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Committee P is assisted in its management and administrative duties by administrative staff operating under the supervision of a clerk.
In the case of investigations, Standing Committee P assigns tasks to the Investigation Department P under the Director-General's supervision.
In the case of investigations, Standing Committee P assigns tasks to the Investigation Department P under the Director-General's supervision.
Standing Committee P is made up of five full members, including its Chairman − who must be a magistrate − and its Vice-Chairman, with several substitutes being designated for each one of them. Standing Committee P is assisted by a clerk.
Members are appointed for a renewable six-year term. They must have the loyalty, discretion and integrity required to handle sensitive information. They also have a 'top secret'-level security clearance enabling them to handle classified documents. The Organic Law stipulates various incompatibilities and restrictions designed to ensure their neutrality and independence.
Inspection inquiries are followed up on and complaints and reports of police misconduct are handled under the supervision of one of the five full members of Standing Committee P. However, given Standing Committee P's collegiate nature, all final decisions are taken by the five members meeting in plenary session.
Actual composition :
Members are appointed for a renewable six-year term. They must have the loyalty, discretion and integrity required to handle sensitive information. They also have a 'top secret'-level security clearance enabling them to handle classified documents. The Organic Law stipulates various incompatibilities and restrictions designed to ensure their neutrality and independence.
Inspection inquiries are followed up on and complaints and reports of police misconduct are handled under the supervision of one of the five full members of Standing Committee P. However, given Standing Committee P's collegiate nature, all final decisions are taken by the five members meeting in plenary session.
Actual composition :
- Kathleen Stinckens, chairman
- Antonio Caci, vice-chairman
- Herman Daens, member
- Joris Lagrou, member
- Vincent Stragier, member
This department, comprising as it does the Complaints Section, the Data Management Section and the section handling whistleblowing cases, performs tasks inextricably bound up with Committee P's operational duties.
The department's staff receive and analyse complaints and submit the complaint files to Standing Committee P, which decides at a plenary meeting how they will be dealt with (see section 10 below). After receiving the results of the investigation, they prepare to close the case for Standing Committee P, which adopts a position at a plenary meeting.
This department also ensures the uniformity and quality of data encoding to enable analysis of the functioning of the police. Its duties also include processing information from external bodies such as judicial or disciplinary authorities.
The department is also home to the support services. Some of its capacity is taken up by duties in the following areas: legal studies, finance, personnel and logistics, information and communication technology (ICT), translations, media relations and acting as a secretariat. Care is taken to ensure, for example, that the organisation has all the operational resources required in terms of personnel, logistics and infrastructure.
The Administrative Department assists Standing Committee P and Investigation Department P with management and administrative tasks. It is backed up by an optimal framework of 36 members of staff, supervised by the clerk, who performs his/her duties under the collegiate authority and supervision of Standing Committee P.
The department's staff receive and analyse complaints and submit the complaint files to Standing Committee P, which decides at a plenary meeting how they will be dealt with (see section 10 below). After receiving the results of the investigation, they prepare to close the case for Standing Committee P, which adopts a position at a plenary meeting.
This department also ensures the uniformity and quality of data encoding to enable analysis of the functioning of the police. Its duties also include processing information from external bodies such as judicial or disciplinary authorities.
The department is also home to the support services. Some of its capacity is taken up by duties in the following areas: legal studies, finance, personnel and logistics, information and communication technology (ICT), translations, media relations and acting as a secretariat. Care is taken to ensure, for example, that the organisation has all the operational resources required in terms of personnel, logistics and infrastructure.
The Administrative Department assists Standing Committee P and Investigation Department P with management and administrative tasks. It is backed up by an optimal framework of 36 members of staff, supervised by the clerk, who performs his/her duties under the collegiate authority and supervision of Standing Committee P.
Investigation Department P is Committee P's operational arm and therefore its most visible department on the ground.
To perform its inspection inquiries and certain investigations into complaints, Standing Committee P make extensive use of this department's services. As regards the inspection inquiries and the investigation of complaints, the specific legal powers of members of Investigation Department P are listed in the Organic Law of 18 July 1991.
Investigation Department P is headed by a Director-General, assisted by two deputies. They are appointed by Standing Committee P for a renewable five-year term. The Director-General leads this department under the collegiate authority, management and supervision of Standing Committee P.
