ABSTRACT
The theme of this chapter is the development of the first Danish secret police in Copenhagen from 1800–48. We focus on the new organisation and on the new methods that allowed the police to control and survey citizens much better than before. These new police activities depended very much on the use of informers and agents and these actions are followed closely. In 1816, the famous pan-German agitator Professor Arndt visited Copenhagen and, during his stay, he was under constant observation by the police, who also searched his hotel room, hoping to find compromising material. In 1819, a violent anti-Jewish protest movement (the Hep-Hep riots) spread from Germany to Copenhagen. The secret police constantly followed the demonstrations, hoping to locate and arrest possible leaders. However, they did not succeed, primarily because the demonstrators were members of a collective movement without leaders. In the following year, the secret police concentrated all its efforts in its surveillance of the leaders of a small liberal circle who were agitating for political reforms. With the help of several informers and a very active agent provocateur, the police managed to arrest the leader of the group, Jacob Dampe, with such conclusive evidence that he could be sentenced to death. This action was used by the government to send an unequivocal message to the liberal opposition, which had a major impact for decades. First, in the beginning of the 1840s, the opposition gained new strength, and to follow their activities, and the police began to collect mood assessments from public places, which was a relatively new police activity. The surveillance continued for two to three years; it did not lead to any prosecutions, but it had a calming effect on the king and the police leaders. Overall, the establishment of the secret police proved to be a success in that it had a major role in preventing the removal from power of the absolutist Danish government until 1848.
