Turnhout recorded 54 residential burglaries in 2025, compared with 88 the previous year. A fall of 38.6% in one year, and of 54.6% since 2019: few Belgian towns show such a clear decline. The town also offers a municipal home-security grant, but it is not applied for like an ordinary form — it first goes through a visit from a burglary prevention adviser.
A real decline, but not one that concerns homes alone
The series of incidents recorded by the federal police for Turnhout fell in two stages. After 119 residential burglaries in 2019, 2020 dropped to 50 because of the lockdown, then the level recovered: 64 in 2021, 107 in 2022, 105 in 2023. Only from then on did the decline become structural — 88 in 2024, 54 in 2025. The most telling point of comparison is the peak of the series: 224 incidents in 2016. The 2025 level is far below it, and also well below the town’s older benchmarks: 133 incidents in 2000, 129 in 2015.
In calendar terms, 2025 represents roughly one residential burglary per week across the whole municipality. But one figure deserves a closer look: of the 87 burglaries in buildings recorded in Turnhout in 2025, homes accounted for only 62%. In other words, more than a third of break-ins targeted something other than a home — shops, workshops, warehouses, business outbuildings.
This proportion matches what Turnhout is: a regional centre with a dense shopping core, surrounded by a ring of suburban housing. The two areas do not face the same risk and do not call for the same equipment.
Two urban fabrics, two break-in scenarios
In the centre, the sensitive point is the shop front and the flat above the shop, often reached through a side door or from the rear of the building, via a service alley that is little used after closing time. A shopkeeper who equips only the shop window leaves open the route to their home, and vice versa.
In the suburban ring, the classic pattern applies: rear access, kitchen door, living-room patio door, and above all the garage or garden outbuilding, almost never covered by the main system. The garage is a textbook case, because it contains the tools that will then be used to force the internal door into the house.
The same advice cannot therefore suit both. A self-employed person in the centre needs to deal with the continuity between their premises and their home, and provide a panic button at the till. A household on the outskirts first needs detection on its rear access points and outbuildings.
The Turnhout grant: it exists, and it starts with a visit
This is the heart of the matter, and it is where most residents miss out on the money available.
The town of Turnhout offers a municipal grant for securing homes, linked to its security advice service — the beveiligingsadvies provided by the diefstalpreventieadviseur, the burglary prevention adviser. The two schemes form a whole: the town presents them on one and the same page, beveiligingsadvies en premie. The order of steps is not negotiable: first request the advice, then carry out the security work, then submit the application.
The exact amount and conditions are not published in an accessible way, and we will not make them up. This is precisely the kind of information that must be obtained first-hand: call the town’s prevention department or consult the page above before committing to any expense. Be wary of commercial websites quoting a precise amount for Turnhout: these regulations are revised from one budget year to the next, and a figure copied two years ago commits nobody.
What is certain, on the other hand, is the central role of the prior advice. The burglary prevention adviser visits free of charge, examines the building’s actual access points and provides a written report. The adviser reports to the Lokale Politie Regio Turnhout (5364) and has nothing to sell. The visit is a condition for access to the municipal support and, regardless of any grant, is the only free assessment with no commercial interest available.
What public money funds — and what it does not
One point needs to be made clear, as almost every security website presents it wrongly. In Belgium, municipal home-security grants fund mechanical protection: reinforced cylinders and locks, burglar-resistant glazing, sturdy doors and frames, sometimes a door chain or a peephole. They subsidise what delays an intrusion, because lost time is the main reason burglars give up.
Alarm systems and cameras follow a different logic: they do not delay, they signal. In the vast majority of Belgian municipal regulations, they are excluded from the scope of the grant. So never draw up a budget on the assumption that a municipality will reimburse part of your alarm: check with the town exactly what the Turnhout regulation covers, and assume by default that the electronics remain at your own expense.
This division is not a rejection of alarms, but an indication of order: reinforce the access points first, then add detection. An alarm fitted to a door that gives way in a few seconds merely documents the intrusion.
A coherent system for a Turnhout building
Once the mechanical side has been dealt with, the detection part is built around a few simple principles.
- A control panel with no compulsory subscription, able to manage both the home and an adjoining business premises: see the Ajax alarm systems and, for a first set of equipment, the alarm kits.
- An outdoor siren, on a façade visible from the street: in a town centre, the likelihood that a passer-by or a neighbour will react remains high, including in the evening.
- Fit magnetic contacts on the back door, the garage and the outbuilding, which signal the opening before anyone has reached the main building.
- An outdoor camera on the service access or the private alley, if the framing can be strictly limited to your property.
Belgian obligations, identical in Turnhout and elsewhere
These rules are federal: they vary neither between regions nor between municipalities.
Alarm: declaration within ten days via police-on-web, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance, mandatory alarm verification before any police intervention. Legal basis: the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. The details are in our guide on the declaration of an alarm system in Belgium.
Camera: declaration on declarationcamera.be, regulatory pictogram, register of processing activities, and a ban on filming the public highway or third-party property. For a shop in the centre, this last point is decisive: a badly aimed shop-window camera captures the pavement and becomes non-compliant. See our article on the camera law in Belgium, as well as our national burglary figures.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were there in Turnhout in 2025?
54 residential burglaries were recorded in Turnhout in 2025, according to the Federal Police’s crime statistics. This is 38.6% fewer than in 2024 (88 incidents) and 54.6% fewer than in 2019 (119 incidents).
Does Turnhout offer a grant for securing your home?
Yes, the town offers a municipal home-security grant, linked to the burglary prevention advice provided by the burglary prevention adviser. The exact amount and conditions are not published in an accessible way: they must be requested from the town, via its beveiligingsadvies en premie page, before incurring any costs.
Can this grant cover an alarm or a camera?
Belgian municipal grants in principle fund mechanical protection: locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames. Alarms and cameras are usually excluded. The exact scope of the Turnhout regulation must be checked with the town’s prevention department; assume by default that the electronics remain at your own expense.
How do I get the free visit from the burglary prevention adviser in Turnhout?
Requests are made to the Lokale Politie Regio Turnhout (5364) or via the town’s page on security advice. The visit from the diefstalpreventieadviseur is free, has no commercial interest, and the adviser’s report is a condition for access to the municipal support.
Do you need to declare an alarm installed in Turnhout?
Yes. The declaration must be made within ten days of installation via police-on-web and must be confirmed every year. This obligation stems from the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007 and applies in the same way throughout Belgium.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Turnhout municipal fact sheet. Security advice and municipal grant: the town of Turnhout’s beveiligingsadvies en premie page. Grant amounts and conditions change from one budget year to the next: check with the town before incurring any costs.