- November 9, 2005
- Posted by Marc
“How to Get Caught in Copenhagen”
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“About a year ago, some friends and I went to
Copenhagen for beers and painting. We all do stencils, and the first night there
we went for a walk. Some of us put up some stickers on the way, but the first
real hit was on a nice building on a busy road. We painted and got away ok, then
went further down the road and did some more. We walked over a bridge in two
groups on our way back, the first group was stopped by the cops. I was walking
about 30 meters behind them, my friend and I immediately turned and walked the
other way for a bit, dropping the stencil from the bridge over dry land to pick
it up later. My friends got off the hook with a warning, I picked up my stencil
and we kept walking up the same street. When we came to the building we painted,
we saw a copcar drive by slowly, but was too naive to really care. When we got
to the pedestrian shoppingarea/street a van full of cops suddenly comes up
behind us and jumps us. Luckily we were walking with a bit of a distance between
us, so they only catch me and and one of my friends. I dont think they realized
we were more than two people. They are really angry, search our bag and finds
the paint. We didnt get handcuffs but I was being an asshole when answering
their questions. I said we didnt know eachother, that I found the stencil a bit
down the street and that was why I had paint on my hands. They said they had
been following us for a while. We got in their car and we werent allowed to talk
to eachother. They pulled up next to the wall we had done and they got out to
look for “evidence”. They found two fatcaps and were really proud, telling us
that they would match them with our fingerprints. They also take some photos of
our work. I was still denying everything, my friend was more mellow. Then they
drive us to the policestation, that are a few blocks away. At the station, they
ask us more questions, take our fingerprints and mugshot. They also photograph
our hands with paint on them. Wear gloves, kids. They searched us, took the
stuff They searched us, took the stuff that was in our pockets, my belt andour
shoes. No strip search. The cops at the station were a bitnicer than the
ones that caught us.I was asked if I needed to go to the bathroom because there
werent onein my cell. The cell was quite big, clean and quiet, and I got itall
to myself. Bright light, a plasticmatress and a blanket. Videosurveillance and
a button/speaker to contact the cops if I needed to. I fell asleep immediately,
but they keep coming in about once an hour"checking in on me”, asking if I
needed water or a piss. I think they were just making sure I couldnt get a good
nights sleep. They also turned the heating up and down, and when I covered my
facewith the blanket they told me not to.I was drunk and sleepy so it didnt
matter. I just tried to sleep asmuch as possible.We were caught at about two o
clock, and at one o clock the next day Iwas taken upstairs to talk to another
cop. He wrote everything downand I changed my statement. I admitted we
sprayed the walltheycaught us for doing, and when he asked me why I said it was
because I wanted to add to what was already there.The cop then said that “just
because the people that owns the buildingdecided to put up the portrait of what
seems to be a famous musician,dont make it ok for us vandals to hit it as
well.“The guy who did the most of the painting together with me wasntcaught, and
it turned out the cop believed his stuff was official, putup with
consent…pretty funny.I just went along with it, laughing my ass off inside of
me.The cop also asked me alot of other questions. Why did I come toDenmark? Why
did I paint? How did I paint? Who was the guy Ipainted?I answered all
questions, some with the truth and some with lies, andwas then free to leave.
They were going to send the fine to thepolice in my country. My friend that
is from a third country gotthe money she had on her taken away as a fine. She
was questionedand released a few hours before me. They confiscated her bag and
thepaint, so the rest of the weekend she had to carry her stuff in a “bagof
evidence”.After I got out I met up with the rest of the crew and then went
topaint legally in Christiania.I never got that fine, and it turned out to be a
valuable lesson forall involved.We are a lot more careful when we paint
nowadays, and I havent been caught since.