The pass rate for the basic police inspector training in Brussels, supported by the Orientation Centre for Recruitment (OR), is no higher than 1%, according to figures from the Regional Police Academy.
Outgoing Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) shared this information on Tuesday during the Internal Affairs committee at the Brussels Parliament in response to a question from Aline Godfrin (MR). Godfrin questioned the outgoing government leader about the recruitment and training policy for new Brussels police officers and other security professions.
Pre-training modules were offered to help motivated candidates with their police entrance exams, not by the regional administration Brusafe, but by two non-profits, CEFIG and Syntra Bizz.
However, the results were so disappointing that the policy was halted.
In May 2024, the outgoing Brussels Region Government decided to integrate Brusafe and its missions into safe.brussels through an ordinance.
This does not cover orientation and recruitment, and in practice, the pre-training by the two non-profits has ceased due to the “very poor results” of the measure, acknowledged Vervoort. The pre-training for firefighter recruitment was only slightly better. Of the 161 candidates who took the pre-training, only 21 passed the federal competency certificate for firefighters.
Godfrin remarked that the failed policy resulted in “five wasted years while there is an urgent need to recruit more Brussels police officers who know the neighbourhood
