Does Brussels really have fewer federal investigators than Antwerp after the latest drug violence?
Interior Minister Bernard Quintin rejected claims that Brussels receives fewer federal police resources than Antwerp after a renewed series of shootings prompted three Brussels mayors to demand a national action plan.
In 30 seconds
- A 2026 parliamentary report lists authorised establishments of 774 personnel in Brussels and 550 in Antwerp.
- Quintin said Brussels’ federal judicial police staffing rose from 671 in early 2025 to 748 by late July 2026.
- Spinette says Brussels still needs roughly 80 additional federal judicial police staff for deeper network investigations.
- Federal figures cited by Het Nieuwsblad recorded 57 Brussels shootings in January-July 2026, with two deaths and 21 injuries.
Interior Minister rejected the claim that has fewer federal investigators than after meeting the mayors of , and on Tuesday, 25 August, amid a renewed burst of suspected drug violence in Belgium’s capital. The mayors nevertheless emerged from the meeting demanding a national action plan, arguing that increasingly brazen shootings cannot be contained by municipal police alone.
The immediate stakes are painfully local. A former police station in Anderlecht was fired upon with an automatic weapon late on Friday, while several shootings followed in Saint-Gilles and Molenbeek. According to BRUZZ, a man was wounded in Saint-Gilles and a bullet from another incident struck a home. Whether the attacks are connected remains under investigation, but residents and officers are being exposed to violence around established dealing sites.
Saint-Gilles mayor , joined at Tuesday’s meeting by Anderlecht mayor Fabrice Cumps and Forest mayor Charles Spapens, says the Federal Judicial Police in Brussels needs about 80 additional staff to move beyond street dealers and dismantle the organisations behind them. “This is a national issue,” the three Socialist mayors said after meeting Quintin and South police-zone chief Jurgen De Landsheer, according to BRUZZ. Spinette has framed the demand as a question of Brussels receiving the same respect and resources as Antwerp.
The available figures do not support a simple claim that Brussels has fewer federal judicial police personnel. A parliamentary budget report published in 2026 lists an authorised establishment of 774 posts for the Brussels Federal Judicial Police, compared with 550 in Antwerp. Quintin told Belgian media that Brussels’ actual staffing had risen from 671 at the beginning of 2025 to 748 by the end of July 2026, after reinforcements were assigned there.
Those numbers do not settle the argument. An authorised post is not necessarily filled, and a total headcount does not show how many people can work specifically on drug networks. Brussels also carries national responsibilities for terrorism, international institutions and other complex investigations. The latest public material does not provide a like-for-like breakdown of occupied operational posts, absences, specialist skills and drug-investigation workloads in both cities. Spinette’s figure of 80 therefore describes an asserted operational shortfall, not proof that Brussels has a smaller overall establishment than Antwerp.
That distinction matters because local patrols and federal investigators perform different jobs. Brussels’ six local zones police neighbourhoods and respond to incidents; the Federal Judicial Police pursues complex organisations, financial flows and cross-border links under judicial authority. N-VA federal MP Maaike De Vreese has offered the opposing diagnosis: she points to a much larger aggregate shortage in the Brussels local zones and says local authorities should address their own vacancies rather than directing every demand to the federal government, Het Nieuwsblad reported.
Justice Minister has taken a broader line. In an official response on 23 August, she said repression must be combined with stronger neighbourhoods, education, administrative enforcement and support for vulnerable young people. She also called for close cooperation among federal, regional and local authorities and welcomed the planned appointment of a Brussels drugs commissioner. Her framing treats gun violence as both organised crime and a governance problem, rather than solely a question of detective numbers.
Where this is happening
View on map Brussels →The Antwerp comparison remains useful, but mainly because the two cities occupy different points in the same international cocaine economy. Antwerp’s port is a major European entry point, while Brussels contains retail markets and distribution networks with connections extending beyond Belgium. The ’s 2025 annual report recorded 101 shootings in Brussels, irrespective of motive, and said its Brussels judicial branch was handling 26 drug-related shooting files. Federal figures reported by Het Nieuwsblad counted another 57 shootings during the first seven months of 2026, with two deaths and 21 injured.
No EU institution has announced a specific response to this week’s Brussels incidents. The EU connection is indirect: cross-border trafficking, money laundering and firearms flows require European police and judicial cooperation, while the violence itself remains a Belgian policing and justice responsibility. The next test is whether the federal government converts Tuesday’s meeting into staffing commitments, investigative priorities and a coordinated plan—and whether officials publish comparable workload figures that clarify what Brussels’ investigators can actually deliver.
What to do
Residents and workers should not expect an immediate change to local patrols or emergency response from this staffing dispute: it concerns federal investigators handling complex cases. No new national action plan, public deadline or direct household cost is identified in the article. The concrete figures to watch are whether Brussels reaches its authorised establishment of 774, whether the federal government addresses Jean Spinette’s estimate of roughly 80 additional staff, and whether future reporting separates approved posts, filled posts and operational specialist capacity. Those distinctions determine whether political comparisons with Antwerp are meaningful.
Impact
Regional — The immediate impact falls on Saint-Gilles, Anderlecht and Molenbeek, where shootings have endangered residents and intensified pressure on the Brussels South police zone. The policy dispute affects all 19 municipalities because complex investigations are handled above municipal level.
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Voices & reactions
What the main actors are doing
Reported positions, summarised — not direct quotationsJean Spinette and the Brussels South mayors
Spinette, Cumps and Spapens frame the shootings as a national organised-crime emergency. Spinette says Brussels needs roughly 80 more federal judicial police personnel to conduct deep investigations and dismantle networks, and argues that the capital should receive resources comparable to Antwerp.
Bernard Quintin and federal government parties
Quintin rejects the suggestion that Brussels has been given fewer federal resources, citing substantial reinforcement since early 2025. N-VA MP Maaike De Vreese adds that Brussels’ local zones have their own large staffing gaps and says municipal authorities must also address responsibilities within their control.
Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden
Verlinden argues that police reinforcement is only one part of the response. Her official framing combines repression with education, neighbourhood policy, administrative enforcement and support for young people, while insisting on cooperation across Belgium’s federal, regional and local levels.
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