Vilvoorde police can no longer cope
Vilvoorde Burgomaster Hans Bonte (Flemish socialist, photo) is sounding the alarm. He says that his police force can no longer cope with all the extra work imposed upon them since the terror alert level was raised, and is asking for federal help.
Alert level 3 will remain in place until at least 8 February. It implies a number of extra tasks for the Vilvoorde police officers, such as monitoring (potentially) radicalist youngsters. "We have 169 police officers, but the effort we are putting into tackling radicalisation is imposing a very heavy burden. We would need at least 10 extra men to step in from the federal level."
For the time being, certain administration tasks are being postponed and a local police information station has been closed to reduce the burden.