Manager This is a leader. The editor expresses the newspaper’s position.
Horne is an experienced police officer in the Troms police district. This week he sent a letter to politicians in the Storting asking for general arming of the police.
Horne believes that the threat situation for police officers has changed radically. He points out that the use of weapons among criminals in Eastern Norway is increasing. The number of partner murders is high. International criminal networks have a foothold in almost the entire country.
In addition, the police regularly go out on serious and potentially violent psychiatric missions, which are hardly visible to politicians. In 2021, Troms police patrols armed themselves 354 times. In 2023, the number increased to 524 missions, according to figures obtained by Nordlys from the police district earlier this year.
A third of these assignments were related to psychiatry.
It is not unlikely that a necessary political majority will support Horne’s demands. The zeitgeist has changed significantly in the short time since the Committee on Powers came out with its recommendation in 2022.
The majority of the committee believed that the current armament model is not sufficient to meet the threat picture. They believed, like over 80 per cent of all police officers in the country, that the time is ripe for general arming of operational police.
This would entail small costs. The police have shown that they are able to handle weapons in a good way. Arming does not result in more shots being fired. The majority did not think general weaponry would have a negative impact on the public’s relationship with the police.
The minority, for their part, was against general arming because it could affect the relationship between the public and the police in a negative way. The minority believed that the crime and terror picture was not significant since 2017, when the previous committee concluded against general arming.
So far, only the FRP has been in line with the majority of the Committee on Powers. But from Troms, Storting representative Erlend Svardal Bøe (H) reports that he has turned things around. He was against general armament in 2021. Today he is in favor. He will work towards the national meeting in the Conservative Party to get a majority in the party to turn with him.
If the Conservative Party turns, the Støre government will appear hopelessly behind in justice policy. There is currently a political race to appear as the most active against increasing crime challenges.
The parties in the Støre government are still against a general arming of the police.
But it is questionable how long Ap and Sp can maintain that position.
Both the Labor Party and the Center Party have become tougher in their language when it comes to crime. The crime scene in neighboring Sweden has intensified.
General arming of the police is pushing forward.
