Get visitors and get police reports. This is the status of several of the police offices that the government has reopened in the past year. This summer, among other things, two police officers have spent an hour driving round trip from Fredrikstad to Hvaler twice a week to keep the Hvaler office open for the summer alive. It was the government that wanted a police station here. But this summer only five visited the office. None of them filed police reports. State Secretary Sigve Bolstad (Sp) says he does not want to get too hung up on police reports. – The police’s task is to ensure calm, order and safety throughout the country, including there. The police should not just sit inside. There must be dialogue between the police and the municipality, where the police must be part of the local community, he replies. Sigve Bolstad (Sp) met the deputy head of Høgre (right) to debate the new police offices. Photo: Aurora Ytreberg Meløe / news – Particularly satisfied Reopening police offices was a key election promise from the Center Party in the 2021 election campaign. Last year it was confirmed that the government would reopen 20 offices around the whole country, from Karlsøy in the north to Kvinesdal in the south. Part of the office opened last year, the rest will open this year. Bolstad is happy with the office. Among other things, he singled out the opening of the police office at Mortensrud in Oslo as a success. – But surely one must not set up an office in Hvaler in order to set up a police station in Mortensrud? – There were 20 service stations that were reopened. Geiranger and Hvaler are open in summer. That’s because there are a lot of people there. Then it is natural and completely sensible to have the police close by, he says. – Even if almost no people come by? – It was not necessarily the starting point that the police should sit behind a counter and wait for something. They must go out and be a natural part of it, and in the feedback we get from the municipalities, it is that they are particularly satisfied with getting the police closer to them. Bolstad (Sp) is happy about all the new offices the government has reopened. But deputy head of Høgre Henrik Asheim (right) points out that the police have never wanted more offices. Photo: Aurora Ytreberg Meløe / news Want more police officers When Erna Solberg (H) was prime minister, 126 police stations were closed. Deputy head of Høgre Henrik Asheim does not want the office back. – The most important thing is to have enough visible police in the local environment, whether in the cities or in the rural areas. Then you have to hire more police officers who can be out and about, and not necessarily prioritize more police offices that don’t get any visitors, he says. He points out that the police themselves have not wanted more offices. – We should employ more police officers and stop spending time and effort on setting up offices that receive very few visitors, he believes. – We should employ more police officers and stop spending time and effort on setting up offices that receive very few visitors, Asheim in Høgre believes. Photo: Aurora Ytreberg Meløe / news Published 01.10.2024, at 07.35
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– Natural and completely sensible – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
