Denmark: Interdiscipinary and Co-operative Approaches to Crime Prevention with Special Reference to the City of Aalborg

Abstract

Aalborg, in Northern Jutland, is the fourth largest town in Denmark. The city has approximately 150 000 inhabitants and a further 20 000 persons live in the surrounding area. Both town and rural area fall within the Aalborg police district. Aalborg lies mainly on the southern bank of the Limfjorden, a natural seaway which connects the North Sea (to the west) and the Kattegat (to the east) as it crosses the Jutland peninsula. The town has a long, proud history from the days when it was founded by the Vikings at a point where the crossing of the Limfjorden was at its narrowest. Viking boats sailed from it (traders, fishermen, plunderers); merchant ships sailed from it for the Mediterranean (Danes having treaties for free passage with the pirates of the Barbary Coast); for the Americas; for the South China Seas. Even when the power of the Danish fleet was lost to the British in the eighteenth century Aalborg continued to be an important trading port. Traders brought in the raw materials which Denmark lacked; artisans, with Scandinavian flair for design, produced goods both for the home market and for export and industries developed. With a sizable merchant fleet and a flourishing fishing fleet using the port there was work in boat-building and repair yards. Greenland traders also used the port and its facilities.