DF urges government to fast-track CCTV registry

Following 158 vehicle burnings in less than two months, the time for action is now, urges MP

The 158 vehicles set on fire over the last two months in Greater Copenhagen is an unacceptable number, claims Dansk Folkeparti (DF).

DF has urged the government to step up its efforts to install cameras on the capital’s streets.

READ MORE: Are the car burnings a cry for help?

Government needs to act!
Speaking to the DR P4 radio station yesterday, DF spokesperson Peter Koefoed Poulsen said his party would like the justice minister, Søren Pind, to fast-track plans for a CCTV registry that have already been approved by a majority in Parliament.

“It is completely ludicrous that ordinary Danish citizens should be concerned about where they park their car in fear it will be set alight,” said Poulsen.

READ MORE: DF wants more video surveillance

Police’s voluntary registry
In February, the police confirmed it was putting together a registry of the city’s private security cameras, but that the owners’ participation in the one-year pilot scheme was voluntary.

Following the terrorist attack in Copenhagen a year earlier, it transpired the police were able to trace gunman Omar El-Hussein’s movements and catch him using footage from hundreds of private cameras.

A grey area
However, according to DR, around 75 percent of these cameras were violating the CCTV Act, although the police are unlikely to prosecute.

“We do not think it’s fair to say one day, ‘Hello, we are from the police, we’re looking for a terrorist, may we see your video’ and then show up the next day with a fine,” Jørgen Bergen Skov, chief superintendent of the Copenhagen Police, told DR earlier this year.

But with no sizeable registry, and the government dragging its feet over installing its own CCTV network, the police may very well need to negotiate this grey area again to find the footage to stop the vehicle burnings.

MP urges citizens to help
Speaking to the same radio station, Socialdemokatiet spokesperson Trine Bramsen said that more help was needed from citizens. “We must send a very strong call to all citizens to help the police as best they can,” she told DR P4

“But if the police come to us and say they lack the resources, well then the task becomes a political one.”

TOP STORIES

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs