Police stop and search more than 600 people in a month but find only one weapon for their efforts

Copenhagen Police have confiscated just one weapon despite subjecting 610 members of the public to random searches in the last month.

In certain areas of the city, the police are allowed to search a person even if they have no proof or suspicion of criminal activity as part of the effort to crack down on the escalating gang crime.

The order to allow search zones for weapons has been extended to 15 September in light of recent city shootings.

But some are concerned that the policy is causing more harm than good as weekend riots were sparked by a young man being searched by police.

Chief Superintendent Per Larsen of the Copenhagen Police quashed rumours that young men of immigrant background were being targeted for the searches.

‘We know that these types of rumours are floating around again, possibly because we have intensified our hunt for weapons recently. But we want to put these rumours to rest,’ Larsen told DR News.

Despite the searches not turning up many weapons, police said that other unnamed methods had proved successful as they had charged 75 people with weapons violations in the last month, up from 12 charges in the previous period.