Laserguns, formidable mobile devices using a laser beam to detect excess of distance, offer several advantages: increased maneuverability, long -range measurement capacity, and reliable operation regardless of climatic conditions. In addition, they can also identify other offenses, such as using the phone while driving or forgetting the seat belt. The effectiveness of these devices has led to their acquisition by the Boraine police area for preventive operations, with a direct verbalization objective as it is already done in France.
However, the main obstacle to their deployment in Belgium remains homologation, as the Minister of the Interior said, Bernard Quintin. The latter stressed that the introduction of new tools requires coordination with several necessary approvals. The emphasis is placed on compliance with the legal provisions relating to the approval of measuring devices, their installation, and especially the protection of personal data.
Bernard Quintin recognizes the potential efficiency of laserguns while emphasizing the need for an exhaustive evaluation by the competent services, in order to ensure that they complete existing technologies such as ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) and sections, “technological options that work well and that allow us to respond to the security of our routes”. There, the Minister of the Interior is therefore awaiting “an analysis of services on the potential advantages of such equipment for police services, in addition to the equipment already approved and used”. Before a next use in Belgium?