180

News

Denmark gets a bomb threat every ten days

admin
November 24th, 2014


This article is more than 10 years old.

Police have identified the culprits in 29 out of the 51 cases since the summer of 2013

Since the summer of 2013, the police in Denmark have received 51 bomb threats across the nation – about one every ten days – according to police reports that DR Nyheder has come into possession of.

The reports show that the bomb threat cases occur nationwide and include all kinds of targets, from schools and railway stations to municipality buildings and hotels. It also reveals how every time a threat comes in, the police have to evaluate how to react.

”Our problem is that there could be a malevolent lunatic among those who make threats who is capable of making a bomb,” Mogens Lauridsen, a police inspector with the emergency department at the Copenhagen Police, told DR Nyheder.

”Fortunately, we don't see so much of this in Denmark, but sometimes there are people who have had plans to do something. You can't rule it out, so we need to react.”

READ MORE: Updated: Copenhagen City Hall bomb threat reportedly made by 17-year-old

Capital region on top
Among the most high-profile cases this year were three bomb threats aimed at the huge swimming centre Lalandia in Rødby by an 18-year-old man. The threats led to the police evacuating the popular centre.

The culprit was handed a 30-day suspended prison sentence for making the threats against Lalandia – a sentence that is quite typical for this kind of crime. Most bomb-threat sentences fall somewhere between 20 and 30 days and are suspended, although the law permits punishment ranging from a fine to six years in prison.

The police report showed that most of the bomb threats (20) occurred in the capital region and that the perpetrator was identified by the police in 29 out of the 51 cases.


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”