A municipal citizenry corps should be established to assist the police with keeping order on the streets of Copenhagen, propose local Venstre politicians in the Danish capital.
The proposal includes giving the corps the power to stop people committing illegal acts, such as peeing on the streets or spraying graffiti, and handing out fines. They should be able to wear a uniform of sorts and be armed with a pepper spray and baton to assist them in their pursuits, contends Venstre.
“The purpose is to tackle the kind of disorder that is rife in Copenhagen,” Flemming Steen-Munch – Venstre’s group head at City Hall, who is a former police officer – told DR Nyheder.
“We need to help keep the peace and city clean. The police don’t have the resources to take care of the smaller tasks like they used to do, so from a municipal perspective we could offer more co-ordinated assistance than is currently the case.”
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Police naysay plan
Steen-Munch contends the initiative could have an “upbringing effect”, particularly since there is a lack of police presence on the streets of Copenhagen compared to yesteryear.
However, the police have shot down the proposal for weakening the public’s trust in the police, and while Ninna Thomsen, the city’s deputy mayor for health and care issues, said she could see sensibility in the plan, she cautioned against the use of pepper spray and batons.
“We know citizens in the city are plagued by noise from nightlife, so it’s positive if we can help out there and also to control those young people who perhaps have had too much to drink.”
