Safety and prevention

Naturally, we all want to feel safe, everywhere and at all times. So you protect your house, your car, your valuable possessions, and, last but not least, yourself. But is that enough?

Society is constantly changing and new technologies bring new safety measures with them. Electronic data, for example, need different protection than a paper archive.

Public events

If you want to organise an event, you are responsible not only for your own safety, but also for the safety of those who visit your event.

An event can take various forms:

  • Football match
  • Demonstration or procession
  • Concert
  • Party
  • etc.

For every event, there are rules with which you, as the organiser, must comply. When it comes to football matches, you can find everything you need to know in the football law (available in French and Dutch). For other events it is best to ask your municipality for more information: these rules are not universally valid and they differ from one municipality to another.

Taking precautions

"Prevention is better than cure" is a proverb that certainly applies to your safety. Many thefts, break-ins, accidents and so forth could be avoided if you take precautions.

You can take preventive action in many areas:

  • You can protect your home better by locking all the doors and windows and perhaps by installing an alarm system.
  • You can be more careful in the street, perhaps by leaving no unsupervised baggage anywhere.
  • You can make your car, motorbike, bicycle or other vehicle thief-proof by always securing it and - if possible - by keeping it in a locked garage.

In addition, you can register your possessions. This reduces their value - at least to a potential thief - and makes them easier to trace if they are stolen.

Fortunately you do not have to do all this by yourself. There are people whose job it is to look after your safety, such as:

  • Police
  • Fire Brigade
  • Civic guard
  • Civil protection
  • Private sector

However logical it sounds, people often forget these precautions as soon as they cross a national border. You can keep yourself safer abroad, too. So always make sure you are well informed about your destination country, and keep these theft prevention tips in mind when you are abroad.

Weapons

The website of the FPS Justice has a section on weapons (available in French or Dutch).