Danish Police’s gaming squad is getting viral on internet

The Politiets Online Patrulje (Police Online Patrol), a specialized Danish police division, which was established in April 2022 to keep an eye on online space, is gaining new traction of attention on social media.

The special gaming squad is primarily responsible for preventing inappropriate behavior in the digital world and intervening in other digital offenses. These special cops are entrusted with keeping an eye on online social networks like Steam, Discord, and Twitch.

The online patrol cops have accounts on titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, and Minecraft, where they often play with young people online to look for signs of hate speech, fraud, and even child grooming. If residents notice any suspicious online activity or have questions about how to navigate the Internet safely, they can contact the Police Online Patrol through Facebook Messenger.

The online patrol team keeps up a social media presence on a number of websites, including Facebook and Instagram. The unit also has a TikTok account where it uploads highlights to its 100K subscribers and displays behind-the-camera activities.

Can they eradicate the in-game toxicity?

Recent years have seen an upsurge in in-game toxicity, with players in some games often encountering hate speech and abuse. A study published by Unity in 2021 shows that the gaming community is particularly prone to toxic behavior online. Seven out of ten gamers, according to the research, claim to have encountered toxic behavior, which is defined as sexual harassment, hate speech, threats of violence, and doxing.

The survey was conducted in collaboration with The Harris Poll among 2,076 U.S.-based adults ages 18 and older. A little more than two-thirds of gamers believe they’re more likely to stop playing a game if another player is aggressive or behaves toxically. Over 92% of respondents, believed that stronger measures should be taken to enforce the rules against toxic behavior and the in-game code of conduct.

The study discovered that men were more likely to use voice chat and other forms of communication while playing games, leading to more frequent instances of toxic conduct. Women usually avoid voice chat owing to sexual harassment, but those who do participate are more likely to stop playing a game as a result of the toxicity.

While the problem appears huge, it’s not clear how much this might be mitigated by deploying a few policemen among a few servers. But, Denmark isn’t the only country that has been experimenting with innovative strategies to fight internet fraud, toxicity, and other wrongdoing.

In order to stay in touch with young people, community police in the Netherlands launched the Gaming with the police program” in 2020. Although there’s not enough data to provide conclusive evidence that Online Police Patrol works as intended, they are certainly making new popularity waves on the internet.

Image Credit: Politiets Online Patrulje