Minister Henri Kox (déi Gréng) responded on Wednesday to claims from the SNPGL union that there was a “palpable feeling of insecurity among the population” particularly in the capital.

In a statement issued on Monday, the union cited the killing of an 18-year-old man in the district of Bonnevoie in the capital on 26 January as an example of how grave the situation was becoming.

The union had further said that the minister’s claims that boosting staff numbers by 200 and reorganising the police would ease the situation were “illusory”, since it would take time for the new recruits to be trained and gain experience.

Kox responded by accusing the union of adding fuel to the fire.

“Not only are these criticisms of the union an attempt to discredit the work of the Minister, but also the excellent work done on the ground by members of the police,” he said.

Henri Kox, pictured, believes in a multi-faceted approach to crime. Photo: Nader Ghavami/archives

The spat comes after the City authority controversially announced it would pay private security staff to patrol the train station district and upper town. The agents would not replace police, the commune said. At the time, Kox stressed the need for a multi-faceted approach including social support since suppression alone would not solve the causes of crime.

The issue of police staffing arose again following the fatal stabbing of a young man in Bonnevoie following an argument, for which two young men were arrested for homicide.

Kox responded on Wednesday by saying that there were around 85 officers dedicated to the area concerned. Added to that were 120 officers patrolling the entire city. He said that police conduct on average 13 patrols per day in the area and they had made 17 arrests for drug-related crime in January.

A new pilot project launched at three police stations, inspired by a system in place in France, will reorganise the shift patterns to avoid officers incurring excessive overtime when a crime occurs, and save time in the administrative process.

The charging process will be accelerated as cases will be referred to the public prosecutor’s office or investigating judge by email. In the long-term, the project will create a police back office, so teams are separated between those working in the field and those doing administrative work.