods when homes were constantly occupied; from 2022, incidents rose by half in a single year.
In other words, Roeselare has no clear trajectory: it has an amplitude. From one year to the next, the gap can reach fifty incidents in either direction, and older reference points confirm it — 206 incidents in 2000, 148 in 2015. A security budget calibrated on 2025 because 2025 was a low year is a budget calibrated on luck.
One structural detail is worth noting. In 2025, Roeselare recorded 185 burglaries in buildings of all types, 114 of them in homes: housing represents only 62% of the total. Nearly four burglaries in ten therefore target a building that is not a home, which reflects the weight of Roeselare's retail fabric and business parks. A self-employed person living above their shop in Roeselare therefore has two risks to budget for, not one.
The real cost of an installation, item by item
An installation should be thought of in terms of functions, not products, and their weight in the bill is very uneven. It is this hierarchy — more than the prices — that makes it possible to choose.
1. The control panel. This is the item you cannot cut and must not undersize: it determines the number of devices supported, the communication channels and the lifespan of the system. Changing control panel three years later costs more than choosing a suitable one straight away. See the Ajax control panels and our guide which Ajax alarm to choose in Belgium.
2. The detectors. This is the variable item par excellence: it grows linearly with the number of access points and areas to cover. It is also where the real trade-off lies, between covering every opening and covering the unavoidable passageways. The detectors are added according to the actual layout of the home.
3. The outdoor siren. A single item, often neglected, even though noise remains the main reason a break-in in progress is abandoned. See the sirens.
4. The controls. Keypad, remote control, tags: a modest item, but one that determines daily use. A system that is not armed because arming it is a chore protects nothing. See the keypads.
5. Video, if justified. This is the item that doubles a budget fastest, because it is never just a camera: you also need the recorder and the storage. A camera, an NVR and a surveillance hard drive form an inseparable whole; our article how many TB for 4 cameras explains why storage is calculated before the purchase, not after.
6. The subscription — or its absence. This is the most poorly assessed item, because it is recurring. A modest monthly subscription becomes, over ten years, the largest expense of the installation. A system that works without a compulsory subscription shifts this cost to the initial investment: in the long run, the difference is considerable. See our guide on the Ajax alarm without a subscription.
7. Installation. A wireless system can be installed yourself; outdoor mounting, fine configuration and documented commissioning, however, call for a professional if you want a usable result. See installation and services.
For an average house in Roeselare, the order of magnitude of a coherent alarm set-up ranges from a few hundred to around two thousand euros of equipment, depending on the number of access points to be covered. The alarm kits are the entry point; beyond three or four vulnerable openings, a custom configuration becomes cheaper than a kit topped up piece by piece.
The three trade-offs that really change the bill
The first concerns the perimeter. Fitting every window with a contact is expensive and rarely useful: intrusions go through a small number of predictable access points — back door, living-room patio door, kitchen window, garage door leading into the house. The burglary prevention adviser identifies these access points free of charge, which eliminates half of the unnecessary purchases.
The second concerns verification. A system that sends a notification without an image forces you to go and check, or to do nothing. A system that sends an image lets you decide. It is also what makes the alarm verification required before any police intervention possible.
The third concerns scalability. In Roeselare, where the level of risk varies sharply from one year to the next, the right strategy is not to install everything at once: it is to lay an expandable base and add devices if the situation in the neighbourhood changes. This is only possible if the control panel was chosen with room to spare.
What costs nothing, and what people almost always skip
Roeselare falls under the RIHO police zone, which provides a burglary prevention adviser. Their burglary prevention advice visit is free, they have nothing to sell, and their advice concerns your actual home — not a standard plan. Allow a few weeks depending on the time of year.
As for financial aid: we have not identified any municipal security premium regulation specific to Roeselare. Some Belgian municipalities grant one, but it funds mechanical protection — security locks, reinforced cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, window frames — and not alarm systems or cameras. Check with the municipality before including any aid in your budget.
The legal costs nobody mentions
Two federal obligations, valid everywhere in Belgium, have a direct budgetary impact.
An alarm must be declared within ten days via police-on-web, confirmed every year, and requires annual maintenance — a recurring item to provide for. The outdoor siren is limited to three minutes, and alarm verification is mandatory before any police intervention. Details in our guide on the declaration of an alarm system.
A camera must be declared on declarationcamera.be, requires a regulatory pictogram and a register of processing activities, and may film neither the public road nor the neighbour's property. In the narrow streets of central Roeselare, this constraint sometimes requires a different lens or mounting height from the one planned: better to factor it in before buying. See the camera law in Belgium.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were recorded in Roeselare in 2025?
114 residential burglaries were recorded in Roeselare in 2025, an average of 2.2 per week. That is 14.9% fewer than in 2024 (134 incidents) and 32.1% fewer than in 2019 (168 incidents), but the series remains irregular: it had climbed back to 163 incidents in 2023.
Are burglaries falling in Roeselare?
The comparison between 2019 and 2025 shows a decline, but the series has no regular trajectory. After a floor of 101 incidents in 2020 and 2021, the figures climbed back to 151 then 163, before falling again to 134 and 114. The gap from one year to the next can exceed fifty incidents.
What budget should you plan to secure a house in Roeselare?
The equipment for a coherent alarm set-up ranges, as an order of magnitude, from a few hundred to around two thousand euros depending on the number of access points to be covered. The decisive items are the control panel, the number of detectors and, if there is video, the recorder and storage. A monthly subscription, for its part, should be costed over the total lifespan of the system.
Is there a municipal security premium in Roeselare?
We have not identified any municipal premium regulation specific to Roeselare. Where such premiums exist in Belgium, they cover mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing — and exclude alarms and cameras. Check with the municipality before incurring any costs.
Is burglary prevention advice chargeable in Roeselare?
No. The burglary prevention adviser of the RIHO police zone visits free of charge, examines the actual access points of your home and provides written advice. They have no commercial interest, which makes this the most cost-effective starting point for any security project.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (closing date 24/04/2026) — Roeselare municipal factsheet. Burglary prevention advice: RIHO police zone. Municipal schemes change from one year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.