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Pleased with the recruitment of police officers

Police Academy students with Minister of Justice, Sylvi Listhaug (Progress Party, FrP)

Listhaug pleased with the use of “green” police officers

Minister of Justice, Sylvi Listhaug (FrP), is pleased that seven out of ten freshly graduated police officers are working, but question if the education is adapted to current and future challenges.

 

Among the students who graduated from the Police Academy last year, seven out of ten work at a police station at the turn of the year. Every fourth has acquired a permanent position, according to statistics from the Police Directorate, which are reported by Politiforum.

– These numbers are very positive. There are good prospects for getting a job with this education, says Listhaug to NTB.

Not the best year

One year ago, almost half of the graduates were unemployed. But even though the 2017 batch finds it easier to get jobs quickly than the previous one, it is still a way to go to the peak years of 2014 and 2015 when the share was around 90 per cent at the same time.

– There will be recruited more throughout the year, Listhaug announced after a visit to the Police Academy in Oslo on Tuesday.

For the class of 2016  where many were out of work for a long time, things have improved significantly. 91 per cent of those now are working for the police force. Six out of ten of them have been given a permanent position.

Sufficiently geared

The Minister of Justice at the same time emphasizes that the Police Academy must adapt to a constantly changing reality.

A report from an expert committee, led by special advisor Joacim Lystad, has voiced in favour of opening more paths into the police sector. The committee believes that both education and recruitment must change radically, and that people with other backgrounds should be qualified after a short supplementary education in police work, according to frifagbevegelse.no.

– We have a very good general education today. At the same time, the world is changing. So does the Police Academy. But we must discuss whether today’s police education is sufficiently geared to meet the challenges we face, says the Cabinet Minister to NTB.

Must to keep up to date

The Minister of Justice says that the report on recruitment to the police contains a lot of exciting ideas.

– Not in the least, this will entail that the police in the future will have a greater need for other professional groups than traditionally trained police, such as computer engineers. We must be able to assess the whole risk picture, where a lot of crime is moved from the street to the internet. Her demands are both for closer international cooperation. Education must also keep up to date, says Listhaug.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today