Background The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness (JD) has received a request from the Norwegian Police Directorate (POD), where the Director of Police asks the JD to take over the work of setting up a committee to assess whether employees in the police have demonstrated a good understanding of their role in the dialogue with public or private organizations that has had contact with NNPF. The Norwegian police have a very high level of trust in the population. In order to preserve that trust, it is important, among other things, that there is no doubt that police officers only perform their job by virtue of their position in the police, and that participation in a private organization such as NNPF does not create doubt as to which function is exercised. The background for the assessment to be made is that questions have been raised from several quarters about the activities of the Norwegian Narcotics Police Association (NNPF) and its members’ role as employees of the police. There have also been several media reports about the relationship between the Norwegian Police Directorate (POD) and NNPF. The police’s participation in the public debate and police employees’ freedom of organization and expression, including matters that affect the police’s activities, are not subject to assessment. More about the assignment This case contains several different aspects. The mandate is therefore formulated relatively broadly so that the committee has the necessary leeway to assess the aspects of the case that the committee considers to be of interest. A central theme is to assess whether the police and police employees in NNPF, in their dialogue and work with various social actors, have been sufficiently clear that they represent a private organization and not the police. It should also be assessed whether POD and the police have acted in an orderly and correct manner when it comes to grants and financial support to the NNPF. The police’s use of NNPF for training police employees should also be assessed, including whether the police have ensured sufficient professional quality assurance of the basis for the training work. Limitation The Committee limits its work to the investigation initiated by the Attorney General regarding the police’s search practices in drug cases. Recommendation and time frame The committee must make recommendations for measures to rectify any objectionable conditions and to avoid this in the future. Source: roleförsätresutvalget.no
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The police have not separated the roles well enough – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
