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Copenhagen gang conflict has resulted in 11 arrests: police

A flare-up in gang related shootings in Copenhagen has resulted in 11 arrests in the Danish capital.

Copenhagen gang conflict has resulted in 11 arrests: police
A police car in Nørrebro, Copenhagen on Wednesday 26th September in a reported new operation against crime gangs. 11 people were arrested earlier this week. Photo: Bax Lindhardt/ Scanpix

The individuals arrested in the operation will face preliminary court proceedings behind closed doors on Wednesday, Copenhagen Police have confirmed on Twitter.

On Tuesday evening, a 27-year-old man was injured after being hit by a shot in the Nordvest neighbourhood.

The man was a passenger in a car and was shot at around 10:35pm. His condition is not considered to be critical.

Police said they although the man is not on record as being a gang member, he has previously been assessed to have connections to organised crime groups.

The shooting Tuesday is one of a series of similar violent incidents to have been reported in Copenhagen this month. The violence is connected to an internal split within a gang known as Brothas, according to police.

On September 19th, police put in place stop-and-search zones in the Nørrebro and Nordvest neighbourhoods. The ordinance zones allow police to stop anyone within a predetermined area and search them for weapons without having probable cause.

Similar ordinances have since been applied in Hundige and Ishøj south of Copenhagen.

The most recent arrests follow a coordinated police operation on Sunday, in which seven people were detained and subsequently remanded in custody.

Further police raids have taken police in the Nørrebro area on Wednesday, Ritzau reports. Details of Wednesday's operation are yet to be confirmed at the time of writing.

READ ALSO: Seven arrested after escalation in Copenhagen gang violence

POLICE

Denmark says 450 extra police officers will strengthen response to rape, assault and break-ins

Victims of violence and rape in Denmark are Monday today guaranteed police offers will be dispatched to assist if they need acute help.

A file photo of a police motorcycle. A new Danish police guarantee requires officers to be dispatched to attend all reports of assault and rape as well as locations of break-ins.
A file photo of a police motorcycle. A new Danish police guarantee requires officers to be dispatched to attend all reports of assault and rape as well as locations of break-ins. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Police are also now required to attend addresses within 24 hours after reports of a break-in.

The new standards are included in a new “police guarantee” confirmed by the Ministry of Justice in a statement. The guarantee was included in the police funding bill voted through by parliament in December 2020.

Justice minister Nick Hækkerup said that police can meet that guarantee, pointing to the provision in the police bill to add 450 officers to Denmark’s police forces during the course of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

But the trade union for the police, Politiforbundet, says that the total police force must be increased by 5,000 officers if the guarantee is to be lived up to.

“I am completely confident in relation to the extra resources which will be added to the police in coming years being enough to fulfil the guarantee,” Hækkerup said.

“I want to see their calculations,” the minister said in relation to the police union’s number.

“That is equivalent to us needing to increase our police staffing by 50 percent to be able to meet the guarantee we have set,” he added.

The police union has also criticised the guarantee because they see it could result in other tasks being delayed.

“Then there wouldn’t be enough resources for tasks like domestic incidents, traffic accidents and mentally ill member of the public,” the union’s leader Heino Kegel said.

Hækkerup rejected the suggestion resources would be pulled away from other areas.

“It’s not as if this is a completely new task. It’s a task we already undertake,” he said.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen police to ban people with criminal records from nightlife areas

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