The Government has already rejected a proposal for Norwegian police to carry arms, although the police union is positive and the proposal is still being evaluated by the Department of Justice.
"Of course I can't guarantee that the police will not carry arms for all future. But there will not be a general arming of the Norwegian police force anytime soon," says Astri Aas-Hansen (Labour Party/Ap), State Secretary in the Department of Justice, to Dagsavisen.
The question of police being able to carry arms on a general basis was again raised after a Norwegian male drug trafficker was shot and killed during a shootout with Danish police Sunday evening.
Whereas the police in both Denmark and Sweden have carried arms for years, the Norwegian police have to notify and receive permission from the police chief before they can get access to the guns stored in their police cars.
However, police will get easier access to arms than what they have today, Aas-Hansen assures. Currently, only 75 percent of police vehicles are equipped with arms, but just before Christmas a working group suggested that all police cars should have them.
Sigve Bolstad in the policemen's union is not satisfied with today's system. He says that police have given clear reports that they would like easier access to arms. Meanwhile, Professor Johannes Knutsson at the Police Academy is pleased that the government has rejected the proposal.
"A general arming of the police will lead to several more fired shots, more people hurt and more people killed. You can also ask yourself the question if you would like to live to live in a society where the police is armed, or in a society where they're not. To me, the answer is obvious," Knutsson points out.
(Dagsavisen/Aftenposten)
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