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Copenhagen Police extend stop-and-search zone

The Local Denmark
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Copenhagen Police extend stop-and-search zone
Police respond to the shooting in the Nordvest neighbourhood in Copenhagen on Wednesday August 2nd. Photo: Mathias Øgendal/Scanpix

Copenhagen Police have extended a stop-and-search zone in an attempt to curb gang-related crime, after a series of shooting incidents in the city.

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The measure, which has been in place since July 20th, will now be prolonged with an extension to the zone covered, Chief Police Inspector Jørgen Skov told broadcaster TV2.

The ordinances (called visitationszoner in Danish) allow police to stop anyone within a predetermined area and search them for weapons without having probable cause. 
 
Copenhagen Police’s zone, set up last month, covered areas of Nørrebro, Husum, Brønshøj and Tingbjerg, where several shootings and stabbings have occurred in recent weeks.

But the zones were last week reported to have had little effect.

A 24-year-old man was hit by shots in the Nordvest neighbourhood of the city on Wednesday evening, bringing the number of shootings in the city to four within the last week, reports news agency Ritzau.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen's Nørrebro district has third shooting in a week

An organised crime group known as ‘Loyal to Familia’, which has also been involved in violent incidents in Aarhus, is partly responsible for the gangland conflict behind the shootings, according to the report.

The aim of the stop-and-search zones is to help local residents feel safe by preventing people from carrying weapons.

Although police have carried out over 300 searches in the zones at the time of writing, “not many confiscations” have resulted from the measure, Skov told TV2.

“We hope people are choosing not to carry weapons, and that is also what we’re seeing. Instead, they are hiding weapons in the area. So they are not walking around armed, but have access to weapons in the area,” he said.

15 firearms or knives hidden in bushes, elevators or attics have been seized since July 20th, according to TV2’s report.

The new stop-and-search zone. Photo: Københavns Politi

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