Teenagers emptying their Kalashnikovs on each other while surveillance cameras roll, local residents record the scene, and the police patrol nearby—how is this possible? For surveillance experts and criminology professors Lucas Melgaco and Rosamunde Van Brakel from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), the answer is clear: cameras alone will not solve the problem.
Law-abiding citizens who don’t commit shoplifting and pay their public transport fares have been left stunned in recent weeks. The idea that rival gangsters might be out to kill each other is something we can at least comprehend. But the fact that they do so so brazenly, in broad daylight, is beyond belief for many.
Some shootings happened right near the police, and the gunmen didn’t seem to care that they were being filmed?
Lucas Melgaco: “That’s not surprising—you see the same thing with other crimes. Pickpocketing is a real plague in central Brussels. I was a victim myself recently. And yet, at the time, I was standing right under a surveillance camera. That didn’t deter the thief. Somewhere, that theft is sitting on a hard drive, but whether an investigation ever came of it is unclear. Cameras alone are not the solution. You need an entire system in place and enough personnel to actually use the footage effectively. That’s where the police and judicial system are falling short.”
There’s now talk of allowing facial recognition cameras to combat drug and arms trafficking.
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “A legal framework is being developed, but will it make much of a difference? Research shows that governments often install cameras after an incident—not so much to solve crimes, but to reassure the public that they’re taking action. Cameras are highly visible, but they don’t solve the problem.”
Shootings with heavy war weapons are, of course, a different matter from a stolen smartphone.
Lucas Melgaco: “Of course. These shootings aren’t aimed at ordinary citizens, but innocent people can still get caught in the crossfire. Seeing bullets end up in a playground or a child’s bedroom makes people scared and angry—especially when they realise the police are struggling to get the situation under control.”
"Such a shooting is merely a symptom of a much deeper issue"
Rosamunde Van Brakel
Is this beyond what the local police can handle?
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “Drug-related crime is organised crime—it operates on an international scale with vast financial resources. A shooting like this is just a symptom of a much deeper issue. Tackling it isn’t just a job for the local police; the federal police also have a crucial role to play. They need to gather intelligence on these gangs and collaborate with police forces in other countries to dismantle these criminal networks. That’s one level that needs addressing. The second is the perpetrators themselves.”
Who are these gunmen? Failed asylum seekers, as police chief Jurgen De Landsheer suggested? He argued that opening an asylum centre near Brussels-South station was a mistake.
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “It’s possible that some undocumented people end up in crime. But we’re also talking about young men who were born in Brussels—teenagers growing up in poverty with no prospects for the future. They simply don’t care. We see that young gang members in cities like London and New York have a similar profile. More recently, the same pattern has emerged in Swedish cities.”
Are there international examples of successful strategies to combat this kind of crime?
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “Most attempts fail. In London, the police introduced a risk assessment tool designed to predict which gang members posed the greatest threat. The result? A high number of false positives, serious ethical and privacy concerns, and overall inefficiency.”
Lucas Melgaco: “It’s understandable that people want to lock up these young offenders, but prisons are overcrowded, and there’s little to no rehabilitation. They aren’t being prepared for reintegration into society—if anything, they come out even more hardened criminals.”
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “And as soon as they’re taken off the streets, others take their place. It’s not a long-term solution.”
"You’d rather not make dangerous gangsters your enemy"
Dismantling international networks and steering young people away from crime is a long-term effort. But is there anything that can be done in the short term to improve the sense of security?
Lucas Melgaco: “Brussels’ hotspot approach does have its merits. The police flood certain problem areas with officers, making their presence highly visible to reclaim the streets. But beyond that, the deeper social issues must also be addressed—through investment in community infrastructure, education, poverty reduction, and so on. Otherwise, it’s like mopping up water while the tap is still running. These neighbourhoods are already heavily stigmatised, and a hotspot policing strategy could make things worse.”
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “In Kuregem, for example, there isn’t even a library anymore, and there’s little investment to make the area more liveable. Tackling that is also a key part of crime prevention.”
In Saint-Gilles, some residents are so fed up with the drug-related crime that they’ve set up an action group to collect evidence for the police.
Lucas Melgaco: “The same problem remains: the police need a proper structure and enough officers to actually use that footage to track down suspects. Right now, there simply aren’t enough resources. That’s why I think the impact of such citizen initiatives will be minimal. Honestly, I wouldn’t advise people to play detective and film criminals—for their own safety if nothing else. You’d rather not make dangerous gangsters your enemy.”
So what can people do?
Lucas Melgaco: “Make your voice heard and demand more police officers. A physical presence in the neighbourhood is one of the few things the police can do immediately.”
Rosamunde Van Brakel: “And keep up the pressure. Right now, the pattern is usually the same: there’s a shooting, the media jump on the story, the police increase their presence, but after a few weeks, everything quietens down and the dealers return.”
Lucas Melgaço
Lucas Melgaco: “We need to make sure the situation remains manageable. So far, the violence here is mostly limited to criminals themselves, and the general public isn’t being targeted. In Rio de Janeiro, where I lived for a while, drug-related violence spills into everyday life far more often. Drug trafficking and the violence that comes with it have become deeply embedded problems there. It’s terrifying. The situation in Belgium is completely different, but we mustn’t let things move in that direction.”*
*This is a machine translation. We apologise for any inaccuracies.