Norwegian Police Service - History

History

The police force in Norway was established during the 13th century. Originally the 60 to 80 sheriffs (lensmann) were predominantly used for writ of execution and to a less degree police power. In the cities the duties were originally taken care of by a gjaldker. The sheriffs were originally subordinate the sysselmann, but from the 14th century they instead became subordinate the bailiff (fogd) and the number of sheriffs increased. In the cities the police authority was transferred directly to the bailiff. By the mid-17th century there were between 300 and 350 sheriffs. With the introduction of the absolute monarchy in 1660 and subsequent strengthening of the civil service, the importance of the police increased. The bailiffs as such became part of the police structure, with their superiors, the county governor, receiving a similar role as that of chief of police. The first titled chief of police was hired in Trondheim in 1686, thus creating the first police district, although his jurisdiction only covered the city proper. Chiefs of police were hired in Bergen in 1692, Christiania (Oslo) in 1744 and Christianssand in 1776.

From the 19th century, deputies were hired in larger areas to assist the sheriffs. Following the democratization in 1814, the Ministry of Justice was created in 1818 and has since had the primary responsibility for organizing the police force. The 19th century saw a large increase in the number of chiefs of police, reaching sixteen by the middle of the century. Christiania established the country's first uniformed corps of constables in 1859, which gave the force a more unified appearance. Similar structures were soon introduced in many other cities. From 1859 the municipalities would finance the wages of the deputies and constables, which made it difficult for the police to use those forces outside the municipal borders. The first organized education of police officers started in Christiania in 1889.

In 1894 the authorities decided to abolished the position of bailiff and it was decided that some of its tasks would be transferred to the sheriffs. This resulted in 26 new chief of police positions, largely corresponding to the old bailiwicks. Some received jurisdiction over both cities and rural areas, other just rural areas. At the same time the existing police districts were expanded to include the surrounding rural areas. However, the individual bailiff were not removed from office until their natural retirement, leaving some bailiwick in place until 1919. The reform eliminated the difference between the rural and city police forces; yet the sheriffs were only subordinate the chief of police in police matters—in civil matters and administration they remained under the county governors.

The police school was established in 1920 and the Governor of Svalbard was created in 1925. To increase the police force's flexibility, the municipal funding was cut and replaced with state funding in 1937. That year also saw the first two specialty agencies were created, the Police Surveillance Agency (later the Police Security Service) and the Mobile Police Service. After a border agreement was reached between Norway and the Soviet Union in 1949, the Norwegian Border Commission was established the following year. The Criminal Investigation Service was established in 1959, and the search and rescue system with two joint coordination centers and sub-centers for each police district was created in 1970.

The number of police districts was nearly constant from 1894 to 2002, although a few have been creased and closed. However, the organization in the various police districts varied considerably, especially in the cities. In particular, some cities had their civilian responsibilities taken care of by the municipality. This was confusing for the public, resulting in the police services reorganizing to a homogenous organization during the 1980s, whereby the civil tasks being organized as part of the police stations. Økokrim was established in 1988 and in 1994 the administrative responsibilities for the sheriff's offices was transferred to police districts. Only once has the order to shoot to kill been issued, during the Torp hostage crisis in 1994. The police school became a university college in 1993 and introduced a three-year education; in 1998 a second campus opened in Bodø. Police Reform 2000 was a major restructuring of the police force. First the National Police Directorate was created in 2001, and from 2003 the number of police districts were reduced from 54 to 27. The Police Computing and Material Service and the Criminal Investigation Service were both established in 2004. Ten police officers have been killed in service since 1945. The Gjørv Report following the 2011 Norway attacks criticized several aspects of the police force, labeling the work as "unacceptable". National Commissioner Øystein Mæland withdrew following the criticism, in part because an internal report of the attacks had not found any criticism of the police force.