Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Antwerp Police, facing financial struggles due to decreased reserve funds (from €60M to €20M), are adjusting weekend work, charging nearby zones for help, and cutting costs. Groen demands more oversight.
As VRT News reported, The Antwerp Police Zone (PZ) is taking steps to save money because of financial pressures, especially related to weekend work. Officers get extra pay for working weekends, making them in high demand and ensuring enough staff. To manage costs, police leaders are looking at which activities are necessary on weekends and which can be done on weekdays.
Officials mentioned that this review aims to improve staffing and cut down on overtime pay. Another change is that the Antwerp PZ will now charge nearby police zones for help, unlike before, when it was free. This is to get back some of the costs.
Despite these changes, the Antwerp police say that these money-saving measures will not affect how they work every day or the number of officers available. The goal is to make things run better and spend less without affecting the quality of service for people.
“The coming years will be characterised by targeted innovation, substantive deepening and a more efficient organisation of the operation”.
PZ Antwerp
How is Antwerp police handling financial struggles and cost cuts?
Cleaning services in the new police building have been reduced to twice weekly, except in areas needing extra cleanliness. The police restaurant has also changed its hours and now closes after 4 p.m. because it was not making enough money to stay open longer.
“The citizen will not notice anything of the rationalisation of our operations.”
PZ Antwerp
Groen, the opposition party in Antwerp, is worried about how the city’s police force, PZ Antwerp, handles its money. Party leader Bogdan Vanden Berghe says the party wants to know more about how the 375 million euros the city gives the police each year is being spent.
Groen says it has asked for documents and budgets many times but hasn’t gotten the information it needs. Vanden Berghe also noted that the police haven’t had their yearly accounts approved since 2021. Because of this, Groen wants the city to bring back a Police Council.
This council used to exist but was removed when Bart De Wever was mayor. Groen thinks this council would help watch over the police’s money and make sure everything is clear, allowing the opposition and the public to keep a closer eye on how the police budget is allocated and spent.
“Annual accounts are not even approved. The last time that happened was for the 2021 police budget,”
Says Vanden Berghe.
Mayor Els van Doesburg addressed Groen’s concerns by defending the police force’s efficiency and professionalism. She assured the public that recent changes aimed at improving operations would not negatively impact the people of Antwerp. These changes include better use of resources, logical canteen hours, and staggered cleaning assignments, all designed to streamline operations without affecting the core functions of the police.
Van Doesburg highlighted that Antwerp boasts the “most professional force in the country” and remains the safest city in Flanders, emphasising the importance of maintaining adequate funding to uphold these high standards.
Despite Groen’s calls for more oversight, the mayor expressed confidence in the force’s current direction, maintaining that operational decisions made to improve efficiency do not undermine public safety or the police’s effectiveness.
“Antwerp and our local police in particular have regularly taken responsibility where the federal government fell short. Fortunately, this will change in the new coalition agreement,”
Van Doesburg concludes.
The fund, which held approximately 60 million euros in 2021, has dwindled to around 20 million euros by 2023. Police officials have explained that several factors contributed to this decline. Increased wage costs due to inflation have strained the budget, and new tax rules, including those for telework and meal vouchers, have added to the expenses.
The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated higher spending on health measures and cleaning protocols. The police force also took on extra responsibilities previously handled by the federal police, such as security at prisons and courthouses, further impacting available resources and leading to the depletion of the reserve fund.
“We must deploy officers from the Antwerp police force for federal police tasks.”
PZ Antwerp
Officials mentioned that the new headquarters was meant to improve efficiency, but its construction and upkeep have added to the financial strain. To cope with the budget shortfall, the police are looking for more funding from both the city and the government to ensure they can continue providing essential services to the community.
“A lot of capacity is used there every day that the federal police cannot provide itself,”
An official says.
