Iceland review - 2016, Page 76

74 ICELAND REVIEW
In February it was reported that a police officer in the narcotics
division had warned a suspect of a house search for drugs. How
concerned are you about corruption within the Icelandic police?
Of course I’m concerned; every police commissioner
I have met in my many years in this job has been con-
cerned about corruption. It’s a clear and constant danger.
Complacency can be devastating—we Icelanders should
know that, thinking back to the financial crash of 2008.
Being a small and closely-knit society, corruption is obvious-
ly a cause for concern.
The Reykjavík Metropolitan Police has received a lot of attention
for its innovative use of social media. Tell us about how the police
force uses social media and why.
This really goes back to what I said earlier about the
trust between the public and the police. In order to maintain
that close relationship, the police have to make use of mod-
ern technology. Social media have become an important part
of everyday life, and the police make use of this technology
in order to further serve the public. This involves interacting
with the public, giving and receiving information, telling the
public what the police are up to, traffic information, giving
advice to the public, public notices, etc.
In January, the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police set up a project to
monitor and prevent hate crimes. What triggered the decision to
start such a project and what does the project involve?
Hate crime is a cause for growing concern in many
Western countries. Just some days ago we yet again wit-
nessed a horrible massacre in the US [Orlando shooting,
June 11]. According to the law, ‘hate crime’ is a concept
used to describe an act which is committed on purpose
and is based on a negative view towards an individual or
a group due to ethnicity, skin color, religion, sexuality etc.
Unfortunately, Iceland is not free of individuals that have a
negative or hateful view of others due to racism and bigotry.
By setting up this project we are placing increased emphasis
on hate crime which is, and this should be stressed, described
in the Icelandic Penal Code. The police are tasked with
upholding the law and we need to be able to react when
social cohesion is threatened through hate crime.
How much of a concern is the global threat of terrorism to you?
As you say, the threat is global. Icelanders can’t think
of themselves as isolated or not pertaining to the outer
world in this regard and this regard alone. Would that make
any sense? I think not. So, yes, we take the threat seriously.
Iceland takes part in international cooperation against the
threat of terrorism. The National Commissioner operates
a National Security Unit, tasked with, among other things,
assessing the threat.
The Icelandic police force only got its first foreign-born police officer,
a Polish-born female officer, a few years ago. Given that foreigners
make up around 10 percent of the population, why are there not more
police officers of foreign origin in Iceland?
The police must reflect society; the police are a part
of society, not something above, underneath or beyond it. I
think it is of great importance for the Icelandic police to have
police officers of foreign origin in their ranks. There are many
reasons why this is important; knowledge of foreign languages
and familiarity in terms of cultures are two obvious ones. I have
long been of the opinion that the police should make an effort
to increase the number of police officers of foreign origin.
However, active “recruitment” of Icelanders of foreign origin
has not taken place and referring to specific background or ori-
gin could be problematic given current rules and regulations.
Any changes would have to be decided in cooperation with the
Ministry of the Interior and would be part of a change in policy.
A new law on police education has just been passed which will
bring about significant changes, which involve, among other
things, bringing police education up to university level. I am
quite optimistic that talented people of different backgrounds
will be interested in becoming police officers.
In late 2014, the first female officer was appointed as Reykjavík
Chief of Police. The police force is traditionally considered to be a
male-dominated institution. How has it changed since you started
working there?
In the nearly 20 years I’ve served as National
Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, I have instigated various
changes in order to make the police a less male-dominated
workplace. To name a few; I created a special office within the
National Commissioner in order to ensure that principles of
equality and equal opportunity are adhered to. I also intro-
duced a Policy on Gender Equality within the Icelandic police.
We have been working very hard in order to ensure gender
equality and that women have the same opportunities as men
in terms of promotion. The same applies to work enjoyment. It
is of course very important that female police officers feel that
they are accepted and respected as equals. As I said, the police
are part of society and must reflect society. A male-dominated
police force simply doesn’t represent society today. Women
now make up some 15 percent of the total police force. The
“The general police are unarmed and will remain unarmed. You
won’t encounter an Icelandic ‘bobby on the beat’ carrying a
gun. We feel that’s not the right way to go.” Haraldur Johannessen.