Jan Jambon presents the N-VA’s security plan

“This is the government’s prime task: to ensure that people can walk down the street in all security.” On the De Ochtend radio programme, candidate Prime Minister Jan Jambon explained the security plan that the N-VA is putting to the vote of the public on 26 May. The plan contains four major adjustments compared with the current security policy.

1. Police and the public prosecutor working more closely
   The first major adjustment is the dividing line between the police and the judiciary. “The work of the police is catching criminals; that of the judiciary is punishing criminals. Where do we set the dividing line between the two?” asks Jan Jambon. He seeks inspiration for the answer to this question in the Netherlands, where the public prosecutor’s office is moving closer to the police. “The challenge is to facilitate the flow of information in this way,” said the former Minister of Security and the Interior.
    
2. The Office of the Commissioner General is the real boss
   In addition, the N-VA wants a more efficient structure for the federal police. With the Commissioner General as a real boss overseeing the whole. “Like in Antwerp, where the Antwerp chief of police is in charge of both the police and the judicial police,” Jan Jambon explained.
    
3. Fewer local police zones
   A third point is the reduction in the number of police zones. Currently this country has 186 local police zones. Jan Jambon wants to reduce this to 60 to 70 zones. “In this way we give the police zones more power,” he said on the radio.
    
4. More room for manoeuvre locally against criminal networks
   Finally, the N-VA wants to give mayors more room for manoeuvre in the fight against criminal networks. They must have the power to refuse permits to rogue traders and hospitality operators that want to establish themselves on their territory.

According to candidate Prime Minister Jambon, these measures are needed to strengthen our culture of security. “The security infrastructure evolves constantly. Criminals don’t sit still, and society mustn’t sit still either,” Jan Jambon concluded.