Oslo police are making life difficult for both reckless skippers and potential boat thieves. Armed with a fleet of high-powered patrol boats, the police are fining speedsters, conducting “drunk boating” controls and keeping a sharp eye out for stolen vessels.
The waterborne Oslo police are gaining a reputation for being efficient and highly visible. Newspaper Dagsavisen reported Monday that despite thousands of expensive pleasure craft in local marinas, only around 30 disappeared into criminal hands last year. Boat thieves, according to Dagsavisen, seem to be avoiding Oslo.
Police visibility on the water may be the biggest deterrent to boat bandits, but the harbor cops can also be invisible enough to catch speeding skippers.
Views and News last summer witnessed a powerful vessel going way too fast just off the marina at Hovedøya in the inner Oslo Fjord. Suddenly one of the police patrols seemingly came out of nowhere, quickly pursued the speeding boat and stopped it, ready to issue a stiff fine. (See photos from the incident here.)
“We’re working towards weeding out the worst of the reckless boat folks, to contribute to safety and order for the vast majority,” Roar Isaksen of the Harbor Police in Oslo told Dagsavisen.
Isaksen said he and his colleagues are nabbing and fining skippers who are going too fast every day. “But the temperature and the weather have a lot to do with activity on the water, so it has been relatively calm so far this season,” said Isaksen, referring to the recent cold and rainy weather. “It’s from now that things will really start to take off.”
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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