The police in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland constitute one national force, employed directly by the state. The Minister for Justice, who is the chief police authority, exercises his powers through the National Commissioner, and the Commissioners of the police districts.

National Commissioner’s Office
The National Commissioner’s Office is in charge of the police allocations and administers the police personnel, office staffing and building maintenance. The administration of the legal personnel of the police is the responsibility of the Department of the Ministry of Justice.

The National Commissioner’s Office is headed by the National Commissioner. The organisational structure of the National Commissioner’s Office covers a number of principal departments, several of which have operational functions and provide assistance to the police districts. The National Commissioner’s Office comprises the following departments: Budgets and Accounts, the Building Surveying Department, the Data Department, the Traffic Department, Personnel and Recruitment, the Police Department, the Police College, the Aliens Department and the Danish Security Intelligence Service.

Prosecution Service
The Prosecution Service is placed under the Minister for Justice, who supervises the public prosecutors. The Prosecution Service comprises the Director of Public Prosecutions, the regional public prosecutors, the chief constables and the Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police.

Police Districts
Denmark is divided into 12 police districts (as well as the Faroe Islands and Greenland). In practically all police districts there are police stations (main police stations) that provide round-the-clock service, and sub-stations that are manned in the daytime only. In more sparsely populated rural areas there are also rural beat officers.

Community Police
In order to enhance the police effort in local areas, a number of community police posts have been set up in several towns in a large number of police districts. The objective is to achieve greater security by establishing as close contact as possible with other local authorities and the citizens. The community police deal with most of the traditional police tasks.

Cooperation
In case of incidents that require the deployment of large manpower resources, the police districts assist each other across district boundaries.

The Police of the Future
In the summer of 2003, the Danish Government set up a Vision Committee regarding the Police of the Future. The terms of reference of the Committee were to draw up an overall vision for the Danish police and study alternative models regarding, for example, organisation and performance of tasks.