Pusher Street in Christiania has been closed. There is an open war between Hell’s Angels and Loyal to Familia. The police have, for a couple of weeks now, turned parts of Copenhagen into visitation zones (areas with increased police control). In the wake of this situation, the government came up with a law package that contains no fewer than 39 proposals.
- The prime minister is worried that Denmark is becoming more like Sweden and calls for the “parents of gang members of another ethnic background than Danish” to take responsibility for their children.
- There are 1322 gang members in Denmark. The average age of a gang member is 26 years old, and almost half of them are under 25 years old. There is also a growing number of underage gang members (589 criminal acts committed by 15-18 years olds in 2022). 26% of gang members are in prison today.
- The government will invest 100 million DKK next year and 150 million DKK annually between 2025 and 2027 to reduce gang violence in Denmark.
- Among the 39 proposals, you can find: preventive measures to stop the recruitment of younger people into gangs; municipalities should create after-school jobs for 15-17 years olds who have committed criminal acts; harder sentences against humiliation violence; gang members should not have access to public money; weapon possession sentences are doubled to 16 years in prison; for a while, it will be possible to give away weapons without being charged; cooperation between the police, tax authorities and municipalities to prevent fraud and reduce the gangs funding; the police should be able to recruit civilians for temporary tasks, like providing information and be allowed to listen to gang members’ phone calls; municipalities should be able to close gang club houses; expansion of the decryption capabilities of the police; etc.
