Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0036/00364.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 12KB | 215 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00364}
$Pretitle{370}
$Title{Belgium
Chapter 5D.   Public Order}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Peter J. Kassander}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{police
criminal
cases
courts
sentenced
crimes
matters
public
approximately
belgian}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Belgium
Book:        Belgium, A Country Study
Author:      Peter J. Kassander
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 5D.   Public Order

     Three kinds of police exist in Belgium-the gendarmerie, the Criminal
Police, and a number of commune police forces. There also exists a parish
constable system in the rural areas.

Internal Security

     The gendarmerie is one of the armed forces of Belgium but is not part
of the army. Apart from having a general headquarters and a training school,
it is organized into territorial groups, mobile groups, and criminal
investigation detachments. Its main functions are the investigation of crimes,
the escorting of prisoners, preventive police work, the restoration and
maintenance of public order, the enforcement of traffic laws, and military
police duties. Although the gendarmerie has jurisdiction over the entire
country, it normally operates only in those areas outside the jurisdiction
of a municipal police force. For operational purposes the country is divided
into five regions, each of which covers two provinces and is commanded by a
colonel. Within each region are two territorial groups (only one in Brussels)
and a mobile group commanded by a major or a lieutenant colonel.

     Each of the nine territorial groups covers a province and is divided into
a number of districts. There is also a section of traffic police attached to
each territorial group. Each district is divided into brigades, which are each
composed of a warrant officer and at least six other officers, often
considerably more. These brigades are scattered over the whole country, each
covering one or more rural communities. A surveillance and investigation
detachment is also assigned to each district for investigating crimes and
collecting intelligence related to public order. Its members work in civilian
clothes.

     The standard uniform of the gendarmerie consists of a blue uniform and
cap with red piping on the trouser legs, cuffs, and caps. Red collar tabs
bear gendarmerie insignia and, in the case of officers, insignia of rank.
To this uniform is added a Sam Browne belt, which carries the standard 9mm
automatic pistol as well as a billy club. This uniform is similar to that
worn by the municipal police except that the latter have silver, not red,
embellishments.

     The gendarmerie is under the command of the Ministry of National Defense,
but its officers are also answerable to the Ministry of the Interior and
Public Office for the enforcement of certain laws and for public order
matters. They are also answerable to the Ministry of Justice and
Institutional Reform for criminal and investigative matters.

     The commune police have primary jurisdiction in all important towns.
There are 345 such local police units. They are responsible for the
enforcement of criminal and general police statutes within the town
boundaries. On criminal matters, municipal police officers work under the
direction of the royal prosecutor, but for general police duties, such as the
enforcement of local bylaws and traffic regulations, they are answerable to
the mayor. The larger units have special sections that deal with criminal or
traffic offenses as well as the normal uniformed patrols. Municipal detectives
work strictly in accordance with their instructions from the local police
commissioners and the mayor.

     Commune police officers wear a dark blue uniform and a peaked cap. They
are authorized to carry either a 7.65mm automatic pistol or a .38-caliber
revolver.

     The Rural Police exists in small country towns and villages. Each village
has one or more constables. Larger towns that have a broad agricultural area
within their boundaries may also have a rural constable attached to their
commune police force. One parish constable may look after several communities
if the total population does not exceed 5,000.

     Parish constables are responsible to the mayor for general duties and to
the royal prosecutor for criminal matters. They are able to deal with all
police matters--crimes, general police duties, and traffic. Their competence
in criminal matters is limited, however, to certain offenses such as poaching
and other rural crimes.

     The Criminal Police is concerned exclusively with breaches of the
criminal law. The personnel are placed under the authority and control of the
public prosecutor attached to the appeals courts and under the day-to-day
command of the royal prosecutor for the judicial area in which the brigade
works. The Criminal Police deals only with the most serious crimes and is also
responsible for the maintenance of national criminal records.

Crime and Justice

     Criminal justice in minor cases is administered by justices of the peace,
by the local police, or by the police courts in 222 judicial cantons.
Misdemeanors and other more serious cases are tried before the 26 district
courts, the tribunals of first instance. A person charged with a grave crime
is tried before an assize court and jury as well as a judge. Verdicts of the
lower courts may be appealed before the five appellate courts; verdicts of the
assizes courts may be reviewed by the Court of Cassation (see The Judiciary,
ch. 4). Although it has changed over the years, the criminal code retains its
nineteenth-century character based on the Napoleonic code.

     Records of the administration of justice are carefully prepared and, as a
result, criminal statistics are released after three years of compilation and
analysis. Official documents published in 1982 and 1983 have been updated to
include data from 1978. During that year about 194,000 petty offenses, some
60,500 misdemeanors, and 48 serious crimes were brought to trial.
Approximately 6,400 cases were referred to the lower appellate courts and
about 1,200 cases were reviewed by the Court of Cassation.

     Justices of the peace and the police courts have the authority to levy
fines and, if required, impose short-term jail sentences. Of the 194,000 cases
presented at this judicial level in 1978, approximately 9 percent were
dismissed without trial or acquitted. Of the 175,000 cases that were judged
guilty, about 99 percent were for petty crimes classified as police
cases--public inebriation, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, simple
assault, and minor traffic violations. The remaining number included
convictions for vagrancy, truancy, and failure to vote (a legal offense in
Belgium).

     Approximately 3,800 of those found guilty were sentenced to prison terms.
More than one-half of these were granted a conditional sentence under which
confinement was intermittent. For example, if a person was sentenced to six
days of confinement but it was determined that incarceration would create
undue financial hardship for the family of the prisoner, an arrangement could
be made to allow the prisoner to serve the sentence on weekends. Similar
conditional arrangements were allowed for the payment of judicial fines and
penalties. This might entail a deduction from wages, time payments, or
community service in lieu of a fine. Those convicted of begging or vagrancy
were not ordinarily fined or jailed but placed "at the disposition of the
government." They were then required to participate in rehabilitation
programs.

     District courts-those with jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases-are
empowered to hand down sentences of up to five years of imprisonment or to
impose an equivalent fine. In 1978 those courts acquitted approximately 12
percent of the 60,000 accused. Of the 53,500 who were found guilty, 65 percent
were fined; of the 18,000 sentenced to prison, approximately two-thirds of the
sentences were conditional.

     The superior courts-tho