The short version
- Youth crime is increasing in Norway, especially in Oslo
- Children as young as 8 are involved in drug dealing and crime because they more easily go under the radar
- The organization YMCA-YMCA works with the rehabilitation of criminals
- Early intervention and preventive work necessary to combat the problem
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– The youngest are eight years old.
That’s what Lasse Richardt, head of the national defector program at the organisation, says YWCA-YMCAChristian Association for Unge Kvinner – Christian Association for Unge Menn Norway) is a national Christian children’s and youth organisation. to VG.
Juvenile crime is increasing dramatically. Last year there was a 37 per cent increase in violent offenses committed by young people under the age of 18. The increase is greatest in Oslo.
These are some of the events of the last few days:
And those who commit offenses are getting younger and younger, says Richardt. The program he leads works to rehabilitate defectors from criminal networks in Norway.
– It is worse now. And not least more brutally. But crime has always been there. You just haven’t seen it.
– Is it the low criminal age (15 years) that makes it beneficial to use young people?
– Maybe a little, but mostly that you go under the radar when you’re young, you’re not visible. The gangs work 24/7 on how to go under the radar. Young people under the age of ten sometimes carry sports bags with hashish to various locations. The youngest are eight years old.
– How do you know that?
– We talk to the young people, we have great confidence in them. Most are boys, but more girls are entering.
– Are you startled?
– No, I recognize this from Denmark, where I have worked for many years. But I am surprised that there is not more focus on this.
Shop owners exposed to threats
VG meets him at Forandringshuset, which is located in Greenland, one of the most stressed areas in Norway.
VG has previously written about a report from the neighborhood police in Greenland, which shows that criminals operate freely in the area. Shop owners and employees are exposed to violence and threats.
General manager Tariq Rasheed Chaudry at Baronen Bar, which is in the middle of the busiest point in Greenland, says criminals tried to extort money from him when he took over the bar in 2016. He says the police were there recently and asked him to tip if he sees anything , and then he told them to look out of the window:
Then, right outside the window, there was a group of scales weighing drugs on top of the bin.
– Then I said, you can see for yourself.
Rebwar Ahmedzade, general manager of Hjerte confectionery at Grønland Torg, says he constantly has to chase away young people who deal at the tables there. But most often he sees that first one person comes in, leaves an item somewhere at the table and goes out, and then another comes in and picks it up.
Others come in with a thousand and buy the cheapest baked goods they have for ten kroner in order to exchange the money.
But it is not only on the eastern edge that young people are involved in drug dealing.
Richardt says that the problem is also big on the west end, especially that several primary school children there keep hashish that goes under the radar.
– Because the parents have their focus elsewhere. I think that they often have to earn money to maintain their lifestyle, where the young are left to fend for themselves.
– How are the young people recruited?
– It often starts with you getting some money with a mobile phone or lunch, then it suddenly escalates and you owe a service.
– It takes place in all schools.
– Previously there were gangs, there have been more postcode groupingsBefore, the gangs in Oslo had members from different places in the city. Now it is where you live that determines which criminal environment you are part of?
– Yes, it’s the different districts. Three years ago, they were not so structured. And then they become more dangerous. Sometimes if one district needs cocaine, they can arrange to borrow from the other district. And if those who have borrowed do not pay, punishment is on the way.
This makes the defector program
They help criminals get out of gang environments. If the person agrees to join the program, they must cut all contact with their former environment, including all social media ties. The program provides housing, money to get by, and resources to get ahead. If they make it through the first three months, there is a 100 percent success rate, says Richardt.
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Now there are eleven on the waiting list for the defector programme, several of them at the very top of the criminal hierarchy, according to Richardt.
– Six out of ten may not want to be in the community, but it is not a membership card you can hand over. You often owe money or something else. It may also be that they want to earn money so that mother and father will be better off than now. it’s complicated.
– What can you do for the ten-year-old who is not going to enter the programme?
– Talk to the parents and the school.
– The last week’s events, do you know the actors?
– Yes I do. I get info from other places, some are scared and want to notify.
Not a long way to Swedish conditions
– If we do nothing now, what happens next?
– Then the gangs get established in different areas, in different cities. In Trondheim, they are well underway now, where they collaborate with FoxtrotThe Swedish criminal Foxtrot network is linked to one of the worst waves of violence in Sweden in a long time.. We do not have Swedish conditions, but the road there is not as long as it has been.
More in the spring than usual
Police Inspector Grete Metlid says that they currently do not see a connection between the three shootings at Tøyen, Bryn and Holmlia.
But the common denominator is that they are young.
– Matters like this are very serious and naturally cause concern. One experiences a feeling of insecurity in Oslo. It’s sad when we get three such cases in one week, for those who live close by, it’s clearly not good.
Police inspector in the Oslo police
– Then it is the case that we occasionally have conflicts and incidents of violence in criminal environments in Oslo. This goes in waves. Based on experience, we expect something more in the spring months towards the summer.
She says the police are working to get close to and prevent incidents, as well as clarifying to prevent escalation.
– There have been several arrests in serious incidents of violence recently, and as of now the general picture is that the incidents are linked to personal conflicts and situations that arise here and there.
Former gang leader: – This is just the beginning
– The episodes in recent weeks are probably isolated cases. The violent episodes are different, some are revenge, others are sales gone wrong, some are just trifles. But I think this is just the beginning. I think it will escalate very soon, says Shahid Rasool.
Previously, he was designated as a gang leader and received twelve years in prison, and is today an experience consultant, i.e. one of those who help young people out of negative environments.
For several years, Rasool has worked with vulnerable young people in Oslo.
He says that the gangs have good sources, and know who to pick up: the bullies and bully victims.
He tells about a boy he spoke to last week.
– He was ten years old, and bragged about how many big boys he knew. It didn’t surprise me, because I talk a lot with boys that age. It is much easier to get ten or twelve year olds to do a job. Adults are expensive to operate, while children are cheaper. And they are used as storage boxes. Who would think that a ten-year-old has a couple of kilos of hashish in the cupboard?
The problem, Rasool believes, is that the laws meant to protect children from prosecution make them attractive to the gangs.
– Neither the school nor the police have the opportunity to give them consequences.
– It starts with money for a kebab, then money for a mobile phone and then you are already on a criminal track. What they achieve here, with mapping and follow-up, is incredibly important, says Storting president Masud Gharahkhani (Ap), who visited the organization to hear about the work.
– But still there have been announced cuts in the state budget?
– I know that they are in contact with the ministry, but there is no doubt that this is incredibly important, and I think the result speaks for itself, that there is a 100 percent result when they get them through the first three months.
