The Swedish government has decided that a system of visitation zones will be introduced in the spring. A system which means that the police have the opportunity to set up special areas, for a limited time, where they are allowed to carry out body searches and house searches in vehicles without criminal suspicion.
– It is a simple tool for the police, says Tomas Marko Juhl, police inspector and investigation leader in Copenhagen.
Right now there are three different visitation zones in Copenhagen, one of these around the Nørrebro district. And the tool is nothing new for the Danes as they have been working with it since 2004.
– Now you hear Sweden say: “look how well things are going in Denmark, we should do this too”. But the truth is that you don’t know what effect the zones have had in Denmark, says the Danish criminologist David Sausdal.
Visited by 1,300 people
But the Danish police believe that the zones have proven to be effective.
– We look at the effect here and now, and then it’s about getting guns off the streets, and we get that. It provides security for those who live here, says Tomas Marko Juhl.
From August to November 2023, 1,300 people were searched in visitation zones in Copenhagen. 52 were charged with violations of the Weapons Act and the police seized 66 stabbing weapons.
– I still think that it is incredibly problematic that they have not evaluated how the zones have affected crime in the long term and I do not think that Denmark deserves the praise it receives from Sweden, says David Sausdal.