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Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Asia Pacific World Search Search: Denmark's 'Night Owls' keep youth violence in check AFP - 1 hour 43 minutes ago COPENHAGEN (AFP) - - With violence on the rise in Denmark, a group of ethnically mixed volunteers calling themselves "Night Owls" have taken to the streets in nightly patrols to prevent juvenile delinquency by promoting dialogue. The Night Owls project was launched in 1998 in Elsinore, north of Copenhagen, together with the local municipality, social workers and police, and is based on a similar Swedish movement started in 1987 called "Farsor och morsor paa stan" (Moms and Dads on the Town). The 7,000 Danish volunteers are made up of men and women, both ethnic Danes and immigrants, who don yellow vests to make their nightly rounds on weekends and weekday afternoons in neighbourhoods prone to violence and vandalism. In Danish their name is "Natteravnene", the term for people who like to go out at night, and their aim is to bring "more security, fun and better integration" by offering dialogue and advice to youths, and, for the younger ones, handing out candy and balloons. "Studies have shown that vandalism has dropped significantly in the areas where they have patrols, as has violence, while drugs are no longer sold openly on the streets," Erik Thorsted, the head of the network and its 219 local associations, tells AFP. "Some 12 to 13 percent of young Danes and immigrants experience an identity crisis and they are the ones we have been focusing our attention on for 10 years. But we can't resolve their problems on our own," he says. Bodil Lehrmann, a 67-year-old retiree who volunteers as a Night Owl, proudly shows off Akacieparken, a public housing project with colourful flower gardens and modern buildings in the Valby neighbourhood west of Copenhagen. She says the Night Owls' efforts "have paid off." The annual cost of repairing vandalism in Valby has dropped from 750,000 kroner (100,000 euros, 126,700 dollars) five years ago to 48,000 kroner in November 2008, she says. In the past year, 40 immigrant women from countries such as Turkey, Somalia, Iraq and Morocco have joined the Night Owls, though they do their rounds in Copenhagen in the afternoons since they are unable to patrol at night. One of them is Zubeyde Mavi, a Turkish mother out on patrol with Gul Aydin and Bodil Lehrmann in Akacieparken. Children and youths usually avoid the male Night Owls. "But the presence of women, who could be their mothers, aunties or neighbours, reassures them," Mavi says. "We aren't private security guards nor police, but men and women trying to create a sense of security among the residents," says Gul, who serves as an ethnic consultant for the Night Owls movement. The Night Owls are also out in the daytime to look out for "the little ones who are left alone after school," she says. "They're on the streets, they're bored and they get into trouble" because their parents are not around to keep an eye on them. The Night Owls' success is attributed to the fact that "a lot of young people have a deep-rooted distrust of authorities and the police. They have more confidence in us," says Lehrmann. The volunteers have no real power, acting instead as social mediators. They come "to talk to us about their problems, or just to ask us for a condom," she says. "They need to be heard and treated with respect, since they are victims because of their names, the colour of their skin, or where they live, like Akacieparken, a ghetto that scares people," she says. The volunteers are aged 18 to 88, and carry out their two to four-hour patrols in groups of three people in their own neighbourhoods. They observe and talk with the youths, but never intervene if violence flares, calling police instead. They also help youngsters who've drunk too much, calling their parents, friends or a taxi, or in rare cases, police or an ambulance. To become a Night Owl volunteers one must take a course that covers first aid and conflict prevention, among other things. Near Kebab Station, a popular meeting spot for young people in front of the Valby Langgade train station, 26-year-old Leyla Aydemir says she welcomes the Night Owls. They help "calm things down, and prevent fights and nuisances at night," she says. Danish police were sceptical in the beginning but have since become wholehearted supporters of the project. Politicians too. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said recently the Night Owls "contribute remarkably to making the city safer and to better integrating youths." And the statistics back him up. According to the Danish economic analysis institute, the number of Danes concerned by the rise in violence and crime has dropped from 60 to 70 percent in 1996 to 50 to 60 percent in 2000 and 31 percent in 2006. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (0 votes) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Related Articles: Entertainment & Lifestyle Todd Rundgren, pop genius and studio magicianAFP - Thursday, November 27 NM governor hosts star-studded dinner at mansionAP - Thursday, November 27 Nelly's party will include new scholarshipsAP - Thursday, November 27 Electronic monitoring ordered for philanthropistAP - Thursday, November 27 Publisher disputes reports of book-buying freezeAP - Thursday, November 27 Enlarge Photo "Night Owls" volunteers walk the streets of Valby, Denmark. The volunteers, recognizable by their yellow jackets, give advice to youngsters to prevent violence, vandalism, and crime. 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