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In short
- Dagbladet has revealed that there is a lack of preventive police right outside Oslo, which will now become an issue in the Storting.
- Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl must answer how she will ensure that several police districts do not have to cut back on preventive work.
- This comes after an increase in serious youth crime of 50 per cent from 2022 to 2023 in Romerike, where there is no preventive police.
- Red demands more money for the police.
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Nobody cheers for geographical operating units (GDE) and invisible borders between police districts more than criminals.
On the border between the police areas Enhet Øst in the Oslo police district and GDE Romerike in the East police district, which includes Lillestrøm and Lørenskog, among other things, the police border becomes very clear.
Unit East has Norway’s largest preventive department with 65 specialist employees.
At Romerike, the number of preventers is zero, despite the police area experiencing a 50 percent increase in serious youth crime from 2022 to 2023.
Only the police respect the border
– A declaration of bankruptcy
There, the operational preventers have been redeployed to patrol duty.
Based on Dagbladet’s mention of “the border that only the police respect”, it will now be a matter in the Storting.
Tobias Drevland Lund, spokesman for justice policy in Rødt, is now demanding an answer from Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp).
– We believe this can almost be considered a declaration of bankruptcy from the government. The police’s preventive work is extremely important in the complex crime picture we see today, especially when there is an increase in children and young people committing criminal acts, writes Lund in an email to Dagbladet.
POLICE BORDER: To the left of the border is the police area unit East in Oslo. 65 police officers work there with prevention as a specialist area. To the right of the dotted line is the Romerike police area. The preventive department was closed there last year. Photo: Ola Strømman / Dagbladet
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He has now sent the following questions to the Minister of Justice:
“How will the minister ensure that more police areas and districts do not see themselves having to cut back on preventive work, when the announced additional allocations in the revised national budget will not increase staffing beyond the current level?”.
Ended in attempted murder
On 15 April, several shots were fired at an 18-year-old man in a hairdressing salon in Bryn.
The attempted murder is directly linked to an ongoing conflict between criminal youth circles, where the lion’s share of those involved live in GDE Romerike.
The investigation has now ended up with Unit East in Oslo.
Linked to brutal kidnapping
The border between the two police areas in Oslo and in Viken is not respected by the criminal gangs. This is evident from the police’s own figures from GDE Romerike.
The order of the selected municipalities goes from the most to the fewest conditions:
- In most U-18 cases that deal with episodes of violence in Romerike, the victims live in Oslo, Lørenskog, Strømmen, Skedsmokorset, Hakadal and Lillestrøm.
- In most of the U18 situations, those reported live in Lillestrøm, Nittedal, Lørenskog and Aurskog-Høland.
- Most of the cases took place in Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Oslo and Aurskog-Høland.
– Hitchhiking
– Crime and criminal networks cause the hitchhiking in county and municipal boundaries. We cannot be familiar with the fact that vulnerable police districts have to cut or close preventive units in order to save money. I will raise this serious situation with the Minister of Justice in the Storting, says Tobias Drevland Lund.
He believes it is important to have police both in the cityscape and on patrol, police officers who work with investigations and police officers who can quickly intervene when something happens.
– But the police also have an important task of working preventively, especially towards youth environments where crime is increasing.
Shot on open street
Red is now demanding more money for the police.
– The government has announced that the police will receive an additional allocation of NOK 635 million when the revised national budget is presented on 14 May. This grant will not be sufficient to increase staffing beyond the current level, says Lund and refers to statements from the police themselves and the Norwegian Police Union.
– The staffing of the police is in crisis. When the local police have to save money, the result is often what we have seen in Romerike. The resources for preventive work must give way to patrolling police, says Lund.
– Same principle
Last Tuesday, the Oslo police presented their plan to make the capital safer. In addition to the city’s top managers in the police, Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl was also present during the press conference on Tuesday morning.
– Is police force organized incorrectly?
– We have a strong police force with both police districts and special agencies that make an important effort. I am happy that the Oslo police are strengthening their community policing efforts and the safety of everyday life in the districts, because that is where the criminals operate, says Mehl to Dagbladet.
– How about right outside at Romerike?
– The same principle must apply in all police districts. I believe in more police stations and more police officers and we will return to that in the budget, says the Minister of Justice.
