The Danish Crisis Management System

The Crisis Management system is designed to be modular and scale-able. Crisis management should be handled at the lowest possible level according to the geographical extent and size of the specific threat or incident:

• The local level, directly at the incident scene
• The regional level, by the local crisis management staffs of the 12 regional police districts
• The national level, through the national crisis management organisation and NOST

The Danish Crisis Management system rests on the principles of sectorial responsibility, swift action, coordination and the equality principle. They imply, that the authorities area of responsibility in crisis do not differ from their normal duties, and there is an overall imperative to act and corporate between agencies and organisation to solve the ongoing crisis.

Locally, the Danish police has the coordinating responsibility between different agencies at an incident scene.

Regionally, the local police director heads the local crisis management staff, which is in place to coordinate the response of emergency management services across the geographic area of one of the 12 police districts. The local crisis management staff is permanently composed of, among others, representatives from the local Police, the Danish Defence, the Home Guard, and the Danish Emergency Management Agency, regional and municipal authorities.

If an incident covers multiple police districts, or reaches an extent, which comprises a national emergency, the National Operational Staff (NOST) will meet to facilitate operational coordination. At the NOST level, the Danish Defence Command and Danish Emergency Management Agency participates with representatives at the executive level.

The Danish Emergency Management Agency Danish Emergency Management Agency