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CASE AGAINST THE STATE: Police Officer Espen Bø believes he was subjected to unlawful retaliation after reporting critical issues in the Western Police District. Photo: Hallgeir Vågenes
BERGEN (VG) Police investigator Espen Bø believes he was forcibly relocated after reporting critical issues in the West Police District. The trial began on Monday, in which he demanded reparations for illegal reprisals.
– Bø claims that he was not allowed to do his job as a police officer intervening against ongoing crime and reporting and investigating specific cases. As a result of his statements, he was subjected to negative treatment and punishment, said Bø’s lawyer, Birthe Eriksen, when the case was started in the Bergen District Court.
In the notice Bø delivered in November 2017, he mentions eight cases from his own portfolio as an investigator. The cases refer to forced prostitution and aggravated violence against women in vulnerable situations.
IN COURT: Attorney Birthe Eriksen has assisted police investigator Espen Bø after he reported critical issues in 2017. In the background, attorney Rolf Bech Sørensen, who also assists Bø. Photo: Frank Haugsbø
In several cases, according to the complainant, the police chiefs have ordered that the cases not be investigated. It also claims that no action was taken to stop ongoing crime where life and health could be in danger.
– This does not hold. Despite the fact that the people are foreigners and do not complain or go to the media, they write in the 46-page warning document that VG mentioned earlier.
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Eriksen noted that the content of the notice is the reason the case has ended in court.
– What has been particularly harsh for Bø is the unwillingness of his leaders to address the relevant issues he has raised. What he has experienced as ignorance and rejection and ultimately expulsion when he has asked critical questions and called for decisions and responsibilities, Eriksen said in his introductory speech.
When lawyer Rolf Bech Sørensen, who also helps Espen Bø, reviewed all eight cases in the notice, the district court closed its doors. While the review was being carried out, the journalists who had come forward to cover the case had to leave the room.
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Eriksen said the employer by transferring Bø from the prestigious EXIT group to the reception of a criminal case helped divert focus from what he initially announced.
– The employer has spent huge resources succeeding Bø as a person. There has also been a complete absence of conflict resolution attempts in this case, even though Bø has requested and requested it.
WITNESS: Police Chief Kaare Songstad will testify later in the case that one of the police investigators in the police district has filed a complaint against the employer. Photo: Marit Hommedal
Eriksen cautioned against the belief that there were two equal parties that met in court.
– The balance of power between the parties in this case could not have been more skewed. We will see that in this case enormous resources have been used to undermine Bø’s authority and credibility as a professional. These same forces have contributed and continue to contribute to diverting the focus from what Bø has announced.
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Eriksen said that the court during the negotiations will receive extremely different presentations of reality.
– Two completely different representations of why Bø has been treated as it has become and why the case has had to play out as it has. Bø claims that he asked critical questions, asked for leadership, decisions, and promoted criticism. He warned and was received with a negative and passive treatment, in addition to that his message, the warning itself, was pulverized.
On Tuesday, government prosecutor Kari Sigurdsen will give his introductory speech.
