The Abuse of Power of the Danish Police in Urbanism

Sign going up warning that the police can close the area.

Colville om politiet i byrummet: Normalt har vi den lovgivende, udøvende og dømmende magt. Nu har…

This is the English version of the op-ed I wrote in Danish (above) for Politiken Byrum.

In April 2020, the Danish police suddenly decided to close various public spaces in Copenhagen and Denmark and they did so with their usual muscular modus operandi. They showed yet again that they are intent on deciding their own role — and cross societal and professional lines while doing so. In particular, the harbour area of Islands Brygge was suddenly closed to the public after many people were gathered there in mostly small groups that didn’t break any corona crisis laws.

Opinions are divided about the police’s move here in Copenhagen. When you work with urban planning, however, the police’s solo course in closing off public space is a wild and unfortunate deja vu. In bizarre contrast to many European countries, the Danish police have the power to freely cross professional lines with sharpened elbows — without consequence.

Regarding urban planning and traffic, the police can simply veto projects. The list of urban planning projects that have been…