Lillestrøm (Sørumsand), Rakkestad, Karlsøy, Kvinesdal, Levanger, Nesodden, Sør-Odal, Vaksdal, Åseral and Hemsedal (winter season) will have a police service location in 2024. – We have reached out widely, and there are many municipalities that have reported back to us. Some believe it is too far to the nearest police station, and that the police are not present enough, says Minister of Justice and Emergency Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp). Together with Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, she unveiled the new police stations in Sørumsand in Lillestrøm municipality. – We have received a lot of police professional advice. The sum of all the input we have received is the starting point for the decision we have made about these places, she continues. These municipalities will get new police offices from 2024. The offices are spread all over the country. Dissatisfaction in the west The management in the West police district reacts negatively to the news. There is Vaksdal’s new police service location. Deputy Chief of Police Arne Johannessen says that the police see more need to strengthen digital solutions, and highlights the online patrol as an example. – It has been a great success for us, but it is not open 24 hours a day today. We have a particularly large group of users who use the online patrol as their local police station, where they communicate with the police regardless of where they live in the district. If we had pushed in a few extra millions there, instead of setting up a physical office, it would have provided a completely different catchment area, he says to news. He describes the creation of a physical office as “a symbolic political act”. According to Johannessen, the money would have been better spent if, for example, they could have had an extra police patrol attached to the Voss police station. – An extra police patrol could have covered the axis Voss, Vaksdal and Osterøy. A building in itself does not provide security. It is a symbolic political act. An office with a police sign on the wall provides no police service. It is the number of police officers who give, says Johannessen. The reaction is the same in the north. – We have been extremely clear that we do not want more service locations. We want more people, we want more staffing, so that we can deliver the police services that we are set to do. It is very nice to have places of service, but they must have content, says the leader of the police union Troms, Runar Fagerlund. Agder-glede In Agder, the sheriff’s offices in Åseral and Kvinesdal will be reopened. The mayor of Åseral is very happy with that. – This is good news. I have to pinch myself, says Mayor Inger Lise Lund (Ap). She is particularly happy about the increased presence the police will have in the municipality. – There are large distances here. If accidents happen, the police are more readily available. We have experienced that people call and the police cannot come. Storting representative for Agder Gro Anita Mykjåland (Sp) believes it is the right decision to reopen the service locations. Indre Agder was particularly hard hit by the local police reform, says Mykjåland. – We have seen that the police have become more distant from the people and the district, and this is about people being safe. Then we have to distribute the resources evenly. Mona Benjaminsen (Ap), mayor of Karlsøy, is also very satisfied. – I think it’s great that we in Karlsøy are seen and heard. We are an island municipality and it is challenging no matter what you are doing. It’s a long way from Tromsø to here, and it’s even longer at the very end, she says. Against the police’s advice Earlier this year, the government presented a list of nine police offices that will reopen during 2023. On Tuesday, news was able to say that this is happening against the police’s own advice in more than half of the places. – We did not want a new office. Offices and rent tie up resources, which we could rather spend on patrols and investigations, said police chief Nils Kristian Moe in Trøndelag police district about the establishment of the office in Meråker. However, the Government’s decision to open new service stations is supported by the police districts in Oslo, Øst and Møre and Romsdal. The Center Party has long fought for “local police”, and the government agreed in the Hurdal platform to open a total of 20 new police service locations. The Conservative Party reacts to the government choosing to establish new police offices. They believe it is a completely wrong use of resources. – The government does not understand the seriousness of the situation the police are in. We need more police officers, not more police offices. We knew the government has blinders on. They also have some cotton in their ears. If they had listened to the police and the union representatives, they would not have done this, says justice policy spokesperson Sveinung Stensland to NTB. Summer office Earlier this year, it was announced that these nine locations will have a police office during 2023: Engerdal (Innlandet police district) Hvaler (East police district) – summer season only Meråker (Trøndelag police district) Oslo (Mortensrud in Oslo police district) Salangen (Troms police district) Sandefjord (Torp Airport in Sør-East police district) Sigdal (South-East police district) Steigen (Nordland police district) Stranda (Geiranger in Møre and Romsdal police district) – summer season only Magnormo in Innlandet police district was established in 2022, according to a press release. Thus, all 20 places are now known.
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The government creates ten new police offices – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
