Roles and responsibilities

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) is responsible for alerting national authorities regarding international developments that may have implications for the level of terrorist threat in Denmark. The Danish national police and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (DSIS) are responsible for public security and thus for counterterrorism and protective security in Denmark.

In the event of a terrorist incident, the National Operative Staff (NOST) is activated to direct and coordinate the operational response. This is an inter-agency collaboration, where the National Police are responsible for leading the coordinating effort, in cooperation with, among others, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, the Danish Emergency Management Agency, and the Danish Health Authority. In such a situation, the police will have the coordinating role, the emergency services the tactical role and the health services the pre-hospital/operational role.

At planned events the prevention work usually goes to the local police authority. It is the organiser's responsibility to obtain approval and ensure compliance with any conditions imposed by the local police district in connection with the approval of the event. As an organiser, you can seek advice and guidance from your local police district. This is to ensure that the security level of the event corresponds to the current threat scenario.

In relation to buildings and sites, the developer must comply with existing legal requirements and guidelines, e.g., the fire requirements of the building regulations, as well as the recommendations of the emergency authorities. Responsibility for internal preventive measures rests with the management of an organisation, possibly in cooperation with relevant authorities. Just as it is important to place responsibility at the national level, ensuring that the internal division of responsibilities and roles is clear to all staff is also an important element of emergency planning in an organisation. This ensures that employees know their responsibilities and where to turn if they experience suspicious or threatening situations.

If an incident occurs, it is crucial to quickly gain an overview of how to coordinate resources. Therefore, it is beneficial to have procedures in place on how you want to get clarity over your resources (both centrally and decentrally in the organisation), as well as what actions you want taken in an acute situation. Having a clear plan cannot prevent an incident from happening, but it can at best mitigate the consequences of a potential attack. No one can make the perfect plan, but educating and training your management and staff can strengthen your resilience and build a security culture that is sufficiently agile to adapt to different scenarios without everything having to be written in a plan.