Danish police turn to burglars

Overwhelmed by a wave of break-ins of holiday homes, police in northern Denmark have turned to former burglars for crime-fighting tips.

Police in Zealand, a northern region known for its many vacation homes, said they had drawn up a survey for former burglars aimed at reaching a better understanding of their techniques and their motivations.

"We want to know how a burglar decides one specific house over its neighbour," Finn Bernth Andersen, the local police commissioner in Frederikssund where the number of break-ins soared 16 percent between 2010 and 2011, told the local daily Frederiksborg Amts Avis.

He explained to AFP that the survey would be given to burglars who are currently behind bars or have already served their sentences, adding that responding to the questionnaire would be voluntary.

"We ask them what we should do to better secure homes," and also how police can help burglars from reoffending, he explained.

The survey has just been drawn up and would be distributed in the three Zealand municipalities of Frederikssund, Egedal and Halsnaes "very soon," Andersen said, adding that he hoped to receive honest