Gang crime | Danish ex-policeman: “Inspection zones only transfer crime to other neighborhoods”

For ganging up we intervene too late.

This is what a Dane who worked as a police officer thought in the early 2000s Marc Johansson. As a young police officer, Johansson was particularly interested in fighting gang crime. During his time as a police officer, he read a lot of studies on the subject and met with researchers familiar with the subject.

At the same time, he got frustrated. He understood that measures to prevent gang violence came too late at the point when the young people had reached their late teens and had to deal with the police.

“I no longer saw the point in continuing as a police officer. I realized that if I want people out of gangs, I have to do something else,” he tells STT.

Johansson still works with gangs and youth crime, but now looks at it from a slightly different angle. He works as the head of the unit at the Copenhagen City Center, which is aimed at vulnerable children and young people.

of Denmark measures to combat gang crime are now of interest in Finland and Sweden. Gang crime has not flared up in the country nearly as badly as in neighboring Sweden. According to the Danish police, the number of registered gang criminals has also increased in recent years in the bill.

Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (ps) has hinted that Finland should also consider the so-called inspection zones in use in Denmark, visitationszone in Danish.

In an area declared as an inspection zone, the police may freely search people and vehicles for weapons for a limited time. Under normal circumstances, suspicion of a crime is required for these actions. They have been in use in Denmark since 2004.

Johansson’s however, inspection zones are not a particularly good tool for fighting gang crime.

“In practice, inspection zones only transfer crime to other neighborhoods. A couple of years ago, the police had a very visible presence in the Nørrebro district, which suffered from gang violence, but it only pushed the conflict outside of Copenhagen,” he says.

“However, the gang members are still in the community and will not disappear anywhere.”

Gang crime indirectly affects the life of the entire community. For example, gang members hide their weapons in public places, such as parks.

Inspection zones the good thing is that they create a sense of security for the residents of areas affected by gang violence.

“The residents see that the police take the situation seriously.”

Johansson considers the increased police presence in certain areas a good thing in itself. However, what is essential is how the police’s actions are presented – whether the police are friends or enemies, he says.

“It is important how the police communicate with the community in the area. Residents need to know that the police are there for them and not to create anxiety and stress for them and just to stop people.”

According to Johansson, the police need to get out of the police car and have a dialogue with people, not just search for weapons and make arrests.

in Denmark there has been a lot of discussion about ethnic profiling in connection with inspection zones. Especially in the early days, there were many problems with inspection zones, says Johansson.

“The police kept the inspection zones in place for far too long. Even the police themselves seemed to have no idea who they were stopping and why. However, it was clear that in practice they only stopped people belonging to ethnic minorities.”

The situation has somewhat improved since the early years. According to Johansson, the police will target inspection areas in a clearer and more limited manner. The police also clearly informs the media where and when they are present.

Everyone however, the problems have not been fixed. According to Johansson, the way the police approach young people sometimes even pushes them towards gangs. Johansson has also spoken about it in the Danish media, using his own experiences in the police as an example.

“The way the police approach young brown men creates the impression that the police are not for them. For example, if a young police officer goes to a disadvantaged area, they may have a lot of fears and prejudices: they see young people as a threat, not as citizens. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Johansson says that he himself has witnessed a situation as a police officer where his colleague reacted too strongly to young people who were running around.

At that time, he and his colleagues stopped a group of rowdy drunken boys. Johansson thought that the roaring of the drunks should have been left behind and let them go home. However, his colleague started questioning and reprimanding the boys in a strict tone. The situation escalated so that a colleague threatened the boys with pepper spray.

Johansson doesn’t just want to blame the police, because they have also been successful in certain matters. In Denmark, the police have invested especially in gathering intelligence and succeeded in gathering a lot of information about gangs and their members. Thanks to the information, the police can also make quick arrests.

“It has worked very well. When people end up in prison, gang conflicts end quickly. This has been one of the best development costs in the last 10-15 years.”

Finland and Sweden, compared to Denmark, often focus on the country’s criminal legislation in combating gang crime.

However, according to experts, social services have also been of great importance, even though they have not received as much column space. Danish sociologist Aydin Soein According to the report, gang crime is fought in two different realities in Denmark: in the circle of politicians in the Danish Parliament and at the grassroots level at the municipal level.

In warm words, “when shootings happen”, politicians panic and feel the need to demonstrate their ability to act with stricter punishments and quick solutions.

“But at the same time, municipalities have been working with preventive strategies for a long time. It is precisely because of that that we see a decrease in youth crime,” Soei told Dagens Nyheter –for the magazine.

As an example, Soei mentions the cooperation of municipalities with local housing associations. In that, part of the public sector rents go into a fund that is used to rehabilitate the area and support families, which includes everything from support to homework and employment.

Also Johansson says almost every gang offender has a history in social services. That is why the authorities must be present in the lives of young people, both in schools and in youth clubs.

According to Johansson, Sweden failed here.

“There are areas in Sweden that municipalities and cities have forgotten. They don’t have police or social services, but parallel societies,” says Johansson.

At the same time, the feeling of being outside of young people with an immigrant background should be reduced. In Denmark, the public debate has heard, among other things, arguments that gang crime can be explained by “the violence of Islam”, which only worsens the feeling of being outside of young people, he says.

“Especially young immigrants should not have to feel that the whole world is against them because of their skin color.”