THE PERCEPTION OF CRIME

One of the concessions that the Danish People's Party extracted from the Government in exchange for supporting its long-term financial stability plan was a doubling of the punishment for robberies and attacks in people's homes. This is a huge, and worsening problem, and something needed to be done to reassure ordinary Danes.

Really? Denmark is in fact one of the safest countries in the world. I have never seen a policeman in the village where I live, and I would be hard pressed to think what he would do here. In 2010, there were only 289 robberies in people's houses nationwide. Given the country's 2.5 million households, that means the chances of being robbed were about 0.012%. Despite that, it has emerged that around one in seven Danes keep a weapon at home to be used against a potential robber. A fair proportion of these are guns.

How come there is such a discrepancy between perception and reality? The answer in my view is the toxic combination of sloppy media and right-wing populist politicians. If Danes don't feel safe, then who can?

Walter Blotscher