Despite political expectations to strengthen staffing, the decline in the number of police officers in the police districts continues, recent figures show according to Politiforum.
From March last year to March this year, there have been 320 fewer police man-years in Norwegian districts, according to recent staffing figures Politiforum has obtained access to.
Most police officers have disappeared from the Oslo police district, where there are 126 fewer man-years.
Must employ over 100 police officers
If the police districts are to fulfill the political expectation of increasing staffing to the level at the turn of the year, this means that an additional 129 police officers must be employed.
During last year, the police districts lost 374 police officers.
In order to avoid further weakening of staffing, the Ministry of Justice announced in February that it would provide an extra NOK 155 million to strengthen staffing.
Receives criticism from the Right
In an e-mail to Nettavisen, Sveinung Stensland, spokesman for justice policy in the Conservative Party, writes this to Nettavisen:
– More and more Norwegians in more and more neighborhoods feel unsafe. We don’t want it that way. We must crack down hard on the criminals. One thing is increased staffing of the police, but we also need to make changes to the legislation that enable us to actually confiscate weapons and money, and stop the criminals.
And continues:
– It is no use to just sit and watch the development in violent, gang and youth crime. Now everything worsens at once. We have to do something. Then there is no point in simply maintaining staffing. It is clear that the government does not take people’s safety seriously, and is reducing the police.
(© NTB)
