VAKSDAL (Dagbladet): Police chief Ivar Hellene at Voss stands and welcomes SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, who this week ran an election campaign in Western Norway.
Finally, Vedum will meet a policeman who openly supports the Center Party’s great victory in government to establish new police offices.
– There are only around 100 reviews a year in Vaksdal, but you have to see this in the context of Osterøy and Voss. The Voss police district is 5,000 square kilometres, which is more than twice as large as the old Vestfold county. There are 5,000 cabins here and a lot of tourism, says Hellene.
Vaksdal is thus one of the seven municipalities that now has a police station, but has less than 100 or fewer reports a year, as NRKs review showed.
Ivar Hellene is a police veteran. He joined the police at Voss in 1984 and has been central to the Police Union for a number of years. He helped build the new service office in Bergen.
And not least: He is one of the few police chiefs who dare to say openly that he supports the government’s plan for new police offices. That is why the Center Party is also eager for Dagbladet to meet him.
Want the positions
But does Ivar Hellene really support the idea of creating a new police office?
– What many are very strongly opposed to is setting up a new office with rent and the costs it entails. It can be an argument, but then we won’t get the positions, says Hellene to Dagbladet.
– So you don’t really want a new office either?
– If a police station is needed for us to get five new positions, then that solves the challenges we have in Osterøy and Voss.
– Don’t recognize Ap
– Won’t this just be symbolic politics?
– Getting these positions that come with the office is not symbolic politics. We will strengthen the police in an area that has lacked local police after the 2000 police reform, says Hellene and continues:
– The new positions will also strengthen the rest of the Voss police station district and Bergen by us taking on more of the assignments here locally.
Local concern
The police station chief at Voss points out that there will be a much greater presence in Vaksdal when the new office comes in 2024. Vedum meets the principal of the local school and committed parents.
They are concerned both about drugs and not least the rough driving that takes place in the streets in the evenings and at weekends.
When the police finally arrive from Voss, the situation is usually long over and there are no consequences.
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– The development is scary. There are a lot of rumors about what is going on, especially when it comes to drugs, which I don’t know how to deal with. There are no police officers here with local knowledge who can enter. I think the development is going in the wrong direction, says principal Magnar Helland.
Vedum: – Make an impression
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has listened to the representatives of the municipalities belonging to the Voss police district, the fire service, the school and concerned parents. It is an enormous pleasure to have the new police office in Vaksdal.
– It makes an impression to hear that they have lacked a local police presence since 2000. This is a feeling many people around the country share after the Conservative Party’s police reform, which centralized the police, says Vedum, and continues:
– We are doing something about this now and getting local police back in several local communities where there is a desire for this. It’s about people’s safety in everyday life, no matter where you live.
Will close 20 new streets to cars
– Police chief Ivar Hellene says that these are the positions he wants, not necessarily a police office. Is an office really necessary?
– It is about permanent local presence, then there must be both a police station and people. It is also what he is clear that they need. The two things are connected, says Vedum.
– Why should one spend money on rent and maintaining an office instead of more police officers?
– It is not about the office itself, but the permanent presence. People know where they can contact the local police, this means that you get police officers who are present and become known in the local area. It costs very little to get the practical stuff in place, the big money will go to the people who will be there and be an active part of the local environment.
2023-09-02 20:45:48
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