– We meet more mentally ill people. And we see a clear change in a negative direction in that, says Håkon Skulstad, assistant director of the Norwegian Police Directorate. news reported earlier this week about the police killings at Austbø, where two police officers were killed by a psychiatric patient on leave. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of assignments related to psychiatry. Figures from the Norwegian Police Directorate (POD), which Politiforum has obtained access to, show an increase of almost 48 per cent. The development worries both the police and politicians. Several thousand transport missions A large part of these missions is about the police having to help the healthcare system. For 2022, this applied to close to 20,000 assignments. Over 2,000 assignments involved the transport of mentally ill patients. Head of the Joint Unit for Operational Service (FOT) in the Nordland police district, Jan Tore Hagnes, says that such assignments require large resources. – There are many assignments and they often take a long time. Although many of the transports are by plane, they take many hours, he says. In Rana municipality in Nordland, the municipality and the police are arguing about the bill for such an assignment. The police sent a bill of NOK 14,000 In January, the police sent a bill of NOK 14,000 to the municipality, after looking after a psychiatric patient in the emergency department for 12 hours. Bad weather meant that the police did not want to transport the patient over the E6 at Saltfjellet to Bodø. They therefore had to wait for the patient at the emergency room with the emergency worker until the weather permitted transport over the mountain. The case was first mentioned by Rana Blad. The police have had a marked increase in the number of assignments related to psychiatry. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB This is not unusual in northern Norway, according to Hagnes in FOT. – From Rana and Helgeland, most transports are by car, where the police often have to accompany the patient. There are occasional challenges with closed roads in winter, which in turn means that the police occasionally assist with guard duty while waiting for transport. – What is the consequence? – It is rare for the police to have ordinary resources to devote to such missions that take such a long time – this would go too far beyond guard and emergency preparedness. Assignments are therefore also solved with the help of personnel taken out on overtime, the consequences of which for emergency preparedness are then reduced. Håkon Skulstad in the Norwegian Police Directorate believes this is unfortunate. Head of FOT in Nordland police district, Jan Tore Hagnes says that the police use a lot of resources to transport mentally ill patients. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB Working with new guidelines – There is no doubt that the police spend a lot of resources on transport. We should have seen that it was handled in a different way, says Skulstad. He says that the police and the Norwegian Directorate of Health are working on new guidelines for cooperation between the police and the healthcare system. Both when it comes to transport assignments, but also what can be done to give the mentally ill the best possible help without the police having to use force. – The most important thing is to ensure that the sick receive medical treatment. We wish more people received such treatment and that we didn’t have to meet them outside, says Skulstad. The goal is to have a piece of writing ready by the summer. Håkon Skulstad says that the work is demanding. Håkon Skulstad in the Norwegian Police Directorate believes that the work on new guidelines for cooperation between the health service and the police is very important. Photo: Heidi Klokk / news – But there are several questions that are being discussed. One of the challenges is that some patients keep coming back to us. This is actually the responsibility of the health service. We are not professionals here. We just have to deal with them asking for help, and then we have to assist them. news has asked the Directorate of Health what they think about the challenges with patients who keep coming back to the police and the use of resources linked to psychiatry. They have not responded to that, but in an e-mail, divisional director Helen Brandstorp in the Directorate of Health writes that the health service and the police have different roles in society. – It is the police who must and can exercise physical force outside institutions. The health service should only ask for assistance when necessary, she writes.
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The police use large resources to transport psychiatric patients – want change – news Nordland
