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Home working linked to lower number of break-ins in Denmark

The number of break-ins at private homes in Denmark fell by 12 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to last year, continuing a sharp downward trend that coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Home working linked to lower number of break-ins in Denmark
The number of home break-ins in Denmark continues to fall. File photo: Sofie Mathiassen/Ritzau Scanpix

A total of 3,281 break-ins were reported to police in the first four months of this year, data from Statistics Denmark reveal.

The figure is 12 percent lower than it was in the same period of 2022 and significantly reduced compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“This might be because working from home has become more normal since corona. There are more people in individual neighbourhoods,” Britt Wendelboe, director of the Bo Trygt home safety initiative, told news wire Ritzau. Bo Trygt was created by organisations and companies including TrygFonden, a foundation owned by the Tryg insurance group.

The Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd), a police crime prevention council, is also part of the initiative.

Neighbourhood assistance is one of the most effective ways to prevent break-ins, according to Bo Trygt, which says that two in three thieves have experienced being interrupted by a neighbour during a break-in.

“We know that neighbourly help works because if there’s something that thieves fear, it’s being seen. Working from home functions in the same way,” Wendelboe said.

“There are more of us at home and maybe you take a lunchtime walk where you live – so there are more people in the area,” she said.

While the number of home break-ins is down, the reverse is true for shops.

Some 5,960 shops reported break-ins in the first quarter of the year, nine percent up compared to 2022.

“We suspect that many consumers have an incorrect perception that shops are creaming off the top following the price increases there have been on energy and food,” Thomas Gress, a senior economist with SMVDanmark, an interest organisation representing around 18,000 small and medium-sized Danish businesses, told news wire Ritzau.

The number of break-in is “disappointing” and could ultimately force shops to raise prices further, he said.

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METTE FREDERIKSEN

Denmark extends detention of Prime Minister’s suspected attacker

The man accused of assaulting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on a public square earlier this month will remain in custody until July 4th, a Copenhagen court ruled on Thursday.

Denmark extends detention of Prime Minister's suspected attacker

The 39-year-old Polish man is suspected of punching Frederiksen on June 7th as she walked in central Copenhagen, leaving her with a minor whiplash injury.

“The court has decided that the suspect will remain in custody until July 4th,” a court official told AFP, following a hearing that lasted less than an hour.

The man, who was arrested immediately after the incident, has denied responsibility and says he has no recollection of what happened.

Frederiksen, 46, underwent a medical examination afterwards and was diagnosed with a “contusion on her right shoulder and a minor whiplash injury”, according to her office.

A medical certificate was presented to the court on Thursday.

Frederiksen and several witnesses have been questioned in the ongoing investigation, police said.

In police questioning, relayed to the court on Thursday, Frederiksen said the man approached her and uttered something incomprehensible, then hit her on the shoulder with a closed fist, Danish news agency Ritzau reported on Thursday.

READ ALSO: Danish PM Frederiksen makes first public appearance since assault

According to prosecutor Line Steffensen, the man was drunk and had stolen alcohol from a grocery store just prior to his encounter with the prime minister.

Steffensen said the man had been arrested on several occasions for shoplifting since moving to Denmark five years ago.

Frederiksen became Denmark’s youngest ever prime minister when she was elected in 2019, aged 41. She won re-election in 2022.

She said after the attack that she was “shaken” and did not take part in the final day of campaigning for the EU election.

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