Crushing verdict in NNPF report

On Wednesday morning, Justice and Emergency Services Minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) received the Role Understanding Committee’s report on the relationship between the police and the private organization Norwegian Narcotics Police Association (NNPF).

Professor Anne-Mette Magnussen has led the work on the investigation.

The main question the committee discussed was whether employees in the police have demonstrated a good understanding of their role in the dialogue with public or private organizations that have had contact with the NNPF.

The committee points out that the organisation’s work has been an important professional resource for the police, but:

– Our main conclusion is that there has not been a sufficient separation between the role as police and the role as a member of the NNPF, says Magnussen.

Great influence

The committee’s conclusion is unanimous, and points out that it is not a lack of rules and norms that has led to this mix of roles, but a lack of compliance. The committee also believes that the police have been too little aware of the rules that apply to role mixing.

– The police have left the responsibility for carrying out and organizing training in the field of doping and drugs to a private association, says Magnussen.

This is a competence development of police employees that the police should do themselves, the committee believes.

– It is the committee’s opinion that a private actor has a great deal of influence over competence enhancement for the training of the police, who have a monopoly on violence, Professor Magnussen adds.

That the police have allowed both police practice and police policy to be developed by zealots in a private association is both a democratic problem and a rule of law security problem, the committee states.

The name can cause confusion

Furthermore, the committee believes there is a need for a broader climate of expression in the police. Based on this, they recommend that police officers receive training in freedom of expression.

The committee also believes that the name “Norwegian Narcotics Police Association” can contribute to confusion about roles, and points out that organizations with “police” in the name can easily give the impression of being part of the police, rather than a private organisation.

– The name can give the impression that this is a drug police, says Magnussen.

Requires an answer: – Court scandal

After the report was presented, the political reactions have not been slow in coming. Storting representative Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik in the Liberal Party calls the committee’s feedback “crystal clear”:

– The collusion between the NNPF and the Police is a fact. The NNPF has been given far too much control over the development of expertise the police have gained in the drug field. The Minister of Justice and the Norwegian Police Directorate must clear this up immediately. Trust in the police must be restored, writes Thorsvik in an email to TV 2.

MDG’s leader, Arild Hermstad, goes even further in his criticism.

– What we have now documented is a legal scandal, where the police, who are supposed to ensure law and order, have broken their own rules and laws over many years, and have exercised their monopoly on violence in a way that does not give people legal certainty, says Hermstad.

Hermstad refers to the report as character assassination of the NNPF, and believes the organization has “actively contributed to breaking laws and doctors in the police”.

– I believe this organization has now played its role, and cannot see how such an organization can defend continuing its activities, says the party leader.

Thorsvik labels the NNPF as a “privately practicing lobby organisation”, and accuses the organization of using the police’s credibility to promote its own interests.

Both Thorsvik and Hermstad are asking for immediate action from the Ministry of Justice.

Mehl asks for time

Justice Minister Mehl was tight-lipped after receiving the report. She says the government will now take a thorough look at the committee’s findings and recommendations, before deciding what to do next.

– I register that the committee concludes that there has been a lack of clarity in the relationship between the NNPF and the police, particularly in the competence-raising and preventive work, says Mehl.

To TV 2, the Minister of Justice says that it is too early to say whether the government will follow the committee’s recommendations.

– Here there are many different proposals and recommendations. It is too early to say whether this is something the government will go ahead with. Now we have to sit down with the report and go through it properly, says Mehl.

The Minister of Justice does not currently wish to comment on specific findings in the report.

– On a general basis, we must have good tools for the police to prevent drug use together with other actors in society. People must also be confident that the police operate in accordance with current legislation and regulations, says the Minister of Justice, who thanks the committee for its contribution.

Bjørnland sees learning points

Police director Benedicte Bjørnland says the police will now thoroughly study the report.

– But already now and based on the summary, we see that there are learning points, says the police director.

She points out that the Directorate of Police has already implemented a number of measures in anticipation of the committee’s report.

– We must consider further measures on the basis of the committee’s recommendations and assessments. This is work we will give high priority going forward, concludes Benedicte Bjørnland.

There has long been a storm around the NNPF, which since 2001 has received up to 3 million kroner from the police’s own budget. This despite the fact that the organization has no formal connection to the police and emphasizes that they are concerned with drug policy.

At the same time, the organisation’s members have posed in police uniform during events organized by the NNPF. It is this mix of roles that has now been scrutinized.