The incident occurred in the southern Norway town of Sauda in August but was only recently brought to light by a report from the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs (Spesialenheten for politisaker).
“He put his finger down into the weapon holster of a police colleague and discharged the colleague’s service weapon,” the report stated, according to national broadcaster NRK.
No one was injured in the accidental shooting, but the circumstances were more than just a little ironic given the accident happened in the middle of a discussion about that very problem.
According to news agency NTB, two similar incidents have occurred within the past year. In November, an officer in Namsos was seriously injured when a colleague’s accidental shot struck him in the foot.
In Gjøvik in August, an accidental shot careened off the floor and then hit the wall before bouncing back and hitting an officer in the butt. The officer was not seriously injured.
The Norwegian Police Directorate announced in January that the nation’s police officers would go back to being unarmed while on duty. Norway’s police force, which consists of some 6,000 uniformed officers, normally keep their weapons locked in their patrol vehicles. But in November 2014, police were given the the authority to carry their service weapons in their belts after the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) raised the threat level because of the risk of a terror attack.
That temporary measure was ended on February 3rd and Norwegian police now once again keep their weapons securely stored while on the job.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
Member comments