Community Policing in Denmark--1: Reflections Regarding the Development of the Danish Community Police (From Kriminalistisk Arbog 2000, P 73-84, 2001, Gitte Hoyer, Lene Ravn, Annika Snare, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 195871
• Author(s): Lars Holmberg
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: University of Copenhagen
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Country: Denmark
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. English Summary

Annotation

This article describes six experiments with community and problem oriented policing in Denmark in order to evaluate the effectiveness of making such organizational changes in police work.

Abstract

Focusing on the potentials and difficulties of transitioning to community policing (COP) and problem-oriented policing (POP) in Denmark, this paper presents a brief description of six experiments with such policing strategies. Through presenting the results of an evaluation of COP and POP experiments, the author argues that police presence and visibility does not affect citizens’ subjective safety. By discussing how much police work involves the officer’s person, this article addresses the difficulties of communities transitioning to COP and POP and how this very issue signals a shift from quantitative assessments of police work to qualitative assessments. This article’s findings that police presence does not seem to influence citizens’ subjective safety is counter to both previous international research as well as national policing strategies.