Photo vans in the Danish police earn so much that they are included in the budget. A new report from the National Audit Office reveals how much it is.
Since December 2022, there have been 107 photo vans in Denmark. And it's a very good business. So much so, in fact, that the cars are on the budget.
A new report from the National Audit Office , published in February, reveals a little bit of everything. While the police are being criticized for not using the camera vans well enough, some figures are also being put on the table.
By the way, do you remember if you received a speeding ticket during 2023? If the answer is yes, you were one of the drivers who paid a total of 759,000,000 kroner into the treasury during that period.
That's the amount that drivers were fined for, according to the Danish National Audit Office. And that's a significant increase in just three years. Because in 2020, although there were slightly fewer photo vans on the country's roads, they received 'only' 680,000,000 kroner in the treasury.
And this is actually even though 5 years ago the photo vans 'only' spent 72,472 hours on the roads around Denmark.
Three years' worth of wages in 4 hours in one photo van
Ekstra Bladet has previously uncovered how police around the country chase drivers who press the accelerator too hard. And it's almost too easy. That is, for the police.
According to the media outlet's information, the state can easily earn three years' worth of salary for a photo van operator in just 4 hours.
The latest figures used by the National Audit Office show that 90 percent of all speeding tickets in Denmark come from automatic traffic control. However, there is some evidence that not all police work is as smooth as it could be.
The normally media-savvy traffic police officer Preben Sandager will not answer questions when it emerged that he had been interviewed on suspicion of tampering with evidence against 'speeding drivers'.
Sandager, who recently retired, has even been charged with insanity by his own employer following a 900-page report by the Independent Police Complaints Authority, DUP.
However, the state attorney ultimately chose to drop the case against Preben Sandager, as it is believed that the former officer's alleged madness is word for word. Read more about it here .
The new photo vans, which brought the number of ATK cars up to 107, are also much more advanced than before. The cars can both 'see' forwards and backwards. Just as they can now catch motorcyclists.
