Last Week in Denmark
Curious about what’s really happening in Denmark — and how it affects your life here? Each week, two hosts from the LWID community talk through the top news stories and developments — in English — sharing personal insights and international perspectives. It’s a clear and accessible conversation about life in Denmark, made for people who live here but didn’t grow up here. Last Week In Denmark is a volunteer-driven media project with a simple mission: to empower people through information.
With a mix of short summaries, thoughtful discussion, and context you can actually use, we cover everything from housing and healthcare to politics. Whether you're new to Denmark or have been here for years, this is your go-to bite-sized update on what’s happening — and why it matters to you. Thank you for helping us grow.
Last Week in Denmark
Denmark's Petty Crime Crackdown: LWID S3E24 (replay)
Denmark is a high trust society until we talk about petty crime like bicycle theft. Then the conversation is much more nuanced. Internationals in Denmark Narcis and Kalpita broke down Denmark's new petty crime crackdown early in season 3. They discuss what's being done in Denmark, what could be done and specifically how it impacts internationals.
During season break we're revisiting some of the most popular segments from season 3. We'll be back with season 4 in August!
In this episode:
Cohosts:
- Kalpita - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalpitabhosale/
- Narcis - https://www.linkedin.com/in/narcisgmatache/
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- Stephanie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstephfuccio/
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- Larissa
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Welcome to the Last Week in Denmark podcast. Each week, two hosts from the Last Week in Denmark community talk through the top news and stories and developments in English, sharing personal insights and international perspectives. If you're an international living in Denmark or thinking of moving to Denmark, you're gonna want to have a listen to these episodes. We have three complete seasons full of episodes for you and although the news isn't as timely, the perspective, stories and experience shared in them is. So please dig back into the other episodes. For the next few weeks we will be on summer break and we wanted to bring you highlights from this season. This Week in Denmark has Narciss and Kalpita talking about petty crime crackdown in Denmark. If you enjoy this segment, please take a screenshot of it and share it on your social media and tag Last Week in Denmark. All right, let's get to the segment.
Kalpita
We have a good segue to the next topic that we're discussing is petty thieves and petty crimes, yeah.
Narcis
Petty crimes. Such a funny name. Misdemeanors, if you call it in English, right?
Kalpita
Yeah.
Narcis
Have you ever been exposed to petty crime?
Kalpita
Not personally, no. But I mean, yes and no. Really? I worked with a E bike company in Copenhagen. Very, very popular, very, very cool. Extremely controversial as well. But we did work closely with the police at the end of the whole saga of stealing E bikes. It is a nuisance, to be honest. And I don't, I don't think E bikes and stealing E bikes or batteries to E bikes, whether it's a cargo bike or your whatever city bike or your off roading, if you're using electric off roads bikes, I don't, I do not believe that they are petty crimes, because that's a huge market as well. But apart from stealing batteries and just completely picking up a whole E bike in itself and then selling that on the market is also a very, very big business. Millions and millions involved in that actually. But I also live near a Netto, which has petty thieves coming in and out and stealing all kinds of things you imagine, and they have stolen it. I've seen people walk out from, from the, from the Netto with things under their jackets filled in their pockets and they just, as soon as they step out, they are off. You know, by the time you even tell the person behind the till saying, hey, that person just, you know, I saw him steal like a whole six pack or something. And by the time you go out to even see them, they're not there. So my question is one thing is to find them, but how are we going to find them. To find them.
Narcis
To find them. To find them. It's.
Kalpita
Yeah. Because if. If the thief is. If you can't find the thief, I know for a fact that especially EB bikes and batteries that are stolen on E bikes, you will never find that person. You don't know who this person has just out of the blue, when you've just popped into a shop to get whatever has just taken a bike or taken your battery and you're just left with either no bike or just a bike with.. without a battery. And how do you find this person?
