Arming officers ‘no longer necessary’ as Norway returns to its traditional stance

Norway is finally standing down the arming of its police after 15 months of “on-off” operations as it is considered no longer necessary.

Heightened fears of Islamist terror threats pushed the country into authorising the wearing of firearms at all times for its 6,000 uniformed officers from November 2014.

Norway has a long tradition of police being unarmed except in emergency situations or those involving high levels of security – with firearms previously locked away in patrol vehicles.

The arming experiment – which has been extended a total of eight times –will cease “as soon as possible”, says the Police Directorate.

Ironically on November 13 last year – hours before the Paris attacks which killed 130 people – the Police Directorate in Norway had announced plans to end its armament policy. It was hastily extended the same evening.

When the state police intelligence agency Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste (PST) raised the terror threat against Norway – with particular concerns about police and military personnel in uniform – the Conservative-led coalition government allowed police to be armed at all times on a temporary basis only.

Even though public opinion polls showed that most Norwegians were comfortable with having armed police on the streets, and even felt safer because of it, opposition politicians in Parliament only reluctantly went along with the initial arming order.

As the months rolled by, and the periods of arming were extended, the “temporary” weapons allowance was questioned and politicians from the Socialist Left and Labour parties have agitated almost constantly that it be revoked.

They wanted Norway to return to being a country without police armed on a regular basis, and their criticism rose after police were accused of recklessly using their weapons in at least three incidents where shots were fired and, in one, a woman threatening a child was wounded.

The police themselves have been split on the issue, with police chiefs and the state police administration generally opposed to regular arming and police staff associations representing officers in favour.

Statistics reveal that there has been no greater use of weapons during the armed period than before it began, according to State Police Director Odd Reidar Humlegård.

“Norwegian police are trained to handle risky situations every day,” he said. “They are well-trained in downscaling situations and resolving them with the least possible use of force.”

He said the Norwegian police had “handled the situation with temporary arming well”.

If the threat level should change in Norway, the Police Directorate is prepared to assess the need for temporary armament again.