SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Copenhagen police lift stop-and-search zone

Police in Copenhagen have announced that stop and search zones put in place following a spate of knife violence in the Danish capital will now be lifted, after no further incidents occurred in the last week.

Copenhagen police lift stop-and-search zone
Illustration file photo. Copenhagen Police have revoked a stop-and-search zone put in place in response to knife violence- Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The stop and search zones (also called “visitation zones”), which were in effect in parts of the Nørrebro and Nordvest neighbourhoods, will not be continued and will expire on Thursday, police confirmed.

Recent weeks have not seen any further incidents, police stated, in reference to a spate of violence that flared in the area at the end of 2022.

When the zones are in effect, police within the zone can stop people and check their possessions without meeting the usual requirements to do so.

The stop-and-search zone was put in place on December 29th in response to five stabbings within a week in Copenhagen. It was extended on January 5th.

At the time, police said they believed several of the stabbings were between young men associated with criminal circles, but that there had been no sign of a conflict between established crime groups.

In Thursday’s tweet, police said that investigations into the incidents were “progressing”. No arrests have yet been made.

Member comments

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

CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

SHOW COMMENTS