PST – the Norwegian Police Security Service

National cooperation

PST has a wide national cooperation within all its areas of responsibility. The service’s most important partners are colleagues in the ordinary police and the Intelligence Service. One major and visible example of the cooperation between PST and the police in 2009 was President Barack Obama’s visit to Norway, but the service has also had considerable cooperation with many of the country’s police districts on various cases. The organisation of PST, with offices in all police districts nationwide, ensures close and confidential cooperation.

The collaboration with the Intelligence Service is particularly important with regard to terrorist threats. The threat of terrorism traverses national boundaries, and in 2009 the two services have worked closely together to counteract this threat in Norway and to contribute to global cooperation against terrorism, thus fulfilling Norway’s international legal commitments in this area.

PST has also had an extensive cooperation with other government authorities in Norway on exchange of information, threat assessments and analyses, and on providing advice on security. Particularly in the field of information exchange, focus has been on the protection of personal privacy, the joint development of regulations, transparency and monitoring activities.

International cooperation

To a steadily increasing extent, PST’s tasks are acquiring an international platform since the service’s core activity is essentially related to bilateral or multilateral cooperation with the services of other countries. As a result, a worldwide contact network has been established with other nations’ police, security and intelligence services. Almost all the cases PST is involved with have international ramifications. International contact is therefore of crucial importance for PST’s ability to prevent serious crime. The scope of this cooperation has been increasing during recent years and will most likely continue to increase in the years ahead. At the end of 2009, PST has established bilateral cooperation with approximately 60 services worldwide. The development in international cooperation is in line with PST’s strategy on enhancing the focus in this field.

The scope of this international cooperation extends across all specialist areas and all levels within the organisation and is a result of the development within the areas for which PST has been assigned responsibility. In addition to bilateral cooperation with individual services, PST also participates in a number of international cooperative forums that are independent and non-political and that cover one or more of PST’s areas of responsibility. The following examples of forums of which PST is a member can be mentioned: Club of Bern, CTG (Counter Terrorist Group), NATO AC/46 and PWGT (Police Working Group on Terrorism). As a member, PST is obliged to assume the duties of the chair in these forums with the accompanying administrative and professional coordination, as well as the responsibility for arranging meetings in Norway – as on several occasions in 2009.

It is extremely important for PST to make an international contribution to serve as a relevant, interesting and professional cooperative partner. Through its international networks, PST can share and receive information that may be the decisive element required to prevent the occurrence of an act of terrorism or other serious crime. Activities related to international cooperation account for a major part of PST’s budget.

Personnel

At the end of 2009 PST had 517 employees in total. Of these, 391 serve daily at the Central Unit (DSE), PST’s headquarters at Nydalen in Oslo. The service has local PST units in all the police districts in the country except Oslo, where the DSE is responsible for PST matters in Oslo Police District. At the end of 2009 there were a total of 126 employees at the 26 local units.

During recent years the service has become a more multi-disciplinary organisation. This means that at the end of 2009 PST had 366 employees with a background from the police and 151 civil employees with very different qualifications. By comparison, in 2000 almost none of the service’s employees had been recruited from areas other than the police. The increasingly complex threat situation is a direct cause of the service’s growing need for new knowledge in addition to expertise on policing and prosecution matters.

At the end of 2009 there were 171 women (33%) and 346 men (67%) working in PST. The number of women in the service has risen somewhat in recent years parallel with the increase in the proportion of employees without a police background.

Economy

In 2009 PST had a budget of NOK 383 million at its disposal. Included in this was NOK 25 million that had been allocated through the revised national budget. The accounting figures for DSE as of 31 December 2009 show a consumption of 98% of the total budget. The total overall spending amounts to NOK 374.4 million.

Monitoring of PST

The EOS Committee

The Norwegian Parliament’s Monitoring Committee for Intelligence, Surveillance and Security Services (the EOS Committee) monitors PST and other services. The EOS Committee inspects PST ten times per year: six times at DSE, and four times at local units. The main task of the Committee is to ensure that no individual is subject to unjust treatment in the implementation of intelligence, surveillance and security services, cf. section 2 of the Norwegian Act no. 7 of 3 February 1995 relating to the Monitoring of Intelligence, Surveillance and Security Services. The Committee submits an annual report to the Norwegian parliament. More information about the Committee’s inspections of PST can be found at www.eos-utvalget.no.

Ministry of Justice and the Police

The Ministry of Justice and the Police monitors PST’s preventive activities. Inspections are made four times a year – twice at DSE and twice at local units. Through its inspections the Ministry is to ensure that PST is working within the applicable frameworks and priorities.

Monitoring by the prosecuting authority

PST is inspected at least once a year by the chief prosecuting authority, which for PST is the National Authority for Prosecution of Organised or other Serious Crime (NAST). In addition, the Public Prosecutor’ Offices are regularly updated on current cases. The public prosecutor’s main focus is on compliance with the key priorities and guidelines adopted for work supervised by the prosecuting authorities.

Courts of law

PST is subject to the power of judicial review when petitioning for the use of coercive measures in a particular case. The Court ensures that the conditions of the law are fulfilled when such measures are used in cases of both a preventive and an investigatory nature.

Internal control

An internal control system has been established in PST to document how the service handles statutory requirements. This internal control comprises all the rules that apply to the service – from laws and instructions to service directives and their accompanying procedures issued by PST’s Director General. Through this system, responsibility is assigned to senior management and employees, and the registration, handling and damage limitation of non-compliance is monitored. PST’s leadership reviews the internal control system twice a year.