The Danish government will abolish the police practice of registering reports as preliminary “undersøgelsessager” and will scrap local monetary thresholds for economic crime cases in all police districts.
Justice Minister Nicolai Wammen presented the measures in a press release from the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday. DR reports that all potential criminal cases must in future be created as actual criminal cases.
Undersøgelsessager were created when police were uncertain at the time of a report whether an offense had taken place. Wammen states that citizens must be able to trust that police handle their case properly, regardless of where in the country they live.
The government will also implement all recommendations from Rigsrevisionen, the National Audit Office, concerning the practice known as “vask af sager”, or washing of cases. Reports were shelved without real investigation, partly to save resources. The press release does not state whether the police will receive additional funding.
According to TV2 Øst, the ministry announced on Tuesday that police will no longer be able to drop cases without investigation. Per Wammen, police districts may not maintain local monetary limits for how economic crime cases are decided.
Criticism since May
The police were sharply criticized in May by the Statsrevisorerne, following a report from Rigsrevisionen on shelved cases. The Copenhagen Post also noted the minister’s statement that all potential criminal cases must be registered as real ones.
In June, the new government carried out a large leadership reshuffle in the police. Top positions in both Rigspolitiet and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, PET, were given new names.
Several of the Folketing’s legal affairs spokespeople declared at a hearing in June that they had no confidence in National Police Commissioner Thorkild Fogde. He was later moved from the post. At a closed meeting, Fogde had told the spokespeople he knew nothing about cases being shelved without real investigation.
At the June hearing, Wammen said he was open to allocating further funds to the police. He also pointed to an existing multiyear agreement with more money and improved training for investigators and officers.
Then Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard answered in January 2025 that the Director of Public Prosecutions had informed him that no 500,000 kroner threshold existed in three police districts. DR later reported that the amount was described in writing at Østjyllands Politi, by agreement with the prosecution service.
Hummelgaard was accused by spokespeople and an expert of misleading the Folketing. Rigspolitiet and the Director of Public Prosecutions must now report regularly to the political agreement circle on developments.
The government had ordered two reports from the Statsadvokaten to obtain an overview of shelved cases. According to Wammen, the Rigsrevisionen report captured matters that the reports from December 2025 did not. Those reports were therefore not used.
