Youth violence, Gang crime | Oslo violence among young people: Everyone from “opps places” must be taken

Why does it happen again and again?

Many people ask about this after new violent incidents in Oslo with young people as victims and perpetrators.

I have discussed it for a long time with many people who are in the middle of it, whether they work in the districts, in schools, in the police, in leisure clubs or are committed parents.

I’m also lucky enough to be stopped every now and then by young people who hang around and want to have a chat about what’s going on.

Read also: The Oslo boss despairs: – Very worried

They inherit conflicts

What everyone highlights are long-term conflicts that lie and simmer between different areas and environments.

They are inherited by children and young people who grow up in the relevant places and learn to say “Fuck ….(the place that is the enemy)” from early in primary school. Many of them have no idea what causes the conflicts.

It may be old gang settlements from many years ago that propagate to new youth gangs.

• Like the split of the large Young Bloods gang in Søndre Nordstrand district, into two factions in Holmlia and Mortensrud in 2017–18.
• Like the war over the drug market on Grønland-Tøyen, which has been going on since the B-gang from Furuset and their allies lost control there.

Read also: Greenland violence: – It’s mafia conditions

One leads to another

After the conflicts arose, many other things have happened that make the young people ready to take those who come from “-places”, when they come across them.

Many go with knives, some also with firearms. Then it can become life-threatening, like several attempted murders we have seen in recent times.

Some bump into each other randomly when walking along the streets in central places such as Grønland and Jernbanetorget, or appear in shopping centers and bus stops.

One leads to another.

Soon some seek out schoolyards or wait outside the school to take revenge. Mass fights can also occur where young people from “opps places” bark together.

Of which we have seen several in Oslo S, Grønland, Furuset, Tøyen, Ekebergsletta during the Norway Cup and a football match between Holmlia and Klemetsrud-Mortensrud in September.

Read also: Warns: – Could be like Sweden in five years

Humiliation of the “opps”

What causes the spirals of violence to keep flaring up can be so many things.

But all the events are “covered” in social media such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and so on.

Videos are made where you humiliate your “opps” in various ways. They can be about someone getting a severe beating, being beaten down, robbed, threatened, humiliated and things done to them that should not be mentioned here.

Masks and covering and closed groups are used.

Gangster rap videos inspired by the drill genre from Chicago, London and Sweden are also made. Here, rap lyrics are used to insult each other, mock their victims, and stir up the mood. Those involved understand the message, even if the genre has its codes.

In Oslo, the environment on Grønland-Tøyen is most active.

In a video from last autumn it says, for example: “… (name) was splashed. I know that …. (other name) shed some tears. He sits in the dark and thinks about revenge. But I want to catch an opps or two and make sure they don’t get home.”

Everyone knows that in drill the requirement is that you are genuine and mean business. You have to be ready to do what you sing about. So these are not empty threats.

Gangsters as role models

We see that more children and young people are influenced by this gangster culture.

Their role models become gang leaders with expensive watches, gold chains, luxury cars and expensive designer clothes, who live in luxury in expensive restaurants with lots of ladies in the city and abroad.

We can talk about a gangster trend.

The children want to be like them, and don’t think that going to school and a boring job like their mother and father can give them any of this.

They decide from the age of 13-14 to become gangsters. Then you just have to become the toughest and most dangerous in the environment, so the gang leaders notice you.

It doesn’t hurt to be caught. Sentencing behind bars, without keeping quiet, adds to the book.

Read also: More police is all well and good. There is still something else that can stop the senseless violence

The children are grossly exploited

What these kids don’t realize is that they are just being taken advantage of.

Those who are behind the scenes and gang leaders are usually aged twenty-five and over. They make sure that the sergeants on the street, who are preferably under 18 years of age, receive deliveries of drugs and messages about various assignments – such as collecting debts, or that someone is to be “splashed”.

