The monetary gift from the then police director Odd Reidar Humlegård was given on the occasion of the NNPF’s 25th birthday in 2016. “As thanks for the efforts over 25 years, the Norwegian Police Directorate wishes to present a gift of NOK 100,000 to the NNPF”, says the letter, which news obtained access to 2021 and mentioned then. The money came on top of the 400,000 kroner that the Norwegian Police Directorate had already given the association in connection with their educational conference. On Wednesday, a committee that has investigated the ties between the police and the drug policy association NNPF presented its report. A unanimous committee believes, among other things, that the police have not been able to distinguish between the role of police and the role of NNPF well enough. The gift from former police director Humlegård is among the topics that are problematised. Calls for more reflection Both the Ministry of Justice and the Norwegian Police Directorate have given annual payments to the drug association’s annual conference for periods of almost 20 years. The committee has now determined that these subsidies were not in line with the regulations. The money was transferred directly from the operating budgets of the Ministry of Justice and the police, respectively. “In the committee’s view, NNPF’s role as an independent drug policy organization should call for a greater degree of reflection on the problematic of transferring operating funds directly to the association, without ensuring an open application process,” the committee writes in its report. The report highlights two cases where the justice sector has given NNPF gifts. In 2000, the Ministry of Justice gave part of the grant to the conference as a gift on the occasion of the association’s 10th anniversary. In 2016, the NNPF thus received NOK 100,000 from then police director Odd Reidar Humlegård. Photo: Screenshot “Completely outside the rules on financial management” In the report, the committee writes that Humlegård announced at the association’s annual conference Education conference that they would receive NOK 100,000 as an anniversary gift. A few months after the conference, the money was transferred to the association. “To the extent that it is unfortunate that support was given to the NNPF’s education conference, it appears clear to the committee that a mere gift to the association – completely outside the rules on financial management – must be judged all the more strictly”, writes the committee. Odd Reidar Humlegård was police director from 2012–2018. Photo: Lokman Ghorbani / news Humlegård rejects membership On the phone from New York, where Humlegård currently works at Interpol, the former police director denies ever having been a member of the NNPF. He emphasizes that he has not yet read the report, only seen the media reports. – I see that the committee has found that there was no authority for this. You have to deal with that, but that was not how it was seen at the time. It was a big event where many people were present, says Humlegård. He believes the money should go to the education conference which had already been held two months earlier. – That was the intention. I don’t know if this took time to process. When I was over there during that conference, we understood that it was a big event, and came back and considered whether it was possible to provide support. So that was the idea, he says. NNPF members gave grants to NNPF In the report to the committee, it is also highlighted how NNPF members themselves have been involved in the processing and allocation of funds for NNPF’s education conference. The committee calls it “unfortunate” that NNPF members in the Police Directorate have themselves been involved in the allocation of money to the drug policy association. “The committee does not take a position on whether the officials who participated in the processing of the allocation of funds to the NNPF were incompetent for the allocations in question, but agrees with POD that it is unfortunate that members of the NNPF have participated in these proceedings. This is especially so since it can be asked whether the financial regulations opened up the allocations in question,” the report states. – Was role understanding and how to relate to the NNPF ever a topic when you were police director? – I have not participated in any major discussions about this. It is clear that there is a trade-off between what they can do as an association and what can lead to a misunderstanding of the roles. I think it is very good that you have had a review of it, that you have clear boundaries for it. – I should probably have reflected more on that during the time I worked in the police at several levels. It has obviously not been reflected well enough, says Humlegård.
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Former police director gave 100,000 as a gift to drug addiction association – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
