The Danish government held a press conference today at the Copenhagen police headquarters, attended by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, Minister of Justice Peter Hommelgaard, and Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Jensen. The key points of the government's 39 proposed measures are outlined at the end of the article.
During the press conference, the government announced 39 new measures that will help strengthen the fight against gang crime in Denmark. The government will toughen penalties for knife use and economic crimes, expand police options for using plainclothes agents and wiretapping, and allocate pocket money jobs for young people aged 13 to 17 so that they can turn their backs on gangs.
Watch the live video coverage of the press conference from Denmark 24 | Click here
The government had previously confirmed that the focus of the gangs' package was on preventing the recruitment of children and young people, and they reiterated this at the press conference.
For more than ten years, successive governments have tried to combat organized crime through three gang groups and more than 80 initiatives. The government has also allocated a financial reserve for the gang package in the 2024 draft budget, amounting to 100 million Danish kroner in 2024 and 150 million Danish kroner annually from 2025 to 2027.
Mette Frederiksen makes an appeal to immigrant families in Denmark
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that immigration policy is indirectly responsible for the increased punishment for crime. The Prime Minister also addressed the families of gang members and stressed that families have a responsibility to help stop the cycle of violence.
During the press conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen addressed a direct message to the families of gang members: “The cycle of violence must stop, and it is the families” responsibility to help. We must also appeal to the families; you must do more. You must, in fact, do everything in your power to stop this cycle of violence. This was not why you came to Denmark in the first place. We risk this destroying large parts of our society, and it is the families’ responsibility to stop it.”.
The new gang package—the fourth of its kind—includes harsher penalties for gang members, but Mette Frederiksen insists that initiatives alone are not enough. She points out that a large proportion of gang members are young people from minority groups who are poorly integrated: “A large proportion of gangs are young people from minority groups. They are poorly integrated into Danish society. Many of them want real parallel societies with their own rules and regulations. They are completely indifferent to the number of victims. That is why gangs must be fought, otherwise they will be allowed to take the lead. It is undemocratic, unsafe, unDanish, and wrong.”.
Key points of the government's plan for the 39 proposed measures:
- Better care for young people who are on the brink of gang crime: by strengthening efforts and making the recruitment of children and young people into crime illegal.
- A tighter grip, stricter consequences, and greater justice: by tightening restrictions on staying in certain areas, denying financial benefits to children and young people convicted in gang environments, and tightening control over those released on parole.
- Weapons: Imposing harsher penalties for knife attacks and greater consequences for illegal knife possession.
- Dealing with gang-related financial crimes: through double-checking gang-related financial crimes, expanded covert searches, and enhanced investigation into cryptocurrencies that gangs have recently been using extensively.
- More and better tools in combating gangs: by giving police better opportunities to wiretap phones and use undercover civilian agents.
- Strengthening efforts against transnational gang crime: by imposing a new travel ban on individuals convicted of “serious transnational crimes”.
The government will invite parliamentary parties to negotiations regarding the new gang package.
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