In the coming winter season, the mountain village will have its own, intermediate police station. – It is very good to be heard. This is about securing both our own population and those who visit us. Our own service center will be able to cut down on the response time in the event of incidents, and is a very welcome initiative that we appreciate, says Pål Rørby (Sp), mayor of Hemsedal. “Ein viss trøkk” The mountain village usually has just over 2,600 inhabitants. But Hemsedal is also among the country’s biggest winter destinations. At the busiest times, for example around Easter, the population doubles. Pål Rørby (Sp) is the mayor of Hemsedal. Photo: Caroline Utti – The population can increase tenfold in parts of the winter season. And people like to come to Hemsedal to be active both out in the mountains and in the evenings, so there will be a certain amount of traffic up here. The municipality has not had its own police station for several years. The nearest service center is in Gol, 20–30 minutes away. And otherwise, Hallingdal is a long geographical area with limited police resources. In the event of an emergency, it can therefore take a long time before the nearest police patrol arrives in Hemsedal. The population in the mountain village doubles when the winter season is at its busiest. Photo: Rolf Erik Møistad Has called out warning Earlier, the municipal management in Hemsedal was forced to hire its own security guards to patrol the village during the high season. The mayor has called out a warning linked to the local police emergency services. – It has been quite demanding. We are always in contact with security companies and the tourism industry here. At times they feel that the police are far away. Long journeys mean that security guards are called upon to deal with situations they do not actually have the authority to deal with while they wait for the police, says Rørby. – So I hope this will improve significantly now with more police present at the time of year when we have the most people here, he adds. Equally, he underlines that the municipality, the travel and business community already have good cooperation with the police. They just want more police resources. Hemsedal is among the country’s largest ski destinations. The outside town Stavkroa is among those that attract a lot of people during the season. Photo: Stavkroa Against police professional advice The ten new service stations in 2024 will be in addition to the nine offices that will be opened, or reopened, this year. Earlier this week, it emerged that the police themselves do not want any more of these new service stations. Chief of Police in Sør-Aust police district, Ole B. Sæverud, supports what Rørby says that the police and local actors in Hemsedal have cooperated well. Ole B. Sæverud, chief of police in Sør-Aust. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news But when asked what he thinks about Hemsedal getting a temporary office, he does not give a concrete answer: – We very much agreed with the government’s ambition to further develop the police service. But I had other measures that I thought were more important, and which could have had more effect, than new offices. But when a decision is made about new offices, we open new offices, says Sæverud. Waiting for the state budget The police chief cannot say for the time being whether the new office will also bring with it increased staffing. – It is too early to say how we will practically solve this. We have to see what kind of demands are made, and what will come in the state budget for 2024. After that, we will enter into a dialogue with Hemsedal municipality to see how we can build on the cooperation we have. The temporary service center in Hemsedal is one of a total of 10 to be established in 2024. Here are the municipalities that will have new service centers: Lillestrøm (Sørumsand), Rakkestad, Karlsøy, Kvinesdal, Levanger, Nesodden, Sør-Odal, Vaksdal, Åseral and Hemsedal (winter season ). These nine service stations will open in 2023: Engerdal, Hvaler (summer season), Meråker, Oslo (Mortensrud), Salangen, Sandefjord (Torp), Sigdal, Steigen and Stranda (summer season).
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Hemsedal gets its own police office: – Good to hear
