Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Danish crime levels ‘remarkably low’ in 2014

Crime was down nearly seven percent in 2014 helped largely by significant drops in burglaries and pickpocketing. But the year-end numbers show that other crime areas are increasing.

Published: 2 February 2015 15:01 CET
As The Local recently reported, home break-ins were down sharply in 2014. But the good news doesn’t stop there. 
 
There were 337,062 reported law violations in 2014 according to year-end numbers from the Danish National Police (Rigspolitiet). That marks a 6.7 percent decrease from 2013 and according to a Danish National Police press release, one would have to go “far back in time” to find crime levels as low as they were in 2014. 
 
“We know that the Danish population as a whole feels very safe. The figures show that there is good reason for that, as crime is at a remarkably low level,” National Police Chief Jens Henrik Højbjerg said. 
 
The fall in home break-ins was a key factor in the overall crime decrease, but business burglaries were also down by over 15 percent compared to 2013 levels. 
 
Højbjerg also said that pick-pocketing and cons were also down sharply and that police are also having a greater influence in areas in which residents don’t traditionally report crimes to the police, such as human trafficking. 
 
The 2014 crime figures weren’t all good news, however. Credit card fraud and data theft figures rose last year.
 
“Throughout 2015 we will further beef up our cyber crime centre, NC3, in regards to both competencies and technology. In that way, the Danish National Police will be able to support local police districts in solving the scams that primarily happen online,” Højbjerg said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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”.

SHOW COMMENTS