Iceland review - 2015, Page 49

ICELAND REVIEW 47
weapons because of a heightened terror-
ism threat in Europe, including from IS.
although he could not say whether IS had
followers in Iceland, he stated, “it would be
completely irresponsible not to be prepared
for something like that.” He also said that
although the guns were being returned,
that did not change the fact that the police
need weapons and that the demand for
them had increased in recent times. He also
pointed to a 2012 survey conducted by the
Icelandic association of police which found
that 83.5 percent of its members felt that
guns should be kept in police cars.
Despite a perceived increased demand
for firearms, Iceland has topped the Global
peace Index for the past seven years and
has one of the world’s lowest violent crime
rates, yet one of the highest rates of gun
ownership, mostly for the purpose of hunt-
ing and practicing sport. It’s worth noting
that only one person has died as a result of
a police shooting in Iceland’s history. The
incident occurred in a rare armed operation
and shootout in 2013, carried out by the
country’s elite SWaT team, known as the
Viking Squad, which is trained in various
armed and unarmed combat.
reykJavík Police go viral
The news that general police officers would
potentially be arming themselves came as a
bit of a shock to Icelanders, especially given
that the Reykjavík Metropolitan police
have in recent years carved out a reputa-
tion for being the good guys. This is in
part due to their efforts at digital policing.
In late 2010, the police started using social
media and have since built up an online
social media presence that has garnered
international attention through their inno-
vative initiative. according to the officer in
charge of social media, Þórir Ingvarsson,
they were the first police force in Iceland
and one of the first in the world to start
using Facebook. With 67,000 followers in
a country of 320,000, it’s one of the larg-
est Facebook followings per capita in the
world.
For their efforts, the police have received
a number of awards, including the Social
Media award of Excellence at a large
agency at the 2013 ConnectedCops
awards, an international competition
on social media use. On winning, Stefán
explained that, “it has been crucial to real-
ize that social media is not a one-way street
but a town square, where the police and the
people they serve can converse and work
together.”
PoLiCe