The Norrebro district of Copenhagen has been a bit of a sore spot in recent years, so the capital’s police commissioner has decided to put more cops on the streets to try and build a safe and amiable environment for the residents there. Police will assume more individual beats in Norrebro, and increase the present six-man force in the district to 20 officers by September.
But the Berlingske Tidende newspaper reports it’s more than just putting more feet on the street. Copenhagen Police commissioner Johan Reimann also wants the officers to build more trust between local residents and police by making them more accessible. Each officer will have their own streets to patrol, and individual phone numbers that residents can call for a quick response in emergencies.
“I have huge expectations that we can get officers more firmly rooted to the local areas when we’ve given each police officer the responsibility for a specific area,” said Reimann. “It also says to the residents that that officer is their own policeman.”
The Copenhagen Post says violent crime has plagued Norrebro over the last year, which is one reason for the increase in police. The district is home to a wide range of ethnic minority groups, so the officers will receive cultural awareness training as part of the force’s new strategy. Officers will patrol beats from 07.00 until 23.00, but this could eventually evolve into a 24 hour a day mission due to the individual phone numbers for police.
For the record – such practice of assigning a police officer to a certain territory – is a long known one. At least in Russia (as well Soviet Union) is has been known for the 50 years for sure. They are called something like district inspectors. Proved to be very effective as such “local” police officer knows every local troublemaker and they know well he knows where to find them.