GREENLAND (Nettavisen): – We have announced NOK 675 million extra, minimum, in the revised national budget, so I have to come back to specific figures, said Minister of Justice and Emergency Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) during the press conference in the police house in Greenland on Tuesday morning. The Oslo police district presented plans for the fight against youth crime in the district.
Mehl says that part of this fight must be done through the reallocation of funds, but he also promised more money for the police in Oslo.
Police chief Ida Melbo Øystese in Oslo said at the press conference that youth crime has increased sharply in recent years.
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– We are concerned about the increase we have seen in youth crime in the past year. And we are particularly concerned about the increase in the use of violence and the carrying of knives, says Oslo’s police chief Ida Melbo Øystese.
Priority areas
She says that the victims are often young and acts of violence are often filmed and shared. In this way, the young people are exposed to repeated abuse.
Oslo Police District announced on Tuesday that extra measures will be introduced in several districts. These are especially the areas Grønland and Tøyen, Majorstuen, Sandvika and Asker centre, Furuset, Mortensrud, Bjørnerud, Veitvet and Bjørndal.
– Additional measures will be put in place in these areas, says the police chief.
The resources are moved out of the center and into several districts.
In the video window below you can see the press conference and presentation of the upcoming efforts in Oslo. Article continues below.
Øystese says that the targeted efforts are prioritized in areas based on analyzes of the number of police missions and criminal cases that deal with insecurity-creating crime, the extent of youth crime, visible criminal networks and areas where there is great perceived insecurity among citizens and low trust in the police, said Øystese during the press conference.
The police have carried out a security survey among more than 30,000 residents in Oslo, Asker and Bærum. In this survey, among other things, 22 per cent of residents in Greenland answer that they feel very or quite unsafe in their local environment.
Money coming
Øytese does not want to say what the upcoming priority will be at the expense of. Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) said during the press conference that extra money will come to the Oslo police district as a result of the new initiative.
– More money will come. We will present a revised national budget in a couple of weeks and will have to come back to how much we are talking about then, Mehl said.
At the same time, she makes it clear that the police must also reprioritize within the budget they already have.
She also said that the government is working on other measures against crime.
