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CRIME

Hundreds of Danish homes broken into at Christmas

The Danish national police (Rigspolitiet) has released figures for break-ins at homes during the Christmas holidays.

Published: 27 December 2018 11:56 CET
Hundreds of Danish homes broken into at Christmas
Hundreds of Danish homes are broken into at Christmas each year. File photo: Sofie Mathiassen/Scanpix 2017

Although the total number of homes broken into between December 20th-27th was down in comparison to 2017, hundreds still suffered burglaries or attempted burglaries while spending Christmas with family or friends.

Police figures showed that 744 break-ins were reported from December 20th up to and including December 27th, in comparison with 815 last year.

The figures stem from reports made to police by people returning home to find their doors broken down or homes intruded into in some other way.

Break-ins at apartments, houses and farms are all included in the totals.

The Christmas crimewave was spread relatively evenly across the country, according to the police statistics.

Police regions in eastern Jutland, northern Zealand and on Funen were most severely hit, the numbers show. Over 100 break-ins occurred in each of those areas.

In Copenhagen, 42 break-ins were reported to police during the Christmas holidays.

READ ALSO: 91-year-old Danish man tied to bed during home burglary

CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Published: 9 April 2024 13:38 CEST
Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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