Norwegian police warn services will be affected by staff cuts
Fewer police staff in Norway mean lengthier response times, less presence on the streets, and it taking longer for cases to be investigated, police chiefs have said.
Nine out of twelve of Norway’s police districts are downsizing, Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 reports.
The downsizing translates to around 290 positions disappearing. This is despite the government announcement in August that ten more police stations would be opened.
Trøndelag in central Norway is one of the police districts with the most comprehensive downsizing. Since the new year, more than 42 positions have been closed.
To avoid going over budget, the police station would need to double the number of positions downsized, the police chief for Trøndelag police district, Nils Kristian Moe, told TV 2.
“The basic rule this year has been not to advertise positions that become vacant,” he said.
The consequences of such mean that the police in Trødnelag are prioritising which cases to investigate.
“This applies to both which cases we investigate and how widely we investigate,” Moe said.
He added that employees also felt the lower staff numbers had stretched them thin.
Siri Stai Vesterås, department director of the Innlandet police district in southern Norway, said positions vacated by departing staff would remain unfilled also. She said services would suffer as a result.
“It will be felt that we spend longer on cases, are less present, and it will take longer before we arrive,” Vesterås said.
Nordland police district in the north will also be required to cut positions, despite plans to open a new police office and increased preparedness in the region being a key policy area for the minority Labour and Centre Party government.
Hans Vik, police chief in the South-West police district, also said that constraints would make it hard to deliver a robust service to residents.
“Our social mission is to deliver safety to the citizens, and that is always our goal,” he said.
“At the same time, it is obvious that the police district cannot direct equal efforts to all areas as we have done in the past,” he added.
Gard Hagen from the South-East police district said that the situation wasn’t expected to improve in the future.
“We will probably have to reduce the number of police positions in the future by a few dozen more man-years. The reason is the tight financial framework this year and an expectation of even tighter frameworks for 2024,” he said.
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Nine out of twelve of Norway’s police districts are downsizing, Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 reports.
The downsizing translates to around 290 positions disappearing. This is despite the government announcement in August that ten more police stations would be opened.
Trøndelag in central Norway is one of the police districts with the most comprehensive downsizing. Since the new year, more than 42 positions have been closed.
To avoid going over budget, the police station would need to double the number of positions downsized, the police chief for Trøndelag police district, Nils Kristian Moe, told TV 2.
“The basic rule this year has been not to advertise positions that become vacant,” he said.
The consequences of such mean that the police in Trødnelag are prioritising which cases to investigate.
“This applies to both which cases we investigate and how widely we investigate,” Moe said.
He added that employees also felt the lower staff numbers had stretched them thin.
Siri Stai Vesterås, department director of the Innlandet police district in southern Norway, said positions vacated by departing staff would remain unfilled also. She said services would suffer as a result.
“It will be felt that we spend longer on cases, are less present, and it will take longer before we arrive,” Vesterås said.
Nordland police district in the north will also be required to cut positions, despite plans to open a new police office and increased preparedness in the region being a key policy area for the minority Labour and Centre Party government.
Hans Vik, police chief in the South-West police district, also said that constraints would make it hard to deliver a robust service to residents.
“Our social mission is to deliver safety to the citizens, and that is always our goal,” he said.
“At the same time, it is obvious that the police district cannot direct equal efforts to all areas as we have done in the past,” he added.
Gard Hagen from the South-East police district said that the situation wasn’t expected to improve in the future.
“We will probably have to reduce the number of police positions in the future by a few dozen more man-years. The reason is the tight financial framework this year and an expectation of even tighter frameworks for 2024,” he said.
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