police misconduct
Umbrella term for police abuse of authority, addressed in Danish law under § 155
Police misconduct denotes situations in which police personnel abuse their authority, position or public powers to harm others, obtain an unjustified advantage or set aside the law. Under Danish law the term has no independent legal definition, but is used in ordinary language as an umbrella term for a broad range of offences committed by employees of the police.
The most direct criminal-law framework is the Danish Penal Code (straffeloven) § 155 on abuse of office, which criminalises a person in public service or office abusing their position to violate the rights of private parties or of the public authorities. Police employees are covered by this provision by virtue of their status as public employees, and the provision can therefore apply to acts otherwise described as police misconduct.
In practice, police misconduct spans a wide field: it may involve theft committed while on duty, unlawful surveillance, sexual abuse carried out by exploiting professional authority, ethnically or racially motivated use of force, or systematic disregard of citizens' rights. Common to these cases is that the position of public power is used as the means for, or as cover for, the unlawful act.
The police use of force is further regulated by the Danish Police Act (politiloven) and by the executive order on the police's use of certain means of force (bekendtgørelsen om politiets anvendelse af visse magtmidler), which set out the framework for when and how physical force may lawfully be applied. Exceeding this framework may constitute police misconduct in the broader sense, even where the act itself does not necessarily fall under § 155.
Cases of police misconduct are particularly serious because they undermine public trust in the police as an institution and may have far-reaching consequences for those affected — including victims of crime who should have received protection. Internationally, the pattern is seen in cases such as British undercover officers who entered into romantic relationships with activists under false identities, or German police units that failed to investigate racially motivated crimes properly.
