Norwegian Police Service Politi- og lensmannsetaten |
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Common name | Politi |
Coat of arms
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Agency overview | |
Formed | 13th century |
Employees | 13,000 |
Annual budget | 13 billion kr (2010) |
Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
Jurisdictional structure | |
National agency | Norway |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Minister responsible | Anders Anundsen, Minister of Justice and Public Security |
Agency executive | Odd Reidar Humlegård, National Police Commissioner |
Parent agency | Ministry of Justice and Public Security |
National units |
List
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Police districts | 27 |
Facilities | |
Stations | 66 |
Sheriff's offices | 301 |
Helicopters | 2 Eurocopter EC135 |
Website | |
politi.no |
The Norwegian Police Service (Norwegian: Politi- og lensmannsetaten) is the Norwegian civilian police agency. It consists of a central National Police Directorate, seven specialty agencies and twenty-seven police districts. The government agency is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and has 13,000 employees, of which 8,000 are police officers. In addition to police powers, the service is responsible for border control, certain civil duties, coordinating search and rescue operations, counter-terrorism, highway patrolling, writ of execution, criminal investigation and prosecution.
The police service dates to the 13th century when the first sheriffs were appointed. As the first city in Norway to do so, Trondheim had a chief of police appointed in 1686, and Oslo established a uniformed police corps in 1859. The directorate is led by National Police Commissioner Odd Reidar Humlegård. Police districts were introduced in 1894, with the current structure dating from 2003.
Each police district is led by a chief of police and is subdivided into several police stations in towns and cities, and sheriffs' offices for rural areas. The Governor of Svalbard acts as chief of police for Svalbard. Norwegian police officers do not carry firearms, but keep their Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and Heckler & Koch P30 pistols locked down in the patrol cars. The Norwegian Prosecuting Authority is partially integrated with the police.