Criminal networks from abroad and local gangs are among the biggest threats facing the Norwegian public and police. Now the latter have an extra NOK 600 million in state funding to help ward them off.
Police Inspector Grete Lien Metlid told newspaper Aftenposten that in order to “crush” the networks and the gangs they use, it’s important to understand how they operate and what kinds of crimes they commit. “That’s the key for the measures needed,” she said.
Most of the criminal networks turning up in Oslo are involved with drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and business fraud. Several networks based in other countries now have a permanent presence in Oslo and elsewhere in Norway, and often use others to demand money or carry out violent assaults. Minors are also often used since they can be immune from prosecution.
That’s why many 15- and 16-year olds, some brought in from Sweden, have carried out shootings, stabbings and even bombings of private homes, including the stabbing of another 16-year-old at a tram station in Oslo this week. Metlid has said police can now go after those behind such incidents.
Police in general have also received more funding to hire more graduates of the state police academy, and put them to work all over the country. Fully 94 percent of academy graduates last year had jobs within the police by the end of the year.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