Narcis
What's important here to notice? I lived in Denmark for 15 years. I came in Denmark in 2009. I came into a country which did not know what petty crimes were. The stores in here had no cameras. Many stores had no people. Literally, you just put the money into a box and you get out with what you need from that store. That was the level of trust back in 2009. You have to understand that Denmark has gradually gotten used to the idea that it's changing as a society and the fact that now you have cameras in stores. Of course, we are not at the level where you have you need to hire security at the entrance. I'm not sure maybe some parts in Denmark already went to that level of, of let's just say, protection and security that you see in for example, Eastern Europe or actually France, Germany. But in Denmark, it's always been the case that you don't have to bother with such small things. Problem is, lately shoplifting has become a bit too much. The many, many stores are.. are kind of, because many times those were being. They looked at the situation and thought, okay, people steal for three reasons. One, because they are very poor and they need to eat. Fair enough. And many times stores will close their eyes to those people, because they need. They knew that, okay, it's going towards saving someone's life. Fair enough. But there and then. The second reason why people were stealing in the past was because of fun. For the accelerating thought of stealing something for, for the rush of adrenaline that you get. There are people who literally want to get a kick out of it and they just do it for that reason. But now, unfortunately, there's a third category that's emerging and that's why now the government has decided to step in with a new law is because now we have people stealing a sub business. They're literally going to stores, they steal stuff and they resell them on social media. It's crime as a business. It's, it's. It's a new thing. You can hire people to do all sorts of things, but you can also just take other people's products and resell them. It's literally a business. So that's why the government came with the first attempt at stopping this petty crimes. But to be honest, I'm not sure about the effect. I think, for example, on shoplifting, right, they raised fines from 500 to 1000 krones and it always the fine has to be higher than the product that you stole. And then if you steal repeatedly, then you have that amount will just multiply itself. Okay, fair enough. I guess for it will stop some people who deal because they're hungry, but it'll not stop the people who are reselling because this is too little, it's just a business loss, you can say you put it on the under category business loss and you move on. But I think the biggest impact and I think many people listening to this should pay attention. We we mentioned it at the beginning of the of the podcast is that bicycles from now on, from 1st of February, the police will be allowed to make random checks without a reason. They don't need a reason why they stop you, they just stop you. And they will check your bike ID and if your bike ID is reported stolen, you will be going under burglary and bike theft. And that's a bit more serious accusation than shoplifting, actually.
Kalpita
Yeah. Actually as far as my knowledge goes, the police have been doing that already, because when I worked with the E biking company, the police had started looking at the, at the number. So I, I think it's applicable to most E bikes especially and probably your other non E bikes as well, that the, the frame of your bicycle has a number on it and you just need to find that number and your battery will also have a number on it. So if you get a legit bike, but maybe your battery is stolen, you never know. And police I think, I was working about three, three to two years ago, so I know the police have been doing this for at least two years that they're randomly checking on bicycles and they were specifically checking back then for the brand that I worked for. But I'm sure they extended that to other E bikes as well, because it doesn't matter what E bike it is these days. It's just a matter of getting the battery, especially, because that like you said, it is an organized business now.
Narcis
It's, it's also not just E bikes. We're talking about all bikes. Yeah, especially normal bikes, because in the past, to stop you they had to have the assist.... They need to suspect you. We suspect that you might have stolen this bike. So you had to be starting with the presumption of, you might have stolen this bike, you look a bit funny. But now, literally, they can make. Let's just say today, this morning, we're gonna take this street and every bike, a thousand bikes that will stop will pass. All of them have to be checked. So that's, that's, that's the difference it's in. Now they're allowed to do more of it, if they want to. And that's why many. Because, for example, you might have been more exposed, because probably they were you. Your company was often reporting those bikes being stolen. The company, the police was looking for those specific bikes. But now they will look at any random bike. So what I suggest is that go. Is there like a place you can look if your bike has been stolen actually?
Kalpita
No, there isn't. I was also going to ask, if there was a way to call the police or have something online where you can check if so and so numbers on bikes or so and so registration of E bike, for example, is, is a stolen bike. Like you know that there is no record per se. Going back to two years, I know police checked specifically our brands and they stopped absolutely everybody and they also stopped E bikes who use similar battery sizes. So it wasn't just our bikes only, but it was other bikes who use similar batteries. Because once a battery is stolen, then you, then you can use it to any bike as well. But I would strongly suggest anybody who's buying bikes of Facebook Marketplace or something like that, you have to have to be sure of who you're buying from, if this person is a previous owner, if they have any legitimation for all of that. But also things like electronics, your Macs, your, your phones, all of them come with registration numbers as well. So you have to be very careful. If you're buying anything that is especially expensive or has a higher value, then you have to be careful with who you're buying from, where you're buying from as well. Even places like Vinted and all of that, where you get used products, you have to be very, very careful with them, because you never know this, this thing can also extend to other products. So it's not necessarily just this. And this could also be. I know for a fact that this is coming off the experience that our company had because we have. We unfortunately played a huge, huge role in, in, in... It was in the company did anything, of course, but it was that our bikes were used for serious crime. And that's why our company became the forefront of all of this. And I know these rules are also coming off of that experience, because it's not just the theft of a bike or E bike or similar products, but it's also, like you said, organized crime. But also it's used for furtherance different serious crimes as well. So it's, it's, it's not just a small thing. It's just like a spark for bigger and different things that also getting involved in it. So it's fine, if you forget a train ticket or a bus ticket, but do not buy a bike or a product of anywhere where you don't know it's legit.
Hey, this is Kalpita and Golda, co hosts of the Last Week in Denmark podcast. Did you know Last Week in Denmark offer sponsored content in the newsletter? Our reporters are producing original articles and content tailored for internationals in Denmark. So if you have a business our readers should know about, let us write about it. Get in touch with us at reporter LWID DK. You can also reach out to us on LinkedIn and Instagram at last weekendenmark.
