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BEATS ALARM: Kieran Hill himself grew up in Bærums Verk and is concerned about development in the local area. Photo: Gabriel Aas Skålevik, VG
FORNEBU (VG) youth worker Kieran Hill (39) is not surprised by the youth match that got out of hand at Snarøya in Bærum this weekend. – It’s as expected, he says.
– The differences between rich and poor in Bærum are increasing. If you want to keep up with the local community here, you must be able to afford leisure activities and branded clothing. I have heard of young people who have been forced to sell drugs in order to finance clothing and equipment, says youth consultant Kieran Hill (39) to VG.
He usually works as a special educator in a primary school and also manages the youth offer at Punkt Fornebu, where he is hired as a consultant through his company HappyhillProjects.
Punkt Fornebu is not far from Snarøya. From night to Sunday, police moved into the area after receiving reports of fighting, damage and mood.
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Police estimate that between 200 and 300 young people must have been gathered at the scene.
Police: a suspect
– The Police are investigating two robberies and a circumstance that will be applied to the threats. As of now, there is one who is suspicious of the conditions. The person in question is a resident of the Oslo Police District West Unit, prosecutor Anders Østberg Raaum told VG on Monday.
It states that the investigation is in an early stage and that the police are taking both technical and tactical investigative measures to pinpoint what happened.
There must have been young people from Asker, Oslo and Bærum present at the party, but it is unclear what proportion of them were actually from Fornebu and Snarøya, according to Budstikka.
The night before, a party was also reported that should have taken place over several days at Stabekk in Bærum, with up to 150 people participating. Police believe that a 15-year-old man who was home alone was probably the party’s organizer.
– The scope begins to grow
The youth worker is not surprised by what is happening in the local area.
– It’s as expected. I’ve long tried to warn about this, says Hill.
He says that this summer they experienced that several young people stayed in the outdoor area of Punkt Fornebu.
– Hash has been smoked, drunk, partied and quite a bit of vandalism has been committed in Snarøya. Some believe that outsiders are behind this, and that may be true, but it is also the people from Snarøya who are involved, he says.
TWO TYPES: – We have those who just need to go out and who need socialization. Then we have those who are on the extreme and who are a bit more extreme. They need to explode and be allowed to curse and hip-hop, says youth consultant Kieran Hill. Photo: Gabriel Aas Skålevik, VG
Hill says he has noticed parents expressing concern about development in the area in various Facebook groups.
– Messages sound like “now something abnormal is happening here”. For me, it is not abnormal for this to happen. But its reach is starting to grow, he says.
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Believes that the leisure offer should be strengthened
The youth worker asks for an effort in leisure activities for children and young people in the municipality.
– Leisure clubs and youth clubs are not a legal service, but it is about time it was. They are the ones who give results in this work. Now we only have money left over, she says.
REUSE: One of the project rooms in Punkt Fornebu also known as “404”. Here young people can sew old clothes. – My main focus has always been that young people themselves should be able to govern and that we must move away from the traditional youth club where there are many adults who set up pool tables and tell young people that “you must be here,” says Kieran Hill. Photo: Gabriel Aas Skålevik, VG
Hill takes VG on a quick tour of the Punkt Fornebu facility. The place is usually full of young people, but this Sunday afternoon they barely glimpse.
The youth club opened its doors in August 2019.
Initially, the youth project was funded by OBOS. Today, it is the municipality of Bærum and the voluntary organization Fornebupiloten who contribute financial support.
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YOUTH MEETING PLACE: The youth club “Punkt Fornebu” is located in Forneburingen and was opened in August 2019. It is a stone’s throw from what was formerly Fornebu airport.
– We need more outdoor contacts
Hill believes that part of the solution to the problem may be more outside contacts.
– We need more external contacts and youth workers who, for example, can go out and talk to young people at night when there is a lot of noise outside, and who can walk around the neighborhood. Hopefully, it can help prevent problems from occurring.
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Municipality of Bærum: – The incident is taken seriously
The leader of the committee for children and young people in the municipality of Bærum, Haakon Kvenna Veum (H), believes that it is too early to conclude that the incident on Saturday is due to the young people of Fornebu.
– Sad to read about riots and robberies. It scares you and you get angry. At the same time, the police have declared that they are young people from all over the region: Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is important that we do not make an impression on young people in Fornebu by individual incidents that contribute to stigma, Veum tells VG.
COMMITTEE LEADER: Haakon Kvenna Veum (H) says the municipality is working to establish more leisure activities for children and youth in Fornebu and Snarøya. Photo: Hans Kristian Thorbjørnsen
Veum says that the municipality of Bærum takes these collections very seriously, especially with regard to the status of the crown.
– The municipality will contact the police for closer cooperation to prevent similar things from happening in the coming weekends. It is not new for young people to run together in public places and I am confident that the police handle this in a good way, he says.
It does not hide the fact that there are differences in living conditions in Bærum.
– We work to ensure that children have the same opportunities regardless of their parents’ income. Among other things, all children and young people in Bærum are entitled to a leisure offer, regardless of their financial situation. The municipality also offers a leisure scholarship that can cover participation in activities, as an example of measures for the integration of low-income families.
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He claims that the municipality is, among other things, working to establish more leisure activities for young people in Snarøya and Fornebu.
– This has been an area of political focus for several years. The school, FAU, student councils and local associations have been involved in this work, in addition to the organizational life. There has been a cross-party agreement on this initiative, says Veum.
– What do you think of the proposal to install external contacts?
– This is a good contribution to one of the several measures that we will discuss. We work closely together through the SLT model, where political leadership, the municipality and the police meet for dialogue and joint efforts.
