In Dendermonde, 87 burglaries in buildings were recorded in 2025, 66 of them in homes. In other words: three quarters of the incidents target a home, and the remaining quarter targets something else — a shop, a workshop, a depot, a practice. For a self-employed person in Dendermonde, it is that fraction that matters, and it appears in no headline.
Dendermonde in 2025: a long decline, but a recent upturn
The series published by the federal police for Dendermonde covers seven years: 73 residential burglaries in 2019, 62 in 2020, 62 in 2021, 57 in 2022, 56 in 2023, 74 in 2024 and 66 in 2025.
Two things stand out. First, a real erosion over time: the municipality’s historical peak dates from 2000, with 121 incidents, and 2015 still had 95. Over six years, the fall is 9.6% — modest, but in the right direction — and the one-year decline reaches 10.8%.
Second, an anomaly it would be dishonest to gloss over: after the low point of 56 incidents in 2023, 2024 jumped back to 74, above the 2019 level. The return to 66 in 2025 corrects this upturn without erasing the question it raises. A municipality that swings between 56 and 74 from one year to the next has no stable trend; it has a baseline. That baseline is an average of 1.3 residential burglaries per week.
The Dendermonde shopkeeper faces a double exposure
Dendermonde is a district capital with a real shopping centre: the Grote Markt, the shopping streets leading to it, local units and craft businesses on the outskirts. This structure creates a particular situation — the self-employed are often exposed twice over.
Once as business operator: the shop window, the night door, the back stockroom, the depot, the commercial vehicle. The risk area of a shop is almost never the window itself, too visible and too noisy; it is the service door onto the courtyard, the flat roof of the shed, the stockroom window, the poorly anchored metal shutter.
Once as resident, when the home is above the shop — a common configuration in the central streets. Access gained through the ground-floor shop then leads to a private staircase, and the shop break-in becomes a residential burglary. The two statistical categories overlap in reality, even though they are counted separately.
The coherent answer is not to stack two systems. It is to treat the building as a whole, with zones that are armed separately: the shop armed at night, the home armed during the day, and a detected boundary between the two. One keypad per zone avoids the fatal reflex — disarming the whole building to fetch a box from the stockroom.
Video in a shop: what Belgian law really allows
This is where the self-employed fall into breach without knowing it. A camera installed in a place accessible to the public is subject to the camera law: declaration on declarationcamera.be, a regulatory pictogram visible at the entrance, a record of processing activities and, above all, framing that may cover neither the public highway nor the neighbour’s property. A camera pointed from the shop window towards the pavement is unlawful, even if the intention is defensive.
In practice, this guides the choices. Indoors, a discreet dome camera on the till area and the access to the stockroom; outdoors, framing pulled back onto the private courtyard, where a PTZ camera only makes sense if the site is large. Recording requires a properly sized NVR: our guide which Dahua NVR to choose avoids the classic mistake of a hard drive that overwrites footage before anyone thinks to look at it. The full legal framework is detailed in our article on the camera law in Belgium.
For a shop open to the public, a discreet panic button at the till follows a different logic from intrusion protection: it addresses the risk when staff are present, not the night-time break-in.
Outlying housing: garages, annexes and small gardens
Outside the centre, Dendermonde shows the classic profile of East Flanders municipalities: terraced houses with small gardens, attached garages, annexes, workshops at the back of the plot. This housing creates a well-identified chain of weakness — the garage or annexe is less protected than the house, and often connects to it via an interior door that nobody locks.
Two practical consequences. First: a magnetic contact on the connecting door between garage and house costs little and closes off a real route. Second: unheated annexes and depots should be covered with detectors designed for outdoor use, not with an indoor sensor moved outside its intended use.
For a combined shop and home in Dendermonde, the equipment budget is roughly between €1,000 and €2,500, depending on the number of access points to cover and whether video is added. Installation can be entrusted to a professional through our installation services.
Free prevention: what the Dendermonde police offer
The Lokale Politie Dendermonde (5443) has a burglary prevention adviser — diefstalpreventieadviseur. The visit is free, the adviser sells nothing, and the assessment covers points that equipment cannot fix: the quality of the cylinders, the anchoring of the shutters, the strength of the frames, the courtyard lighting, the visibility from the street. Details and requests go through the zone’s diefstalpreventie page.
No specific municipal grant is documented for Dendermonde. Just be aware that Belgian home security grants, where they exist, fund mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames — and not alarm systems or cameras. Check with the municipal administration before incurring any expenditure.
Once installed: the federal obligations
They are the same in Dendermonde as in Brussels or Arlon. Alarm: declaration within ten days via police-on-web, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance, mandatory verification before police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. Our guide details the declaration of an alarm system. Camera: declaration, pictogram, record, framing limited to your property. These obligations are federal and do not vary from one municipality to another.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were there in Dendermonde in 2025?
66 residential burglaries were recorded in Dendermonde in 2025, and 87 burglaries in buildings in total. This is a fall of 10.8% year on year and 9.6% compared with 2019, when there were 73 residential incidents.
Are shops covered by these statistics?
Partly. Homes account for 76% of the 87 burglaries in buildings recorded in Dendermonde in 2025; the remaining quarter concerns non-residential buildings, including shops and business premises. A home located above a shop can also be reached through the ground floor.
Can I film the pavement in front of my shop in Dendermonde?
No. A private camera may film neither the public highway nor other people’s property. It must stay framed on your own space, be declared on declarationcamera.be and be indicated by the regulatory pictogram, with a record of processing activities kept.
Is there a municipal grant in Dendermonde for securing your shop?
No specific municipal grant is documented for Dendermonde. In Belgium, existing home security grants fund mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames — and exclude alarms and cameras. Check with the municipal administration before incurring any costs.
Where can I ask for free burglary prevention advice in Dendermonde?
From the diefstalpreventieadviseur of the Lokale Politie Dendermonde (5443), via the page dedicated to burglary prevention. The visit is free of charge and has no commercial interest.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (closing date 24/04/2026) — Dendermonde municipal factsheet. Municipal home security support schemes change from one year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.