In addition, an optimal framework of 52 members of staff has been established. All of them bear the title of 'commissioner-auditor', regardless of their level or grade. They are either permanent staff or seconded from a police force or public service. The seconded members are also appointed for a renewable five-year term.
Investigation Department P is not just Committee P's investigation arm. It is also involved in sensitive or complex cases as a specialist police entity. As such, it conducts criminal investigations when the perpetrators of the crime are members of a police force or officials with investigative powers.
In this connection, the Director-General, the two Deputy Directors-General and the members of Investigation Department P hold the title of 'judicial police officer, assistant of the public prosecutor'.
On its own initiative or at the request of the prosecutor general, the public prosecutor, the labour prosecutor, the federal prosecutor or the competent examining magistrate, Investigation Department P conducts these investigations, in parallel with the other judicial police officers and agents and even with a right of priority over these. As a result, this covers both information under the authority of the Public Prosecutor's Office and investigations under the authority of the examining magistrate, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and certain special laws relating to the powers of a judicial police officer and agent (e.g. the Act on pre‑trial detention).
However, the Organic Law of 18 July 1991 expressly states that the performance of these criminal investigations must not jeopardise the performance of Investigation Department P's other duties. By 'other duties' we mean especially, but not exclusively, inspection inquiries, complaints and reports of police misconduct. By ensuring that the number of investigators legally responsible for criminal investigations does not exceed half of Investigation Department P's staff and by making the Chairman of Committee P responsible for arbitration, the legislature clearly expressed its desire to limit the criminal investigations requested of Investigation Department P by the magistracy to (serious) allegations justifying recourse to specialist investigators with special powers, in accordance with Committee P's specific duties. This desire was confirmed in the Ministerial Directive of 22 September 2011 organising the division of labour regarding judicial police duties for crimes and offences involving police officials. This gives Investigation Department P priority for investigations against members of the police for crimes and offences committed in the course of their policing (or directly related to this) and constituting a breach of citizens' fundamental rights and freedoms.
To perform its inspection inquiries and certain investigations into complaints, Standing Committee P make extensive use of this department's services. As regards the inspection inquiries and the investigation of complaints, the specific legal powers of members of Investigation Department P are listed in the Organic Law of 18 July 1991.
Investigation Department P is headed by a Director-General, assisted by two deputies. They are appointed by Standing Committee P for a renewable five-year term. The Director-General leads this department under the collegiate authority, management and supervision of Standing Committee P.
In addition, an optimal framework of 52 members of staff has been established. All of them bear the title of 'commissioner-auditor', regardless of their level or grade. They are either permanent staff or seconded from a police force or public service. The seconded members are also appointed for a renewable five-year term.
Investigation Department P is not just Committee P's investigation arm. It is also involved in sensitive or complex cases as a specialist police entity. As such, it conducts criminal investigations when the perpetrators of the crime are members of a police force or officials with investigative powers.
In this connection, the Director-General, the two Deputy Directors-General and the members of Investigation Department P hold the title of 'judicial police officer, assistant of the public prosecutor'.
On its own initiative or at the request of the prosecutor general, the public prosecutor, the labour prosecutor, the federal prosecutor or the competent examining magistrate, Investigation Department P conducts these investigations, in parallel with the other judicial police officers and agents and even with a right of priority over these. As a result, this covers both information under the authority of the Public Prosecutor's Office and investigations under the authority of the examining magistrate, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and certain special laws relating to the powers of a judicial police officer and agent (e.g. the Act on pre‑trial detention).
However, the Organic Law of 18 July 1991 expressly states that the performance of these criminal investigations must not jeopardise the performance of Investigation Department P's other duties. By 'other duties' we mean especially, but not exclusively, inspection inquiries, complaints and reports of police misconduct. By ensuring that the number of investigators legally responsible for criminal investigations does not exceed half of Investigation Department P's staff and by making the Chairman of Committee P responsible for arbitration, the legislature clearly expressed its desire to limit the criminal investigations requested of Investigation Department P by the magistracy to (serious) allegations justifying recourse to specialist investigators with special powers, in accordance with Committee P's specific duties. This desire was confirmed in the Ministerial Directive of 22 September 2011 organising the division of labour regarding judicial police duties for crimes and offences involving police officials. This gives Investigation Department P priority for investigations against members of the police for crimes and offences committed in the course of their policing (or directly related to this) and constituting a breach of citizens' fundamental rights and freedoms.