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COPENHAGEN. In Denmark, the police may check people without suspicion of crime – if a “visitation zone” has been established.
The moderates want the Swedish police to have the same opportunity, but opinions are divided.
– It doesn’t matter if it’s a zone or not. If you look like me, you will still be checked, says Rabii Esteitie, who works at Nørrebro in Copenhagen.
The police in Denmark can establish a visitation zone within a limited geographical area after serious crime. In the zone, they can then check people without any suspicion of crime.
– The chief of police can decide that a geographical area should become a visitation zone. After 14 days, the decision must be renewed, says Søren Wiborg, former local police chief in the Mjølnerparken area of Nørrebro in Copenhagen.
He is back in Mjølnerparken where he worked for several years. Two uniformed patrol officers pass their former boss, stop and cheer.
Many of the apartment buildings in the neighborhood have been demolished and new ones are being built. There is noise from the large construction sites and you sometimes have to raise your voice a little to be heard.
Three parties in Sweden’s Riksdag – the Moderates, the Sweden Democrats and the Christian Democrats – want the Swedish police to have the same opportunities as their Danish colleagues. The issue has created heated debate on several occasions, and last autumn the Liberals’ national meeting overruled their own party leadership on the issue. In Aftonbladet’s survey, the Moderates chose to emphasize visitation zones as the most effective effort to stop the shooting violence.
“In order to cool down ongoing gang conflicts and at the same time remove weapons from the streets, the Moderates want to give the police the opportunity to, following a decision from the prosecutor, establish temporary and geographically limited visitation zones,” wrote Johan Forssell, legal policy spokesperson for the Moderates, in his response (see the full response below ).
Facts
If the Eld article series ends
In 2021, 46 people were shot dead in Sweden. In the first seven months of 2022, 41 people have fallen victim to the same fate. Stopping the shooting epidemic is one of the most important election issues.
There are many suggestions for interventions. But if only one contribution can be made – which is the most important?
Aftonbladet has asked that question to all parties in the Riksdag.
In six parts, we highlight some of the proposals. What do those most affected by them think?
In this part we look at the proposal to establish visitation zones to curb gang crime. Something that the Moderates advocate.
Read moreOne of several tools
Visitation zones have been decided on many times in Mjølner Park, says Søren Wiborg.
When Aftonbladet meets him in the residential area in northwestern Copenhagen, he talks about past events and what it was like when he was the local police area chief.
– There was a gang war here in Copenhagen at the time, it was between “Loyal to familia” and “Brothas”, who were based here in Mjølnerparken, and there were some shootings, he says, looking out over a green area and the construction site behind a scrawled wooden plank.
Søren Wiborg, who now works for the housing company BoVita, continues:
– Here in Mjølner Park, two young people were murdered in 2017.
The Danish police Aftonbladet spoke to claim that visitation zones are one of several tools they use to curb gang crime, but that it does not work as the only measure.
– It is for ordinary police work as well, among other things, says Søren Wiborg.
Precisely in Mjølnerparken and in Nørrebro, it has been a while since a decision was made about a visitation zone.
Seen armed with clubs and other weapons
When Aftonbladet is in Denmark at the end of June, the latest decision made about a visitation zone was taken in Korsør in western Zealand.
– The decision was made after a conflict between two groups in the city, says Claus Hansen, lawyer at Sydsjælland’s police district.
He briefly talks about the background to the conflict between the two groups, which he also calls “clans originating in the Middle East”.
– They have fought with each other and there have also been shots.
This time members from the two groups were seen armed with clubs and other weapons, says Claus Hansen.
– It went on for three or four days and it just got worse and worse. Then we decided to introduce a visitation zone in that particular area.
The visitation zone in Korsør was introduced on 25 May, but did not lead to any further seizures.
However, the conflict had time to calm down, says Claus Hansen.
He says that it often turns out that way – that nothing is found, but that it leads to a reduction in the violence and crime that originally prompted the decision.
