Most Belgian municipalities are seeing burglaries fall. Not Mechelen. The city has gone from 176 residential burglaries in 2019 to 211 in 2025, an increase of 19.9% over six years and of 16.6% in the last year alone. To put it frankly: this is one of the few series that is rising, and it deserves an explanation rather than silence.
A series on the rise, against a historically low backdrop
The breakdown of incidents recorded in Mechelen: 176 in 2019, 139 in 2020, 143 in 2021, 202 in 2022, 200 in 2023, 181 in 2024 and 211 in 2025. The shape of the curve matters more than any single point. The two low years, with 139 and 143 incidents, were those of the health restrictions, when homes were no longer left empty. From 2022 onwards, the level rose back above 2019 and has not fallen back durably since: 2024 marked a pause, not a reversal, as 2025 exceeds every other year in the series.
This increase must, however, be put into perspective. Mechelen recorded 767 residential burglaries in 2000 and 376 in 2015: the 211 incidents of 2025 remain well below those levels. The city is not becoming what it was twenty-five years ago; it is coming out of a trough and climbing slowly. Over the year, 211 incidents amount to 4.1 burglaries per week.
One last figure sheds light on Mechelen's profile: of the 273 burglaries in buildings recorded in 2025, 77% targeted a home. In Mechelen, burglars target homes first, and among homes, houses first.
Housing in Mechelen: terraced houses, small gardens, garages and outbuildings
Mechelen is neither a high-rise city centre nor a housing estate. It is a mixed fabric, where suburban terraced houses stand alongside detached houses with small gardens, and this hybrid nature creates a characteristic weak point: the outbuilding.
Attached garage, garden shed, lean-to utility room, conservatory added at a later date. These structures share three features that make them the favourite entry point for suburban burglary. They are built more lightly than the main house — a simple service door, original window frames, sometimes just a metal sheet. They are almost never covered by indoor detection, which stops at the living room. And above all, they connect to the house through an internal door that nobody locks, because it is seen as being inside.
The second entry point is the rear access: a kitchen door or French window opening onto the small garden. In a fabric of terraced houses, these gardens form a continuous string, often separated by low hedges and invisible from the street. Once the first fence has been crossed, one can move freely.
Why building work opens a window of vulnerability
A renovation temporarily creates all the conditions that we try hard to avoid for the rest of the year — and it is often the time when the house is at its least protected.
- Access points are temporary. A removed window frame replaced by a panel, a site door with a padlock, a garage door left open for the skip. The delay to forced entry, which is the real deterrent variable, drops to almost nothing.
- The work site is public. A permit on display, scaffolding, a skip in front of the façade: all of this tells the street that there is equipment inside and that the house is sometimes empty for several days in a row.
- The equipment is valuable and easy to resell. Tools, a new boiler still in its packaging, sanitary fittings, copper cable.
- The comings and goings dull vigilance. When strangers come and go all week, a neighbour can no longer tell a tradesperson from an intruder. The social signal that usually protects a street of terraced houses is suspended for the duration of the works.
- An existing alarm is often switched off to avoid false alarms, and rarely switched back on in the evening.
Two simple habits limit exposure without costing much: do not store new equipment in the outbuilding that is easiest to open, and tell two neighbours the actual working hours on site, which restores their ability to notice something unusual.
Run the cables while the walls are open
A renovation also offers an advantage that will not come again: for a few weeks, running a cable costs next to nothing. Once the partitions are closed and the plastering is done, the same job becomes a project in its own right.
This is the only time when a wired installation makes sense for a private individual. The Ajax Fibra range allows detectors to be connected by cable, with the advantage of not depending on any battery and of coping with thick walls and concrete floors — a practical point in Mechelen's older housing. For projects supervised by a professional, the Ajax X-Observer range complements this approach.
A design order that works on a building site: the control panel first, placed where it will remain accessible; then opening contacts on every new door or window, including those of the outbuilding and garage that nobody ever counts; then motion detection once the final room layout is known. Our guide which Ajax alarm to choose in Belgium helps you decide between wired and wireless depending on how far the work has progressed.
During the works themselves, a temporary wireless system remains the simplest option: it can be installed in an hour, moved as rooms become free, and works without a subscription, which avoids committing to a contract for just a few months.
Declaring, once the works are finished
The obligations are federal and apply in Mechelen as everywhere else. The alarm must be declared within ten days via police-on-web, with annual confirmation, an outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance and mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. The procedure is detailed in our guide on the declaration of an alarm system in Belgium. The deadline runs from commissioning: in a phased renovation, it is the commissioning date that counts, not the end of the works.
The camera, if you install one on the rear access or the garage, must be declared on declarationcamera.be, requires a pictogram and a register, and may film neither the public road nor the neighbour's garden — a real constraint when small gardens are adjoining and shallow. See our article on the camera law in Belgium.
Municipal premium and free advice in Mechelen
Some Belgian municipalities grant a security premium. These premiums fund mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, reinforced window frames — and almost always exclude alarm systems and cameras. A renovation is precisely the moment when this type of expense is incurred anyway: check with the municipal administration before ordering your window frames, not after.
The advice, for its part, is free and comes with no commercial strings attached. The Lokale Politie Rivierenland (5913), which covers Mechelen, provides a diefstalpreventieadviseur — a burglary prevention adviser — who visits homes. Contacting the adviser before the work starts is the only way to build their recommendations into the plans rather than catching up afterwards: requests are made via the zone's burglary prevention page.
Frequently asked questions
Are burglaries rising in Mechelen?
Yes, over the recent period: 211 residential burglaries were recorded in 2025, compared with 181 in 2024 and 176 in 2019, an increase of 16.6% in one year and 19.9% in six years. The level nevertheless remains well below that of 2015 (376 incidents) and 2000 (767 incidents).
How many burglaries per week in Mechelen?
The 211 incidents of 2025 correspond to an average of 4.1 residential burglaries per week. Of the 273 burglaries in buildings recorded that year, 77% targeted a home.
How do you protect a house undergoing works?
By dealing with the temporary access points, which offer almost no delay to forced entry: site door, removed window frame, garage left open. A temporary wireless system, storing new equipment somewhere other than the most accessible outbuilding, and informing two neighbours of the actual working hours on site cover most of the risk.
Should you plan a wired alarm during a renovation?
It is the only time when it is justified for a private individual. As long as the partitions are open, running cables costs little, and a wired installation depends on no battery and passes through thick walls without difficulty. Once the plastering has been redone, wireless becomes the rational choice again.
Who gives free burglary prevention advice in Mechelen?
The burglary prevention adviser (diefstalpreventieadviseur) of the Lokale Politie Rivierenland (5913). The home visit is free and has no commercial interest; in the case of a renovation, it is best to request it before the works begin.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (closing date 24/04/2026) — Mechelen municipal factsheet. The conditions of municipal security premiums change from one year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.