Danish audit reveals police failed to investigate thousands of cases while misleading victims

A long-awaited investigation by Denmark’s national audit office has uncovered systemic failures in police handling of criminal cases, including 13,000 instances where victims were falsely told their cases had been investigated, state auditors warned Tuesday.

The findings, published in two reports by Rigsrevisionen (the National Audit Office of Denmark) and commissioned by the country’s cross-party Statsrevisorerne (Auditors General), confirm “sharp criticism” of police practices first exposed by Danish broadcaster DR last year. The auditors described the revelations as “poison for public trust in authorities.”

Victims deceived, cases closed without basic steps

The reports reveal that in 13,000 cases, police informed victims that investigations had been conducted—when in reality, “not a single investigative step” had been taken before the cases were closed. The failures span both economic and violent crime, including serious offenses such as rape, stalking, assault, and human trafficking.

“When police do not take cases of rape, stalking, violence, and human trafficking seriously enough, it undermines the sense of justice for both victims and society as a whole,” the Auditors General wrote in their statement. They warned that the practice risks allowing violent offenders to “go free and commit new crimes.”

The reports also document cases where offenses were deliberately recorded under lesser charges with lower penalties and reduced investigative requirements—a tactic critics argue was used to artificially improve closure rates.

Officers cite pressure from leadership

A survey of police officers, included in the audit, found that 7% admitted to omitting “obvious investigative steps” to close cases of violent crime more quickly. Of those, 61% said they did so because of explicit or implicit pressure from leadership to “deprioritize or omit investigations in certain cases.”

For economic crimes, 18% of officers reported either skipping basic investigative work to close cases or helping to dismiss cases with clear criminal elements despite opportunities for further inquiry.

The audit further uncovered written instructions suggesting financial considerations influenced investigative decisions. “We see in our investigation that there is pressure from leadership to close these cases,” said Mette Abildgaard, chair of the Auditors General and a member of parliament for the Conservative Party. “There is a leadership problem.”

Police chief acknowledges “uncomfortable reading”

Thorkild Fogede, Denmark’s national police commissioner, called the reports “uncomfortable reading” and acknowledged “hard criticism across many areas,” from broad systemic issues to specific failures in case handling. He noted, however, that the 13,000 problematic cases represent a fraction of the roughly 600,000 reports filed annually.

The Auditors General emphasized that the findings risk eroding public confidence in law enforcement. “It is harmful to the population’s sense of justice and trust in the police when cases of economic crime are closed without investigation—and when victims are told investigations have taken place when they haven’t,” their statement read.

The reports follow DR’s 2023 exposé, in which current and former officers described being ordered by superiors to skip basic investigative steps to meet closure targets. Internal police guidelines revealed at the time drew sharp criticism from legal experts.

Rigsrevisionen operates independently under Denmark’s parliament, auditing state finances and administration. Its findings are reviewed by the cross-party Auditors General before submission to lawmakers.