Prime Minister Erna Solberg seems to realize that the best defense is a good offense: Just days before being called in for questioning by Parliament about her government’s alleged neglect of security improvements, she laid down the cornerstone for the Norwegian police’s new National Preparedness Center.
“This is a great day for Norwegian preparedness,” declared Solberg, accompanied by her justice minister, Tor Mikkel Wara, who’s responsible for the police and court system. “This center represents a big boost for national preparedness and an important contribution to Norwegians’ everyday security.”
The National Preparedness Center is being built at Taraldrud in Ski, just south of Oslo, and due to be copleted in September 2020. That’s when the country’s special preparedness force, bomb group, crisis and hostage negotiating team and the police’s helicopter service will finally be located at the same spot.
Solberg claims the center will also provide better security for unspecified “objects” and buildings that police view as needing special protection. That’s an area where the state Auditor General’s office claims Solberg’s government has fallen short in its obligation to improve national security. Solberg claims she’ll be ready to answer questions on an issue that opposition politicians have seized upon as being of such importance that they can topple her government if they remain dissatisfied.
newsinenglish.no staff
