The police in Oslo are now in a situation described as critical, and the use of resources at the city’s embassies has reached a point where it is affecting the general safety of the population.
Following a recent explosion at the American embassy, the police have found it necessary to increase guarding at several symbolically significant institutions, including the Israeli embassy. According to a report in Avisa Oslo, Grete Lien Metlid, who heads the operational services in the capital, acknowledges that the strain is now so great that it is affecting both intelligence work and investigations in other important cases.
The police are caught in an impossible balancing act between guarding duties and everyday crime
What is referred to as the capital assignment (hovedstadsoppdraget) has increased significantly in recent years, as a consequence of an unsettled world and continual demonstrations in the city centre. The police must constantly make hard prioritisation decisions between maintaining a visible presence in the streets and fulfilling their statutory guarding duties, which creates concern among both the business community and the population. Daniel Lea Torkildsen of the Oslo Handelsstands Forening expresses concern that everyday crime must now give way to the massive security measures, and he fears that trust in the police will erode if the government does not take action immediately.
Helgheim calls for funds, but remains silent about the causes of the threat
Member of Parliament Jon Helgheim from the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) shares the concern and believes that the government must now awaken before the police are forced to relinquish fundamental security. He points out that minor adjustments in the state budget are no longer sufficient and that a massive investment is required to prevent an exodus of personnel from a profession in which people are burdened with unfinished work far beyond their capacity.
Nevertheless, it is striking that neither Helgheim nor the others who speak to Avisa Oslo dare to mention the real reason why the Israeli embassy in particular requires such extreme protection.
The lack of candour regarding the threat landscape in Oslo
It is evident that the political debate concerns money and resources rather than the actual challenges that characterise Oslo in 2026. There is talk of an unsettled world in general terms, but there is a lack of an honest analysis of who constitutes the threat to the Western embassies and why this hatred is allowed to grow in the capital. Without an acknowledgement of which milieus compel the police to devote their entire capacity to guarding duties, several billions in the police budget will merely function as a temporary solution to a much deeper problem.
It is a serious weakness in the public debate that one avoids speaking about the ideological forces that in the first place necessitate these security measures.