The police throw themselves into urban development

Suddenly everyone wants to hear what the police think about what and how we build. We joined them on a walk around the city.

– The windows are covered with foil, no one can follow. A typical “backside” where it is easy to hide away.

Police inspector Christina Rooth stands on the upper side of the Furuset centre. At the very corner is the entrance to the swimming pool and the road is much used by children. Many of them find it scary to pass.

– The road to and from leisure activities must be safe. So we have to do something about this, she says.

Suddenly, the Oslo police became heavily involved in urban development. They write consultation statements and have become hot’e lecturers for the construction industry. Theme: how we can build to create security. For everyone – but especially for the elderly, women and children.

Key person: Nabokjerringa

– The fact that women are present increases security. We are actually talking about the “neighbourhood”. She who knows the conditions and cares, says Rooth.

But the new field of interest is about more than preventing crime and “not building crime scenes”. The police inspector talks about safety, quality of life, common areas and places where young people can be.

We round the Furuset center and come across an abandoned nursing home. Today, largely a place for drug sales and youth recruitment. The police will not comment on whether the building should be demolished.

– But it must have life on the ground floors and give something to the neighbourhood. Contribute to a flow of people and safety. It’s not rocket science, says police superintendent Joakim Prytz Frivoll.

Found machetes in the sandbox

The next stop is Haugerud, a small town on the other side of the E6. The center was long characterized by dark corners, drug sales and recruitment.

The drug sale took place for a long time around Haugerud centre…

When the center was lit, the activity moved into the care homes…

Here, behind two living walls, both use and sale took place undisturbed…

Today it has been cleaned up, to the great relief of the residents…

Department manager for housing, Roland Wiberg, happens to drop by and describes the conditions.

– They stood there and gave notice if the police came, he points out.

– In the sandbox there we found six machetes. The residents were terrified. But no one dared chase the young people away.

The relief was great when Boligbygg together with the police took the ball and removed both the living walls and the hiding place.

– But young people must have a place to be, notes Wiberg.

Mortensrud: Training arena

We continue to Mortensrud. The district in the very south of Oslo, thoroughly tired of the “worst temple”.

But this is where the police have really tried their hand as urban developers. It caused a stir when last autumn they wrote to the city council leader and warned against high and dense block development that could lead to increased crime.

Here Obos planned a continuous wall of buildings. The police were very skeptical.

Closed facades characterize the area around Mortensrud square.

Christina Rooth states that it is difficult to keep an eye on what is happening on the subway platform.

They slaughtered Obo’s proposal for a “long dense wall” of buildings facing the road and called for the possibility of being able to walk across and “steer away”.

They criticized a game corridor they thought was too wide. And – worst of all – in the narrow forest belt along the future sports park, they wanted to build homes. E.g. “terrace house on soft forest floor”.

– It is called the “dope forest” by people other than us, Roth clarifies and points the way into the pine trees.

The sports park only has buildings on one side…

A narrow forest belt lies between the sports facility and the riding centre…

There, the police want “positive social control” in the form of some housing…

– If a girl is to walk from the subway to the riding school, it must be safe. Then someone is needed to come along.

– Weapons are kept here, there has been violence and sexual bartering, adds Prytz Frivoll. And adds:

– We hardly needed to propose this elsewhere. But we have to face the realities and adapt what we build to the place we are.

But they believe that terraced houses and a better mix of housing will also result in a more mixed population.

– And thus more people who want to stay. It is good for stability.

Like made for crime

We end with the child of pain itself, Vaterland and Grønlands torg. Prytz Frivoll stands by the disused Stargate pub and sighs.

– A place created for street-based crime, he states. And sums up:

– Dusty, poorly lit, lots of hiding places, cavities and escape routes.

And difficult conditions for the police.

– There are so many ways out that we have to cover.

The police are calling for clarification: Should the Vaterlandsbrua be demolished or remain?

Countless temporary solutions have been made to make it safer under the Vaterlandsbrua…

Then he points to the Vaterlandsbrua, which should have been demolished for years.

– First of all, a decision must be made. Only then can plans be made for a safer and more attractive urban space.

He believes the proposal for a food hall under the bridge with “life and excitement” can work. Like all kinds of activities that make people want to be here. In any case, he believes the police must still be present.

– A neighborhood police on foot who are visibly present will be part of the solution.

The neighbor in Greenland

We have moved around the youth center Riverside and under the bridge. A group of cheerful women sit around a solid table. They come from Urtehagen school and hold an open house in a barracks. When they see the police officers, one comes away with a broad smile.

– We are here to talk to these boys who hang out here. They think we should yell at them, says Rawafid Shahad.

– But we care like they do and they listen to us when we ask them to step up, she laughs.

Then she gets serious.

– But if we are to get them away from this, we have to find something else for them.

We are done with the police round. The two colleagues look at each other and say almost in unison.

– There we have the “neighbor rings”: The most important for safety.