– The way this video appears, it is apt to damage trust in the police. It is shocking in its content, says police director Benedicte Bjørnland to news. On Wednesday evening, Dagbladet wrote about the case of Kevin Simensen (26). After an evening on the town in autumn 2022, he and his friends were subjected to several blows with a baton and the fists of a police officer. The officer is now being prosecuted by the Bureau, which investigates cases where police officers are involved. Bjørnland emphasizes that she does not know the content of the Bureau’s investigation beyond what appears in the video, but repeats the word shocking in her description of it. – We generally have a high level of trust, but a case like this is apt to destroy trust in the police, she says. Director of Police Benedicte Bjørnland Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB Punch to the face The case started when the gang of friends were on the town in Kongsberg. They were thrown out by a bouncer at the nightclub, who believed Simensen had made threats against him. On the way home, they met a police patrol at Esso. Here, surveillance cameras show how Simensen was laid on the ground and received several punches to the face. His friend Kristian Teigen (26) was hit with a baton when he heard Simensen shout that he couldn’t breathe, and tried to intervene. A third friend, Marius Stormo (28), was sprayed with pepper spray by a police officer who he says took his phone and deleted the video he took while Simensen was lying on the ground. The officer is being investigated by the Special Unit for the deletion of the video. On the night of 22 October, Kevin Simensen was put to the ground by several police officers in Kongsberg. Now a police officer is charged with police violence. The police chief reported Two of the men were taken into custody, and are still being investigated for violence and threats. But when the police got hold of the video, which has caused strong reactions throughout Norway, police chief Ole Bredrup Sæverud decided to report his own employee. – We gained access to the video on 1 November. The contents of it were brought up to me, and when we saw it the conclusion was that this was a matter that we must report to the Bureau, and which has ended in the creation of a personnel file which has meant that the person has not been in operational service since that , says Sæverud to news. Kevin Simensen’s face was visibly damaged after the incident on 30 October last year. Photo: Privat He does not want to go into the working relationship with the police officer who is now being charged, but says that he is not driving patrols or out in public because of the case. – Based on what is in the surveillance video that most people have now seen, it was quite clear that there was a relationship that had to be reported to the Bureau, says Sæverud. – What is the difference between reporting and reporting to the Bureau? – There are a number of situations where we are in dialogue with the special unit and report to the special unit, to give them the opportunity to investigate if they wish. and then there are some cases where we ourselves make an assessment of the case which indicates that it is right to report the case, simply that we ask for it to be investigated. This was in the latter category. Kristian Teigen, Kevin Simensen and Marius Stormo met news on Friday. They are still affected by what happened last autumn. Photo: Eirik Sørenmo Påsche / news A police officer is still being investigated There are a total of three police employees at the South-Eastern Police District who have been investigated by the Bureau after the incident at the petrol station. A policeman has thus been charged, while the officer who deleted the mobile video of the witness Marius Stormo is still being investigated. The third case has been sent to the police district for administrative assessment. Regarding this case, the Bureau writes that the report the officers wrote after the incident “in several respects deviates from what actually happened”, and that the police officers described actions carried out by Simensen and Stormo that did not happen, based on the recordings. – It is linked to the question of report writing, especially that which applies to expressing uncertainty about the fact if one is unsure. We get several cases forwarded for administrative follow-up. This applies to report writing in general, so it is natural that we have to follow it up in dialogue with others, says Sæverud. The incident happened here on 30 October last year. Photo: Eirik Sørenmo Påsche / news Also Teigen and Simensen, who were subjected to violence by the police, are being investigated for violence and threats by the police. Sæverud does not want to comment on the investigation, but says that the prosecution has not yet been decided. Lawyer Sidra Bhatti at Advokatfirmaet Rogstad, who speaks on behalf of all three clients of Advokatfirmaet Rogstad, expects that the cases against Teigen and Simensen will now be dropped. – The police clearly go far beyond what is proportionate in such a situation. They could have responded well with less invasive measures, says Bhatti to news. – The victim is neither threatening nor aggressive. You see a few words being exchanged before the violence starts, she says. She believes, in contrast to the police chief, that the officers deliberately wrote an incorrect police report in the wake of the incident. – They have done what they could to hide evidence. It is serious, it is reprehensible, and it is a situation that contributes to weakening trust in the police and the legal system, she says. Tip news’s crime group: Do you have information about this case or other crime cases? Contact news’s crime group. You can tip us off by e-mail or through news’s encrypted notification service. Here you can tip us anonymously. We also treat all tips confidentially, in line with the Vær varsom poster’s rules on source protection.
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– Can weaken trust in the police – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
