The case of the student assistant reveals a **"huge criminal potential"** (or **"significant criminal risk"**).

A 27-year-old former student assistant at the marriage registry office in Copenhagen City Hall is facing trial today—and the charges against him are serious.

The man has admitted to sharing sensitive personal information in exchange for payment but denies involvement in attempted robberies, assaults, and murder, as he is accused of.

According to prosecutors, he accessed the CPR database 77 times.

As a student assistant, the 27-year-old had access to the CPR database, allowing him to obtain information such as addresses, CPR numbers, and marital status.

This is an unusual case here in Denmark.

It serves as an indication of how sensitive personal data is becoming increasingly valuable in criminal networks.

- There’s no doubt that this has significant criminal potential, says David Sausdal, a criminologist and police researcher at Lund University.

Listen to David Sausdal explain three recruitment methods used by gangs:

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A small but effective fish

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A hundred years ago, there were archives and parchment—today, we have servers and databases.

As digitalization and digital infrastructure have advanced, more and more people have access to sensitive personal information.

- We live in a truly digitized society where vast amounts of personal data aren’t just stored at home in individual suburban houses but in databases that criminals have a strong interest in accessing, says David Sausdal.

This is also one reason why criminal groups target smaller, less visible individuals when recruiting, he assesses.

- Criminals aren’t generally interested in placing someone high up in local government or the police. No, they prefer those who work quietly in the shadows—a student assistant, for example, who has access to relevant registries, says Sausdal.

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> Once you’re inside the criminal network, you never get out again

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> Jan Persson, Swedish security expert and author

According to David Sausdal, this highlights the need for greater awareness of data security risks when hiring people for these critical roles—even those not at the top of the system.

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The same issue in Sweden

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Across the Øresund Strait, among our Swedish neighbors, such a case wouldn’t be entirely unusual.

Quite the opposite.

That’s the view from Jan Persson, who has 10 years in Sweden’s intelligence service, Säpo, on his CV, and has written a book titled *‘The Clans’* about how criminal groups infiltrate Swedish public systems.

In recent years, Sweden has seen multiple crimes where information from various jobs across different sectors has played a key role for Swedish gangs, clans, and, yes, the entire organized criminal network.

Jan Persson explains that it all comes down to one thing.

- Simply put, these organized criminals have a constant need for money. Money drives them.

And that’s why they require "insiders" or "enablers"—people who can help criminal groups obtain information or influence decisions.

- It could be employees in local government, politicians, police officers, or even professionals in the business sector like banks or insurance companies, says Jan Persson.

**Documentary | Season 1: The Gangs’ Child Soldiers** (https://www.dr.dk/drtv/saeson/bandernes-boernesoldater_560414)

Some individuals may already be part of criminal organizations, while others are coerced or willingly join.

Jan Persson describes a person in Swedish customs who was responsible for scheduling and knew details about the ships arriving at the port. On the outside, he appeared to live a perfectly normal life, but he had a gambling problem and frequently visited a specific nightclub in Stockholm owned by one of these criminal clans.

- The clan and this person had built a relationship through the nightclub, and someone from the clan approached him and said: *"We can help you with your gambling debt if you do us this favor."*

The man then wanted to know how customs worked and how one gets hired there. And so, the customs employee left the nightclub with an envelope in hand.

- What he didn’t realize was that he was now deeply entangled with this criminal group.

- Once you’re inside the criminal network, you never get out again, says Jan Persson.

The 27-year-old former student assistant worked at Copenhagen City Hall. *(Photo: © Ida Marie Odgaard, Ritzau Scanpix)*

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'Leaders must review their employees’ CPR activity'

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The municipality has previously stated that there have been no automatic checks to see if employees make unauthorized searches.

Today, DR asked Copenhagen Municipality whether any additional precautions have been taken following this case.

- In connection with the ongoing case, Copenhagen Municipality is in dialogue with the CPR office, which falls under the Ministry of Digitalization’s department, regarding further technical measures, writes Copenhagen Municipality.

Since CPR is a shared public IT system, these measures must also be implemented there, according to the capital’s municipality.

- In parallel, Copenhagen Municipality has intensified the logging of CPR activity, where managers must review their employees’ actions in the CPR system.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.