I Like the Idea of Denmark Police Being Paid to Play Games

It turns out that Denmark has a specialized unit of police officers whose job is to play online games like Counterstrike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, and Minecraft.

The Danish Politiets Online Patrulje (Police Online Patrol) is a squad of Danish police officers who patrol online social spaces to keep an eye out for things like fraud and hate speech.

The unit maintains a presence on platforms like Steam, Discord, and Twitch, where it engages with users and streams its activities.

They even have customized player avatars in Minecraft to resemble a Danish police uniform. The unit got started back in April 2022 with the goal of “patrolling social media [and] engaging in dialogue with children and young people, preventing inappropriate behavior and crime, and intervening if offenses are committed.”

The Danish police are not the only ones to use gaming as a way to connect with young people.

The community police in the Netherlands had a “Gaming with the police” initiative in 2020, with 21 teams across the country trying to “keep in touch with youth who are active in the digital domain” by “entering their ‘comfort zone’ through gaming.”

Although the Dutch police did not report on the success of the initiative, they stated that “gaming with the youth is well-received […] because it is a means that matches their interests [and] is a contemporary way of connecting.”

Online gaming is also an avenue used by extremist groups for recruitment, and recent cases, such as the ISIS-roleplaying teens in Roblox, show the kind of bizarre and disturbing stuff that happens hidden away on the internet.

However, it is unclear whether sprinkling a few officers across a handful of servers would do much to counteract this. While having responsible adults available for kids to turn to when they feel uncomfortable in online games is a good idea, more people are needed to make a significant impact.

There is also the question of whether the police should be the ones doing this at all. While efforts like this may be to counteract hate speech or grooming, there is a lingering suspicion that the subtextual motivation may be to recruit young people to the force while they are impressionable.

The US military, for instance, actively makes efforts to reach kids through video games like Call of Duty and on platforms like Twitch. Thus, it is challenging not to view such initiatives through that lens.

Final Words

Regardless of the motivations and effectiveness of the Danish Police Online Patrol, it is a reminder that we live in the 21st century.

Police officers play games like Minecraft and run a Discord server as part of their job.

While some may view this as one of the cushier jobs down at the station, others may see it as a necessary step to connect with young people in their natural habitats.

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