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Where can I find Brussels crime statistics?

Question

I am looking for figures or a crime map from a reliable source, like you can find for many other major cities in Europe. I searched on the internet but could not find much useful information.

becasse

There is NO reliable source of comparable crime statistics across Europe. Each country collects its own statistics but not only do the basic criteria vary, but so does the interpretation of those criteria, and, of course, many of those who collect the statistics have a vested interest in the results - an absolutely classic case of lies, damn lies and statistics.

Some countries, for example the UK, do collect some statistics on crime by interviewing a random sample of households about their experience of "crime". Such statistics are better but not perfect - someone in authority still has to define "crime" - but anyway they are not collected in any comparable Europe-wide form.

Apr 18, 2015 17:04
Dominik

I would not necessarily need international stats to compare across countries, just the city or region of Brussels.

Apr 18, 2015 17:38
becasse

Unless the statistics for the different cities, regions, countries or what have you have been prepared to the same base standards you cannot validly compare them. It is the number one classic mistake in statistics, failing to compare like with like.

Crime statistics are NOT prepared to the same base standards, for a start offences are different in different countries, therefore any conclusions you draw from comparing them would be fallacies.

Apr 18, 2015 20:25
Raisa

There's a website with demographic statistics by district in Brussels, however, it does not cover crime situation: https://monitoringdesquartiers.irisnet.be/

Apr 18, 2015 22:47
mik123

Check Eurostat. I found one now for the countries: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Crime_statis..., but I remember that I've seen one for the EU capitals also.

Apr 19, 2015 11:21
Dominik

Yes I am aware that crime stats reported by different bodies will be differently biased. That is way I am not looking to compare internationally or even nationally, only within Brussels, where I would expect reporting standards to be uniform enough. Something like the link that RAISA posted, which has an incredible depth of indicators down to the neighborhood level - on demographics, health, housing and lots more, but not on crime.

As a side note, if one did want to compare between countries, there are ways to do that, with some caution. The Eurostat site that MIK123 posted points out that "comparisons of statistics on crime and criminal justice systems should be based upon trends rather than upon levels, on the assumption that the characteristics of the recording system within a specific country remain fairly constant over time" and goes on to discuss factors that may affect the data. Those are fair disclaimers, so I would not go as far as calling it all lies out of hand.

Apr 19, 2015 13:15
becasse

quote: "comparisons of statistics on crime and criminal justice systems should be based upon trends rather than upon levels, on the assumption that the characteristics of the recording system within a specific country remain fairly constant over time"

Or to put it another way, how statisticians delude themselves when asked to produce statistics when no reliable figures exist. Certainly in the UK, most crime statistics reflect the targets that Chief Constables have been set by the Home Secretary and, since those targets change regularly in response to the crime "concerns of the month", trends are almost as useless as the base figures are.

It is certainly interesting that basic crime figures for Belgium are so difficult to come by, considering that, in many areas, Belgium leads much of the world in providing reliable statistics (because of the national registration system). It rather suggests to me that Belgian statisticians consider even their own crime statistics to be subjective and therefore unreliable.

Apr 19, 2015 16:49
neocon666

You will not find such information. Otherwise it would show that Belgium is the most dangerous and violent country in Western Europe. This is a well-kept secret of the Belgian Regime (politicians and media).

Apr 19, 2015 17:32
Jacky.Bosteels

I must admit that it took me a couple of minutes to find an online map of Brussels' crime numbers. Too bad really, the fact that they are not readily available feeds some of the conspiracy theories above. So, without further ado: http://www.briobrussel.be/ned/webpage.asp?WebpageId=1135 and click on "map".

Apr 19, 2015 20:46
becasse

The problems in using these as comparative statistics have nothing to do with conspiracy theories, and in fact I know that broadly similar figures exist commune by commune for Wallonie because I happened to note the number of burglaries reported to the police in my own commune last year - 12!

The problem is that there are at least two, and quite possibly three, levels of subjectivity involved in the compilation of the statistics and these are going to vary according to all sorts of criteria, even from one commune to the next. The most basic levels of subjectivity involved are the propensity for victims to report "crime" and the way in which an individual police officer records (or fails to record) such a report.

Even taking the bare statistics they have to be related to their environment - does one, for example, relate them to the population size and/or its age and/or gender profile (at least the figures for that will reliable in Belgium, they won't be in many other countries), or to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or the retail turnover of the area concerned (which will both clearly have an influence on crime rates but which are much more difficult to determine accurately), or even to the physical size of the area?

Apr 20, 2015 10:22

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