The police’s use of resources is criticized after three people were reported for showing the finger in Sandnes and Stavanger.
Updated just now
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This is written by Stavanger Aftenblad.
While three people were reported at the weekend for showing the finger, the police have dismissed several serious cases of violence in recent months.
Law professor Hans Fredrik Marthinussen at UiB says to the newspaper that the reviews do not seem appropriate:
– Such incidents usually happen when people are drunk in the city. I don’t understand what the police will gain by reporting them, he says.
Refers to judgment from the 1980s
The Criminal Code says this:
“Anyone who abuses a public official during or because of the performance of their duties by insulting words or other inappropriate behavior shall be punished with a fine”, according to section 156.
Marthinussen has also tweeted about the topic:
In the Twitter message, the law professor refers to a judgment from the 1980s against a person who pointed the finger at the police. The district court then held that the person “must have legal access to express himself, as stronger forms of expression were not used”.
Marthinussen calls the police “the most hair-raising officials in Norway”.
– Had Nav employees reported everyone who pointed the finger at them, people would have been reported all the time, says Marthinussen.
–All three cases of finger-pointing dismissed
Police prosecutor Sveinung Andersen in the Sørvest police district informs the newspaper that all three cases from the weekend have been dropped. Conditions for punishment shall not have been present.
He emphasizes that the police have used minimal resources on the cases.
– The police have many cases in a day, so one or two extra makes no difference. It does not exceed the resources we use on other matters. We report the cases we think are worth looking into, he says to Stavanger Aftenblad.
The police attorney does not agree with Marthinussen that police officers should be more sensitive than other officials in Norway.
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