Since the summer of 2013, the police in Denmark have received 51 bomb threats across the nation – about one every ten days – according to police reports that DR Nyheder has come into possession of.
The reports show that the bomb threat cases occur nationwide and include all kinds of targets, from schools and railway stations to municipality buildings and hotels. It also reveals how every time a threat comes in, the police have to evaluate how to react.
”Our problem is that there could be a malevolent lunatic among those who make threats who is capable of making a bomb,” Mogens Lauridsen, a police inspector with the emergency department at the Copenhagen Police, told DR Nyheder.
”Fortunately, we don't see so much of this in Denmark, but sometimes there are people who have had plans to do something. You can't rule it out, so we need to react.”
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Capital region on top
Among the most high-profile cases this year were three bomb threats aimed at the huge swimming centre Lalandia in Rødby by an 18-year-old man. The threats led to the police evacuating the popular centre.
The culprit was handed a 30-day suspended prison sentence for making the threats against Lalandia – a sentence that is quite typical for this kind of crime. Most bomb-threat sentences fall somewhere between 20 and 30 days and are suspended, although the law permits punishment ranging from a fine to six years in prison.
The police report showed that most of the bomb threats (20) occurred in the capital region and that the perpetrator was identified by the police in 29 out of the 51 cases.
