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Revelations about sexual harassment and unwanted behavior in the police have prompted several to react, including Police Director Benedicte Bjørnland.
The study, which was conducted by Professor Dag Ellingsen at the Norwegian Police University College and Professor Ulla-Britt Lilleaas at the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, deals with gender and diversity in security organizations in general, not only in the police.
They have mainly examined the operational parts of the police. The research project will be completed in 2021. Previously, researchers presented results from the West Police District.
The emergency unit (UEH) in the West Police District is among those that have received criticism in the new study. The police district was also criticized for culture in 2018.
Worried about “fucking Thursday”
Notice security
– Many of the findings they made in 2018 are in the same category as those that emerged today, Kaare Songstad, chief of police in the West Police District, tells Dagbladet.
Both before and after the investigation in 2018, the police district has actively worked with employee safety through notification, including through the use of an internal investigation group, according to Songstad.
– We took the opportunity to go out and encourage our own employees to bring us that kind of story because we wanted to emphasize that we wanted to know what happened, he says.
Not safe to say
– Has there been a culture of silence with you before?
– I think the word culture of silence is too broad, but as our research group pointed out, many have perceived it as problematic and unsafe to say about such things, he says.
Songstad believes that the problem exists throughout the Norwegian police force.
– Particularly related to the way in which men in positions of power interact with women in various settings, both professionally and privately.
It is a known phenomenon that many of these operating cultures have challenges in this field, Songstad believes.
– Unacceptable!
Traditional male culture
Professor Ulla-Britt Lilleaas, who is behind the research project together with Dag Ellingsen, highlights the skewed gender distribution as one of the reasons for culture.
– Traditionally it has been a male culture, and when women want to enter, it can be a threat to men, Lilleaas tells Dagbladet.
Kaare Songstad agrees that an unequal gender balance can contribute to culture. The Emergency Unit (UEH) in the West Police District is among the agency’s units with a low proportion of women.
– An imbalance between the number of people of different sexes can influence the power relationship. That is why it is so important that we actively work to recruit more women for operational environments in the police, says Sognstad.
“Sorry I thought we had a desk”
“Fuck-Thursday”
In a press release on the police website, Police Director Benedicte Bjørnland says that when she was presented with the results, she was informed about the abuse of position to achieve sexual acts in exchange for favorable guards or good references.
– I heard about the party culture – and about the so-called “fucking Thursday” at camp B3 (Undergraduate police education – operational training during camp stays in third year). Instructors ordained to teach in camps must have had sex with female students. This bothers me, says Bjørnland.
She emphasizes that the fact that instructors have had intimate relationships with students in an environment where power, authority, and power relationships are obviously skewed, is unacceptable and contrary to agency values.
