difference Belgian and American police

**keno46** · 02-27-11, 07:12 AM

Hi,

First i want to apologise that my Englisch will not be without errors because I'm from Belgium.

I'm a inspector of police in Belgium.

I'm curious about the differences and similarities between are two country's in law enforcment.

for example : in Belgium we have one police devided in two. you have the federal police and the local police.

I gues that there are a lot of different police forces in America ?

regards
klaas

**pgg** · 02-27-11, 09:51 AM

We generally have federal, state, county, and municipal police here. Some specialize in only certain laws.

Also we tend to drive American cars while you get to drive fancy rigs

**Jim1348** · 02-27-11, 01:14 PM

And to further add to the confusion, we also have, in some areas, police with special or limited jurisdiction. For example, in my area we have Airport Police that derive authority from the Metropolitan Airport Commission. We have Metropolitan Transit Police. There are University Police Officers, etc.

**Jks9199** · 02-27-11, 01:32 PM

In Washington, DC itself, I believe I've heard that there are more than 90 different law enforcement agencies with different levels and sorts of authority on the streets. In front of the White House, for example, Secret Service authority includes the sidewalk and inside the fence (I think; I could be wrong), MP DC has the street, and Park Police has the opposite side of the street...

Just within the county where I work, I think I counted around 20 different LE agencies with authority*. And I think I missed a couple... and I wasn't counting federal special agents like FBI or ICE.

Things can get a wee bit confusing...

*Breakdown went something like:
State PD
County PD
County SO
3 municipal PDs
Transit PD
Airport PD
Several different fed PDs (I think it was about 6 or 8)
A couple of university PDs (Say 3 or 4)
And some oddball special agencies...

**ANI4ANI** · 02-27-11, 01:35 PM

I'd be curious regarding police issued sidearms. Here in America, the vast majority of sidearms are foreign made, i.e., Glock, Sig Sauer, HK, Beretta, etc. Do officers in Belgium (Europe in general) carry any American made sidearms such as S&W, or Ruger?

**keno46** · 02-27-11, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by pgg

We generally have federal, state, county, and municipal police here. Some specialize in only certain laws.

Also we tend to drive American cars while you get to drive fancy rigs

what do you mean with fancy rigs ?

**keno46** · 02-27-11, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by ANI4ANI

I'd be curious regarding police issued sidearms. Here in America, the vast majority of sidearms are foreign made, i.e., Glock, Sig Sauer, HK, Beretta, etc. Do officers in Belgium (Europe in general) carry any American made sidearms such as S&W, or Ruger?

Whe carry a glock 19 or 17.

some still carry a browning GP.

**keith720** · 02-27-11, 04:35 PM

In some places, officers are not allowed to take their issued weapon with them after their shift. In Belgium, how strict are your gun laws?

**McCrackhd** · 02-27-11, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by keno46

what do you mean with fancy rigs ?

We drive Fords, Chevrolet, and Dodges here. Do you drive Benzes and BMW's, Opels, or what?

**Jenna** · 02-27-11, 07:03 PM

So how many languages do police have to speak in Belgium?

**keno46** · 02-28-11, 06:54 AM

* We can take or gun home when we go home in uniform.
In some cases we get permission to take or gun home in civilian clothing.
It's federally determined but In every corps there are different arrangements.

Gun laws for civilians are very strict. It's very hard to buy a gun for sports.

* We drive european cars and every corps is free to buy what they want. We drive Volkswagen vans as intervention vehicles but we also have the BMW X5, Nissan quashqai, citroën, opel...

I like the cars you drive in !!!

* colleagues who work in flemisch part of Belgium need to speak dutch.
colleagues who work in Brussels need to speak dutch and french but they get payed extra to speak both languages.
colleagues who work in the french part of Belgium need to speak french.

We do get french lessons in are training year.

How long does the training take before you become as cop ?

For us it's 1 year including 3 months course.

**Jenna** · 02-28-11, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by keno46

* colleagues who work in flemisch part of Belgium need to speak dutch.
colleagues who work in Brussels need to speak dutch and french but they get payed extra to speak both languages.
colleagues who work in the french part of Belgium need to speak french.

We do get french lessons in are training year.

Wow, imagine if we tried this in the USA, with police who work in each part of the city having to speak each language commonly spoken there. Police who work in neighborhoods with 10 common languages would have to spend 20 years learning all of them, but then they'd be paid a huge amount extra for that!

**keno46** · 02-28-11, 10:08 AM

It's very easy. there are clear bounds in Belgium. There is something that's called a language barrier. In the Flemish part everyone speaks Flemish and visa versa.

It's a favour of us if we want to help a French speaking Belgian in their language.

But almost every dutch speaking cop can speak French.
visa versa it's not like that.

And then there is a small part of Belgium where they speak German but that's another story...

**ANI4ANI** · 02-28-11, 11:35 AM

Do police departments in your country have mandated government gender/race regulations regarding hiring practices? For example, many here in the states have quotas. A specific number of female and non-white applicants must be hired to attend the academy. In other words, you must have 'X' number of females and 'X' number of blacks in the newly hired class.

**Motorwaycop** · 02-28-11, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by keno46

There is something that's called a language barrier.

Klaas, my American colleagues don't understand me half the time, and we are supposed to speak the same language!

**keno46** · 02-28-11, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by Motorwaycop

Klaas, my American colleagues don't understand me half the time, and we are supposed to speak the same language!

Maybe I did not explane it correct and it's hard to believe but ...
We literally have a border in the country that separate french from flemisch Belgium.
afcourse it's not a border like with check points ...

One side falls under Belgian flemish control and the other under Belgian french. but it is still one country.

* there is no mandated government gender/race regulations regarding hiring practices.

**keno46** · 02-28-11, 01:16 PM

How long does the training take before you become as cop ?
For us it's 1 year including 3 months course.

**Jks9199** · 02-28-11, 01:38 PM

What's that year plus consist of?

Most state requirements here in the US can be covered in about 12 weeks. Many agency academies go further (the ones my agency uses are about 26 weeks now) -- but to do the bare minimum is only about 12 weeks. Topics covered include law, paperwork, patrol tactics (how to handle different calls, how to do traffic stops, etc), defensive tactics, marksmanship, driving, first aid, and some other odds and ends.

**keith720** · 02-28-11, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by Motorwaycop

Klaas, my American colleagues don't understand me half the time, and we are supposed to speak the same language!

If the English would simply speak English as it is meant to be spoken, there would be no problems.

Speaking of languages, we have a new State mandate that all signs in our prisons now have to be printed in English AND Spanish! WTH!

**MacLean** · 02-28-11, 06:25 PM

To be more specific, there are very limited instances of Federal police in the United States.

Our constitution gives most police power to the States. There are limited examples for forces that patrol Federal properties and border crossing areas.

We do have Federal law enforcement agencies that are not police, who each have a specific mission to accomplish for the Federal government.

Each State passes their own criminal laws, and operates a State Police force. Some of the States like mine, the State Police focus on highway and traffic enforcement. Others have general service State Police agencies.

Within each state is a county, parish, or borough - usually headed up by a Sheriff. Sometimes Sheriff's have patrol duties, as in most counties. Other times the Sheriff only runs a jail.

Cities decide if they wish to invest in a police force. These are usually headed by a Police Chief or in very large cities by a commission.