– We think it’s a pretty good measure that we can use. It also sends a signal.
“Stops you anyway – when they feel like it”
According to Søren Wiborg and Claus Hansen, in connection with visitation zones, a tougher penalty is also introduced. This means that if someone is caught with a weapon in the zone, the penalty can be doubled.
One who has a lot of experience with the Danish police’s visitation zones is Rabii Esteitie, 26.
He runs a falafel place in Nørrebro.
– Out here on the street it has been a visitation zone many times, he says as he looks out and points towards the pavement.
The dinner rush at 7pm is just over and Rabii Esteitie is cleaning and putting away. From outside, people can be heard talking and bargaining in Arabic from the vegetable market which is right next door.
The cars drive past in a rush on the street – past Rabii’s place and then on past the vegetable market.
There is life and movement everywhere.
– The police make decisions about visitation zones just to show the public that they are doing something. They will stop you anyway, when they feel like it. Regardless of whether there is a visitation zone decision or not, says Rabii Esteitie.
He looks out the window.
– Do you see the kiosk over there? Outside it and outside a Circle K diner, which is a little further up the street, young guys tend to gather in the evenings. The police check them very often, he says and continues:
– If you look like I do, they will check you. As simple as that.
So if you look like you’re from the Middle East, you get checked more often than if you look like me?
– Absolutely, every time. If you also have a beard, the kind of hairstyle I have and, for example, Adidas clothes, you will be stopped and checked regardless of whether it is a visitation zone or not. One hundred percent. If the police deny it, they are lying.
Rabii Esteitie continues:
– If I drive a car in another city, for example Roskilde, and the car is registered in Nørrebro, I will definitely be stopped by the police. They will be suspicious and ask what I am doing there.
Rabii says that he and his friends usually bet whether they will be stopped or not when they see a police car.
– Most of the time we get stopped. When they don’t stop us, it’s probably because they’re on to something else.
He takes a concrete example and points to a small black car parked in the street outside.
– It’s my friend’s car. Now he has tidied it up and fixed it up a bit again, but the police stopped him a few days ago and turned everything in it upside down. He was sitting in the car smoking when they showed up. They just told him to file a complaint if he was unhappy after they ripped everything out.
Rabii’s younger brother Omar Esteitie confirms what his brother tells.
“Ordinary people are not at risk of being searched”
But not everyone agrees with their description of everyday life in Nørrebro.
Back in Mjølnerparken, ex-policeman Søren Wiborg presents a completely different picture from Rabii Esteitie.
– Visitation zones are, as I said before, just one of many measures we can use, he says.
Many claim that visitation zones and all that it entails is an intrusion into the personal integrity of citizens, what do you say about that?
– The police do not search people left and right. You still have a certain suspicion. So ordinary people are not at risk of being searched.
Do you think that visitation zones should be introduced in Sweden as well?
– I will not decide on that. But it cannot be used alone. It is not the ultimate tool. In Denmark, the punishments for gang crime have also been tightened, and that is probably the biggest reason that there are currently fewer conflicts between the gangs.
Because they are in prison?
– Yes, we have many who are in prison. Many are serving long sentences.
Facts
Proposal: In front of visitation zones
Giving the police the opportunity to search people without criminal intent, in special, temporary zones, is a measure that is sometimes raised as a proposal to put an end to the shooting epidemic.
This is how Johan Forssell, legal policy spokesperson for the Moderates, responds to Aftonbladet’s question “What is the most important effort to stop the shootings?”:
In order to cool down ongoing gang conflicts and at the same time remove weapons from the streets, the Moderates want to give the police the opportunity to, after a decision from the prosecutor, establish temporary and geographically limited visitation zones. Within these, the police must be given extended powers to search for weapons and hand grenades on people and in vehicles. A decision to establish a visitation zone should only be made when there is a considerable risk that illegal weapons are in or will be transported through a certain area. The idea of visitation zones is taken from Denmark, where the police have had this possibility for almost 20 years and use it regularly.
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