The police district where the man is employed confirmed this to TV 2 on Wednesday.
– We can confirm that the person in question has now been suspended from his position, the police district writes to TV 2.
They will not comment further on the matter at this time.
TV 2 learns that the suspension comes as a consequence of the fact that a personnel case has been opened against the man in his mid-50s. The background for the personnel matter must be the totality of what has come to light about the policeman in the media in recent days.
Grounds for suspension
Two criteria must be met in order to suspend a civil servant:
- The employer must have reason to assume that the person concerned has been guilty of something that could lead to dismissal
- The needs of the service dictate that the official cannot be at work temporarily
Source: Section 29 of the State Employees Act
A suspension means that he is immediately and temporarily removed from work while the personnel matter is investigated further.
It happens after TV 2 in recent days has focused on the policeman, the coach and the former top athlete who was allowed to go from club to club in Idretts-Norge and keep his job in the police.
This is despite the fact that he has four dismissed complaints against him for rape, sexual assault and harassment, as well as the fact that the man in the sport was notified a number of times.
The man has denied all the accusations, show documents from the sport’s sentencing committee and police interrogations. He does not wish to comment on the case to TV 2. All reports against him were dismissed.
TV 2 has tried to contact the policeman and asked how he feels about the suspension, but he has not yet answered our inquiries.
– New and serious information
TV 2 was in contact with the same police district when the stories of eight women, who all say they have been subjected to abuse or harassment, were published on Saturday.
The police then encouraged the various women to make contact, and at the same time warned of possible consequences for the man:
– TV 2 has presented new and serious information, and it is therefore natural that we consider whether there are grounds for opening a personnel case. Steps have previously been taken to shed light on this case, but we have not had enough information to open such a case, the police said then.
Earlier on Wednesday, it became known that none of the four reports were forwarded to the Bureau, the organization that is supposed to investigate reports against police employees when they are on duty.
It caused the TV 2 commentator to react.
The case has also created a temperature in Sports Norway, after it became clear how big the limitations of the Norwegian Sports Confederation (NIF) are in handling alerts and in its preventive work.
The sports president is calling for progress from the Ministry of Culture in getting a change in the law in place. The Minister of Culture responded by going for the throat of the top leader of Norwegian sports.
The case is updated
