COPENHAGEN, June 17: Some police officers in Denmark refused to answer an emergency call because they were engrossed in watching a televised World Cup football match, a Danish newspaper reported on Friday.

The father of a 14-year-old boy phoned the police station at Gladsaxe, northwest of Copenhagen, on Monday night to report that his son had been threatened with a knife by two men on a motorcycle, who attacked the boy and stole his mobile phone, according to the tabloid, Ekstra Bladet.

He asked the police to send a patrol car as the robbers were still in the area and could be arrested.

“We can't send a car because we don't have the men” available, the police station told him.

The father decided to file a complaint and went to the station, where he was surprised to find six to eight officers watching the Italy-Ghana match.

A senior officer at Gladsaxe, Allan Enevoldsen, has opened an inquiry into the incident.

“We ought to have the resources for the armed robbery of a 14-year-old boy threatened with a knife,” he said.

“And nothing in my preliminary inquiry indicates that the officers were so busy they could not send a patrol to the area,” he told the paper.—AFP