Norwegian Cops Want to Be Armed and Dangerous

An overwhelming eight out of ten Norwegian police officers polled by the Police High School on the issue of bearing firearms answered affirmatively. Of the 5,000 policemen and women surveyed only 15 percent said they would rather continue to go unarmed.

Six years ago, the tables were reversed, as 60 percent answered no to the same question, the trade newspaper Politiforum noted.

"It is clear that the police view the situation totally differently today compared with 2011," researcher Tor-Geir Myhrer said.

While ordinary cops walking the beat would indeed like to have some substance in their holsters, the majority of police and Armed Forces bosses are negative. Earlier this year, the Firearms Committee concluded that the continuation of the present system, with weapons safely locked up in the car, is the best solution.

The Police Security Service (PST), on the other hand, recommended the police to be permanently armed, as they believe the nature of crime has changed over the past several years due to the elevated threat of jihadist terror on European soil. The Joint Police Federation is also in favor of being permanently armed.

A similar poll among the general population revealed equally contradictory opinions. Most remarkably, though, inhabitants of Oslo appeared least positive of the police bearing firearms, despite the fact that the capital city is the most likely target for terrorism and crime. In 2011, the government quarter in Oslo was hit by bomb attacks by far-right lone wolf Anders Behring Breivik.

As opposed to their fellow colleagues in blue in other Nordic nations, Norwegian police are generally unarmed. In 2013, the police weapons instruction was amended to allow the police to store firearms locked in glove compartments of their cars instead of having to pick them up from local police stations before use.

Between November 2014 and February 2016, the police were temporarily armed due to an acute threat. A government committee set up to evaluate the perspective of permanently arming the police came up with an overwhelming no, with only former Emergency Forces leader Anders Snortheimsmoen arguing that the police should carry an unloaded gun with ammunition available. The general recommendation, however, was to go for a trial with electric shock weapons.

Earlier in November, the government decided to arm the police at Oslo Airport, as a temporary arrangement. Additionally, Attorney General Per-Willy Amundsen expressed his desire to enable armed police in at-risk locations.

​The Norwegian Police Service has 16,000 employees, of which 8,000 are police officers.

There are but few countries with unarmed police forces, such as Ireland, Iceland and New Zealand to name a few.