On 13 May, the Attorney General issued new guidelines which mean that the police can use coercive measures in drug cases to a far lesser extent than before. This may involve checking your mobile or home. Because as a drug addict you should not be punished, you should not expect to be searched. – The problem is that the Attorney General’s new guidelines have meant that the police cannot use searches in many cases where they would like to do so. This makes us less able to fight crime, says FRP’s Per-Willy Amundsen. WANTS LAW CHANGE: Per-Willy Amundsen, justice policy spokesperson in Frp. Photo: Bjørn Inge Bergestuen / Progress Party He asks the Minister of Justice to bring about an amendment to the law. KrF does the same: – I think the Attorney General has gone further than the majority in the Storting thought. Therefore, we must have a clarification in the Storting, says Kjell Ingolf Ropstad. Positive to the police Anita Vårvik describes herself as a drug addict. Now she is on heroin-assisted treatment. – When the police came here earlier, everyone disappeared. But now they can go back and forth here without people running away. There is a pretty big difference, says Vårvik at Stortorget in Oslo. She believes the police have other means than searching. At the same time see the need to be able to catch culprits. – It’s double. I must say that the culprits should be caught. I should not say what is written here, but I think so, she says. If the police stop her with a user dose, they let her go. They also do not take the drug from her, she says. – They’re polite. They care and ask if it goes well. HAS NOTIFIED CHANGE: Anita Vårvik in a conversation on Stortorget in Oslo. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news The Supreme Court reduced the sentence The Attorney General’s guidelines state that drug addicts should not be stopped, arrested, or searched on the basis of suspicion of their own use. The background for the Attorney General’s new guidelines was three judgments handed down by the Supreme Court on 8 April, where the court carried out a significant downgrade of criminal law reactions in such cases. FRP believes the police are losing means to catch the culprits. Amundsen believes that the police, for example, must be able to check telephones and find out who the person bought the drug from. KrF emphasizes young people, who they believe can be stopped on the way into possible drug addiction. SENDING SUGGESTIONS: Kjell Ingolf Ropstad believes the police must be able to search on suspicion of drugs. Photo: Jon Anders Møllen / news – I react to the fact that many make the police almost an enemy. It is the organized criminals that are the problem, it is the drugs that are the problem. So the police must have the means to be able to uncover, to send on to help or take culprits and get them convicted, Ropstad says. – Then do you think that the police must be able to search? – Yes, I mean it. If they are to help a young person, and prevent them from starting with drugs, it must be possible to take a test if they are using drugs, if they are in possession of drugs. And for the police, there is often a way in to catch culprits and other crimes, Ropstad answers. KrF has sent several proposals to the Storting, where one of them is about searching. KrF’s drug proposal 1. The Storting asks the government to strengthen the treatment offer and health care for drug addicts, including strengthening the municipalities’ preventive services, the capacity of interdisciplinary specialized drug treatment and measures to increase the quality of life for drug addicts, and return to the Storting as soon as possible. 2. The Storting asks the Government to present a case in which it is stated that the use and possession of drugs is still a criminal offense, but that heavily addicted people are to be met with adapted reactions such as failure to prosecute and health care. 3. The Storting asks the government to ensure that the police continue to prioritize the fight against illegal drug use among young people. 4. The Storting asks the Government to submit proposals for necessary clarifications of legislation to ensure that the police have the necessary tools in their work to combat drug crime, including specifying the conditions that must be met to decide on a search for suspected use and possession of drugs and to secure evidence of use that holds in court, such as saliva samples. Source: The Storting The police in Bergen believe it may be more difficult to reach backers according to the guidelines from the Attorney General. – We are now losing some of the contact with the user communities, which gave the police good knowledge of the drug market, says police chief Kaare Songstad to Bergens Tidende. Police say they get information about ringleaders and sellers of drugs through criminal cases in the somewhat smaller drug cases. Marius Dietrichson of the Norwegian Bar Association believes that the Attorney General’s writing was completely correct. – The criminal justice system is not for the sick, drug addicts who do no harm but to themselves, he believes. Must bring Labor and Social Democrats The government parties Labor and Social Democrats and the Green Party voted against the drug reform of the previous government. Although they will come up with their own drug reform at the end of 2023, Sp does not rule out that something may happen sooner. State Secretary Hans-Petter Aasen says it is positive that others come up with proposals, and that they are concerned that the police have the necessary tools to prevent, prevent and investigate drug crime. – As part of a prevention and treatment reform, the police are an important player, says Aasen, who is State Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Emergency Management Emilie Enger Mehl. – But do you do anything before the comprehensive reform you are talking about? – These are assessments we make in the ministry now, answers Aasen, who says this has a high priority.
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FRP and KrF demand that the police be allowed to search people they suspect have drugs – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
