In 2022, the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (OCAD) registered 215 threat reports related to terrorism or extremism. That is comparable to 2021, when there were 218 reports. Unlike in 2021, there was no threat last year that was labeled ‘very serious’ – in 2021 there was one. The OCAD did note a “significant increase” in threats against police forces in 2022, without providing further details about the number of such threats.
Most reports (60 percent) were estimated as low, another third as average. Less than one in ten was serious at some point. Threats are mainly expressed via social media or messaging applications. Throughout the year, the overall threat level remained at level 2, or medium.
In addition, there will be a majority of so-called ‘lone actors’, people who only want to take action. Most of these individuals have no structural ties to terrorist or extremist groups. “Less than a fifth of threat reports are plans that are devised by several individuals together.”
Supporters of the jihadist ideology also accounted for a third of the reports in 2022. In another third, the ideological dimension is unknown or unclear. In addition, the OCAD notes that one-tenth comes from abroad and an equal share is described as “diverse threats arising from a specific theme in society, such as anti-establishment sentiment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic”. Finally, slightly less than one tenth of the reports are related to right-wing extremism. The threat from left-wing extremism remained limited.
Significant increase in the number of threats against police forces
All of these threats, in order of magnitude, targeted specific people, police and military, politics, public buildings, the public in general, and particular communities. The OCAD notes that in the last quarter there was a “significant increase” in the number of threats against police forces: in November in Schaerbeek, a police officer was killed by a known extremist. The increased number of reports is partly due to “increased vigilance and the copycat effect”, notes the OCAD. The OCAD does not disclose how many threats against police services there were in 2022.
The various services involved inform OCAD of reports of threats in the context of extremism or terrorism, after which they are processed and analysed. The OCAD provides a threat level and context for this. If necessary, protective measures will follow.
Read also: RECONSTRUCTION. How Yassine Mahi stabbed two young cops at a red light: “Despite his own injuries, Jason still tried to staunch Thomas’s wound” (+)
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