The decision comes after recent increases in violent crimes in Copenhagen involving gangs from neighbouring Sweden.
ADVERTISEMENTPolice authorities in Denmark say facial recognition technology will be used in dealing with gang-related violence in the country. The announcement came at a meeting between Denmark's national police commissioner and justice minister on Monday.
Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard met with the head of Denmark’s national police, Thorkild Fogde, to discuss ways to tackle increasing cases of shootings and violent crimes in Copenhagen.
Facial recognition technology and software will now be used to access encrypted messages.
“It’s about technology, about digital tools, the dark web. The technology that is at our disposal. There is a whole catalog of technical tools to use,” Fogde told reporters.
To implement this, Hummelgaard said that the law needed to be changed to permit it, which he says will be done as soon as possible.
He denounced organised criminal gangs who hire Swedish teenagers to carry out deadly shootings in Denmark, saying it “reflects a totally sick, depraved culture of violence.”
According to official figures, there have been 25 episodes since April where young Swedes have been hired by Danes to commit crimes in Denmark.
“It’s terrifying in every way and it makes me angry. Really, really angry,” Hummelgaard said, adding that he would “put pressure on Sweden so that they also take responsibility for these things.”
Gang violence involving Sweden
Last year, Swedish police noted an increase in the number of teenagers under 18 who were recruited to carry out hits because they do not face the same police controls as adults and are often shielded from prosecution.
One of the main criminal gangs in Denmark is Loyal to Familia in Sweden which was banned in 2021.
“Their members are probably the ones who are stopped and searched most often by the police,” sociologist Aydin Soei told Danish broadcaster DR last week after two Swedish teenagers — aged 17 and 16 — were held in pre-trial detention for shootings in Kolding, western Denmark, and in Copenhagen respectively.
“It is convenient (for them) to be able to use Swedish children as cannon fodder, unfortunately,” says Soei.
In reaction to the arrest of the teenagers, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described it as "an eerie example that cynical criminals hire Swedish youths to commit crimes in Denmark".
"We will not accept that,” she said.
Last year, Swedish authorities estimated that 62,000 people in Sweden were linked to criminal gangs.
ADVERTISEMENTThey often recruit members in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighbourhoods with most of the violence occurring in Sweden’s three largest cities, Stockholm, Goteborg, and Malmo.
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years, while in Denmark, police have also seen violence between gangs but on a lesser scale.
Some 1,257 people were known to Danish authorities for having connections to organised crime at the end of last year, according to official figures.
