Police intercepted communication by 253 people last year

Photo: Per Løchen / NTB scanpix

The police listened in to fewer people in 2017 than the year before.The number of people fell from 316 people in 2016 to 253 last year.

 

This information appeared in the annual report from the Committee for Communication Control.

The 253 people were divided into 160 cases, which are 25 cases more than the previous year.

In total, 761 mobile phones and 10 fixed phones were intercepted.

The term communication control is used in the Criminal Procedure Act for interception and other controls of communication facilities. A communication system can be, for example,a landline telephone, a cellular phone or broadband routers.

Police chiefs had reported on the use of communication control in just over 42% of cases in 2017, having given results in the form of seizures and/or information of evidence and/or investigative value.This is on a par with previous years’ reporting, the control committee stated.

In addition, covert audio surveillance was used in 14 cases with a total of 24 suspicious activities. Of the 761 mobile phones that were subjected to communication control in 2017,712 were listened in on, and 49 were for traffic and location data to be collected.

Just over half of the cases concerned the investigation of drug offences.

Communication control was also used in the investigation of, among other things, killing,serious bodily injury, family violence, fires, robbery, rape, sexual abuse of children,trafficking in human beings, corruption and thefts as part of organised crime.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today