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Public confidence in Danish policing still falling

Stephen Gadd
February 26th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

For the third year running, the survey shows that the police have gone down in the public’s estimation

The police chief has promised there will soon be more manpower available for local communities (photo: Heb)

A new report published by Rigspolitiet, the Danish national police, has revealed that the public is increasingly worried that the police are unable to cope with local crime.

The report was based on data from 11,000 people and only 79.2 percent of them admitted to having confidence in the police. The figure in 2013, when data started to be collected, was 84.3 percent, reports DR Nyheder.

Gang wars worrying Danes
One of the major factors has been the gangland warfare that has been a sad feature of Copenhagen and several other Danish cities over the last year.

“It is regrettable and we have to see this in the light of how in 2017 we had a very serious gang war that attracted a lot of attention and massive coverage in the media,” said the chief of police, Jens Henrik Højberg.

READ ALSO: Police detain two more gang members in connection with November shooting

“The conflict has meant that we have had to move a lot of resources around between the different police districts,” Højberg added.

A drain on resources
“We’ve also had to send people out on guard duty, primarily in Copenhagen, and we’ve had to undertake large-scale border control activities. So there have been less police around locally where they belong. I’m sure that has had an effect on the results of the survey.”

READ ALSO: Soldiers relieve police guarding synagogue

The police chief is confident that things will change for the better shortly. “We will have 900 new police officers trained during 2018 that can return to the areas they will be posted to. We’ve also made an agreement with the home guard and the army,” said Højberg.

“In that way, I’m sure things will look rosier next time we conduct a survey.”

The police chief also promised there would be more police on the streets along with several targeted initiatives aimed at preventing crime and creating security.


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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.”