Then these in turn control the even younger ones, usually children aged 15 and under, who operate on the streets and take the brunt there of “opps” and others.

They probably get a few hundred bucks every now and then, and are big guys among their peers.

But they never become gang leaders on luxury holidays with beautiful ladies abroad. There is a much greater chance that the future will be in and out of prison.

Here you can read more by Jan Bøhler

Deadly sin to “snitch”

The real test of manhood for children and young people who want to become gangsters is that they must never “snitch”.

It is taboo to say anything about what they do to parents, teachers, police, youth workers or others.

Not least, they must remain silent in court. I have followed case after case where young defendants do not want to explain themselves.

Even worse, the victims won’t say anything either.

Even after almost being killed, they remain completely silent.

They don’t even want the large amount they could get in compensation.

An 18-year-old who was the victim of an attempted murder at Tøyen Torg did not even appear in court until the New Year.

They keep their mouths shut because they are threatened, and know what will happen if they “snitch”.

The conflicts must be resolved

It is very frustrating to follow case after case of attempted murder and serious violence among children and young people, without knowing anything about why it happened.

The police can use technical evidence and digital traces to ensure that the perpetrators are convicted.

But the conflicts that lie behind are not uncovered and illuminated. As a result, many others will be ready to take them on – and we will get new spirals of violence.

When we have so many simmering conflicts between children and young people with great potential for violence around Oslo, the most important thing is to unravel these.

The children who are used deserve that we try.

They have no idea about the prehistory. They just know that someone has offended someone, or beaten someone up, or sold drugs in the wrong place.

Therefore, they have to go and look for some “opps” to take revenge on.

It can hold that there are only some who live in “opps-land”.

Also read: Young people witnessed the merciless execution

Set up a “Task Force”

I believe that a “Task Force” should be set up between the police, schools, districts and others with relevant experience to map these conflicts and the main characters.

It is not prohibitive.

Perhaps we are talking about a hundred key people in the whole of Oslo. If we get close to them, and put in place reactions that lead us forward, a lot has been done.

From here one must move on to arranging mediation meetings, start doing things together, create common arenas to get to know one’s “opps”, and develop job initiatives that provide an alternative to becoming gangsters.

We must address nine-ten “red areas” where the problems with child and youth crime are large.

Grønland-Tøyen, Mortensrud-Holmlia, Stovner-Fossum and Furuset are among these.

It is a good idea to send in extra police where the fire is most intense. But this can change almost from week to week.

It is far more important to put resources into solving the underlying conflicts that make them “red”.

Also read: – We have to take action in Oslo, and we have to do it now

Adults must be adults

At the same time, schools, leisure clubs and parents must do their part to prevent children and young people from dreaming of becoming gangsters.

Some fall into the trap of trying to be such cool adults that they play violent drills at the leisure club, the schoolyard and at home. But then you help make violence, murder, firearms and humiliation of others exciting and attractive to engage in.

We also see that the conflicts that are cultivated can spread into the school.

Some schools have gained a reputation for being so dominated by young people from one of the red areas that those who come from another “opps place” do not want to start there.

It has become a new and very problematic way of restricting the free choice of school.

Read also: 18-year-old who was shot in Holmlia does not want to explain himself

Create other dreams

At some schools, staff have told about large posters in the classrooms with pictures of Swedish gangster rappers.

They are front figures for the biggest criminal gangs such as Foxtrot, the Dalen network, the Vårby network, the Jordgubbens network and the Bro network and more.

What they rap about they have to do themselves to be real, and many of these rappers have been convicted of serious crimes.

Nevertheless, their drill music has topped playlists among children and young people in Sweden with millions of streams.

This drill is one reason why so many Swedish children as young as 14-15 have been queuing up to take on assassination assignments.

If we want to avoid the same development here, all parents and adults who work with children and young people must understand what this is all about.

Creating other role models and dreams for your children than becoming gangsters is what is needed.

Neither more nor less.

Then we reverse the trend.