In most Belgian municipalities, 2025 marks a continuation of the downward trend. In Waterloo, however, it brings this trend to a halt: 179 residential burglaries, representing a 7.8 per cent increase on 2024. The underlying trend remains positive — 37 per cent lower than in 2019 — but a rising curve is more useful than a reassuring percentage: it shows where local thinking needs to be revisited.
Seven years of figures, and a rise in 2025
The federal police publish the recorded incidents by municipality. For Waterloo, the latest set of figures is as follows.
| Year | Burglaries in homes |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 284 |
| 2020 | 175 |
| 2021 | 158 |
| 2022 | 256 |
| 2023 | 239 |
| 2024 | 166 |
| 2025 | 179 |
Three things stand out. Firstly, the low point is in 2021 and not in 2020: unlike many other local authorities, Waterloo continued to see a decline for yet another year. Then, the rebound in 2022 was sharp — 256 incidents, almost reaching the 2019 level in a single year. Finally, after a second dip in 2024, figures rose again in 2025.
This sawtooth pattern precludes two simplistic interpretations. We cannot speak of continuous improvement: it is not. Nor can we speak of a deterioration: with 179 incidents, Waterloo remains well below its 2019 figure of 284, and a long way from the 507 incidents of the year 2000, the highest figure in the long-term series. In 2015, the municipality had 216. The trend over the last ten years is positive; it is the past year that is not.
The practical lesson can be summed up in a single sentence: in a town of this size, with an average of 3.4 residential burglaries per week, a few months of concentrated activity are enough to overturn an annual statistic. Decisions on how to protect a home should therefore not be based on trends, but on what the pattern of incidents reveals.
A town where burglaries target homes, and almost nothing else
The most telling figure in the Waterloo statistics is not the year-on-year change, but the breakdown. Of the 206 burglaries in buildings recorded in 2025, 87 per cent relate to homes. This is a very high proportion, and it reflects a simple reality: Waterloo is a residential area, with commercial activity concentrated along a few main thoroughfares and few industrial or logistics targets.
This means that, here, the risk cannot be shifted elsewhere. In a mixed-use town, some of the incidents involve shops, warehouses and offices. In Waterloo, it is houses that are burgled — often detached houses with gardens, tall hedges and deep back gardens, in the neighbourhoods of Chenois, Joli-Bois, Mont-Saint-Jean and L’Argentine.
Waterloo’s real weak point is not the front door
This layout shifts the point of entry to the rear of the building. The living room French windows, the bay window, the conservatory, and the kitchen or utility room door leading out to the garden: these are the points of access where break-ins are most likely to occur, for three cumulative reasons.
They are glazed, so they can be crossed quickly and without making any particular noise. They are out of sight from the street, shielded by the hedge or fence that protects the occupants’ privacy. And the lack of neighbours directly opposite – a key selling point for a villa in Waterloo – removes the witness who, elsewhere, would deter an attempt.
To this must be added a geographical factor specific to the municipality: Waterloo is crossed by major roads linking it to the Brussels ring road and the south of Walloon Brabant. Good road access alone does not explain the annual variations — that would be an over-simplified conclusion based solely on the available figures — but it does shed light on why a prosperous, easily accessible residential municipality experiences periods of concentrated activity rather than a steady background level.
The direct consequence is that an alarm system with all its detectors located indoors is triggered once the intruder is in the living room. What matches the local risk is outdoor detection, which signals a presence in the garden before the glass is broken. On a deep plot, this lead of a few tens of seconds is the only thing that distinguishes an alert from an observation after the fact.
A system suited to a house in Waterloo
Without turning a villa into a vault, the approach consistent with these figures follows a logical sequence: delay, early detection, verification, deterrence.
- A control panel capable of managing the whole system and providing real-time notifications, with no compulsory subscription.
- A perimeter detection system on the garden side, focused on the rear entrances rather than the interior of the rooms.
- Some photo-verification detectors in high-traffic areas: they turn a notification into actionable information and meet the legal requirement for alarm verification.
- An outdoor siren: on a secluded plot, noise remains the main factor leading to the abandonment of a burglary in progress.
- An outdoor camera on rear access when the garden is deep or hidden from view, with the view limited to your own plot.
When sizing the system, the scale of the equipment depends first and foremost on the number of access points to be covered: a house with two rear openings and a villa with five are not the same project. The alarm kits are suitable for simple set-ups; for anything more complex, a bespoke configuration avoids the need to stack extensions. Our guide which Ajax alarm to choose explains the trade-offs.
Subsidy and free advice: what is certain, and what is not
Some Belgian local authorities offer a subsidy for anti-theft measures. There is no reliable information to confirm that this is the case in Waterloo, and it is best to ask the local council rather than rely on a commercial website. Two points remain true everywhere: these subsidies fund mechanical protection — reinforced locks and cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, doors and frames — and they do not cover either alarms or cameras. No local authority reimburses the cost of an alarm system.
What is, however, absolutely clear is that the technoprevention visit is free of charge. The Waterloo police zone (5274) provides residents with a theft prevention adviser, and the local authority sets out the procedure to follow on its page dedicated to requesting a technoprevention visit. The adviser assesses your actual access points, isn’t trying to sell you anything, and their assessment is more reliable than any quote drawn up without a site visit.
Legal obligations once the installation has been completed
They are federal in nature and identical across all three regions; none of them are specific to Walloon Brabant.
Alarm: registration within ten days via police-on-web, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance, mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. Our guide to the registration of an alarm system in Belgium sets out the procedure.
Camera: registration on declarationcamera.be, regulatory pictogram, data processing register, and the ban on filming public roads or neighbours’ property. On a plot of land in Waterloo bordered by hedges, a common mistake is to point a camera towards the drive, thereby inadvertently capturing the road or the adjoining garden. See our article on the law on CCTV cameras in Belgium.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many burglaries were there in Waterloo in 2025?
179 residential burglaries were recorded in Waterloo in 2025, an average of 3.4 per week. This is 7.8 per cent more than in 2024 (166 incidents), but 37 per cent fewer than in 2019 (284 incidents).
Are burglaries on the rise in Waterloo?
Year-on-year, yes: 2025 is up 7.8 per cent on 2024. Over the long term, however, this is not the case: the number of incidents in the municipality fell from 507 in 2000 and 284 in 2019 to 179 in 2025. The trend has been erratic — hitting a low of 158 incidents in 2021, followed by a sharp rise to 256 in 2022 — which suggests that conclusions should not be drawn based on a single year.
Which entry points should be prioritised for security in a house in Waterloo?
Rear access points: the living room French windows, the bay window, the conservatory, and the kitchen or utility room door leading to the garden. These are glazed, invisible from the street and shielded from view by hedges. In 2025, 87 per cent of burglaries in buildings within the municipality targeted homes, which puts the whole issue squarely on housing.
Is there a local security grant in Waterloo?
No municipal grants have been confirmed for Waterloo: please check with the local authority before incurring any costs. Where such grants exist in Belgium, they cover only mechanical security measures — locks, lock cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing and window frames — and exclude alarm systems and CCTV cameras.
How can I get free advice on theft prevention in Waterloo?
By requesting a technoprevention visit from the Waterloo police zone (5274) via the dedicated page on the local council’s website. The burglary prevention adviser will visit your home free of charge, assess the actual points of access to your property and has no commercial interest. Please allow a few weeks for the visit, depending on the time of year.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Waterloo municipal fact sheet. Local authority schemes to help with security measures change from one financial year to the next: check with your local authority before incurring any costs.