– I just get frustrated. After over two years of fighting, the only answer is a couple of lines that no illegalities have been found, says Geir Larsen. He received the decision from the Bureau of Police Affairs before the weekend. Without any justification, they state that the Finnmark police district did nothing criminal in the case concerning Larsen’s daughter Victoria, who was subjected to violence by a repeat criminal. At the same time, the state attorney states that there are major shortcomings in the work of the Finnmark police district. In over 50 criminal cases last year, there were major errors in follow-up and quality assurance. Alleged 15 errors In the complaint to the Bureau, Geir Larsen listed 15 matters he believed to be punishable errors by the police after his daughter reported her ex-boyfriend for several cases of violence. She felt that things were falling apart. Several others in the local community were also offended in the cases, which came before the court in October 2021. They were so poorly investigated that the prosecutor in the case simply gave up presenting evidence for them. The 30-year-old was thus acquitted of most of the charges. The man had a very violent history, and has subsequently been sentenced to more than five years in prison for a very serious rape. An SMS that was found in an old backup led to the police in Finnmark having to apologize for incorrect information. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn / news Larsen believes the police have grossly failed both in the investigation and in the follow-up of the victim. One of the points in his report is that the police did not give the man a restraining order against visiting Victoria. The police gave wrong information about the case when Larsen complained. After the documentation turned up in an old backup, they had to apologize for the matter. Will complain Larsen is disappointed that none of the mistakes have any consequences for the police. It doesn’t get any better if the case is dropped without any justification, he says. – It is possible that the Bureau could have come up with a justification that I had accepted. But when they don’t go through it point by point, I’m still sitting here wondering what’s really going on. Larsen is in the process of getting a lawyer to appeal the decision. – I of course hope that the police in Finnmark will be held accountable for what they have done. Very critical report When Victoria’s ex-boyfriend was acquitted, it took a long time before the verdict was passed on from the police to the public prosecutor. As a result, it was too late to appeal it further to the Court of Appeal. Now it turns out that the case is far from unique. Last year, the same thing happened in a double-digit number of cases: The verdicts were left in the drawer at the Finnmark Police District for so long that the deadline for appealing expired. In a recent report from the state prosecutors, it appears that they have repeatedly pestered the police in Finnmark – to no avail. First State Attorney Hugo Henstein believes that little case processing is required to pass the verdicts on. – In the worst case, incorrect judgments can be upheld, he says to news. Hugo Henstein points to over 50 criminal cases from last year where the police in Finnmark have done too bad a job. Photo: Petter Strøm / news According to Henstein, many of the cases in Finnmark are characterized by errors, such as that witnesses have not been questioned or that wrong legal assessments have been made. The investigation also takes a long time, so that the evidence becomes old when the case comes to court. Only 14 percent of the rape cases in Finnmark last year were resolved. – It is far too small, says Henstein. The report points to major problems with the cooperation between the investigators and the lawyers in the district. – We know that the clearance rate has decreased and the processing time has increased in a period where there have been more lawyers, says Henstein. Slow with restraining orders The report also states that the police in Finnmark are doing a poor job of preventing violence and harassment by means of restraining orders. They are waiting too long to impose such bans. When the ban is broken, it takes too long before they follow up with reactions, says the report. Henstein believes it is important that the police react quickly and show that they are serious about the ban on visitors. – This may sound trivial, but we know that the vast majority of murders in Norway are so-called reported murders: it is typically a jealous man either during or after a break-up. Police chief: Happy for criticism Police chief Ellen Katrine Hætta says it is good that the state prosecutors set clear demands. – I am looking forward to the report, even if there is a lot of whipping in there. Chief of Police Ellen Katrine Hætta will focus on training and distributing tasks in a better way. Photo: EILIF ASLAKSEN / news Hætta has training and better distribution of work at the top of the list of things to be improved. One of the problems is that they get relatively many newly trained police lawyers. – We have a lot of turnover among the lawyers, which means that we spend a lot of time on training. Then there will be correspondingly less time for production, says Hætta. She says that many lawyers go on to more central police districts after they have received training in Finnmark. – We have to work to keep good police lawyers and police officers one or two years longer than they had planned to stay.
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The Finnmark police district receives severe criticism – but is acquitted by the Special Investigation Unit – news Troms and Finnmark
