Manager, Crime | Not just an Oslo phenomenon

But juvenile delinquency is increasing throughout the country. From Brumunddal to Bodø, there are challenges with violence and drug-related crime.

In January, the police in Tromsø prepared a report on youth crime in the Arctic capital. The report showed that there is a growth in robbery, youth violence and the use of knives by children as young as 12 years of age.

In the West police district, youth crime has increased by 40 per cent. Now PST reports that young people under the age of 13 are being radicalized in the police district. This applies to both right-wing extremism and extreme Islamism, reported Bergens Tidende and NRK. For PST to be connected, there must be plausible threats of violence in the picture.

In many places, the increase in the number of offenders is relatively small, but there is a tendency for young people under the age of 15 to continue to commit more serious offences.

Some are linked to gang activity and drug sales.

The police have long been concerned that Swedish criminal gangs are heavily involved in the supply of drugs to Norway. In Tromsø, many large drug seizures in recent years have been linked to these networks.

The unrest over the development has been that juvenile criminals in the local community are being recruited into the gangs, which are notorious for their violence.

It is understandable that city councilor Erlend Lae Solberg (H) in Oslo wants more resources for the Oslo police. The many confrontations with shooting on open streets in the capital are unacceptable.

We also believe that the Center Party’s excessive patronage, eagerness to reverse and ignoring professional advice in connection with the establishment of service points and passport offices in small district municipalities, has been the wrong medicine for this country.

The Støre government must admit that this has been a failed strategy, which the Center Party has been allowed to govern on its own for far too long.

But it is important to have an overview and an overarching commitment to the prevention of youth crime throughout Norway. The politicians must not look blindly at Oslo.

One has to ask whether police resources are coordinated well enough throughout the country. And whether they are coordinated well enough with prevention in the municipalities.