Passport Crisis Management Expert Per Legreet:

– This is not a pleasure for the police or the authorities in general, says Legrit, who is an Emeritus professor in the field of administration and institutional science at Bergen University.

He points to the current passport crisis that has led to the longest passport queues across the country.

The situation of the police is very bad He asked people to wait to book vacations abroad Until they make sure they get the passport on time.

Now They also tighten Opportunity to purchase an emergency passport.

– Being able to issue a passport to a citizen when needed is the minimum requirement for a government to set one. One can only wonder what they are doing in policing where they cannot predict this growth, says the professor.

The Norwegian Police Directorate has responded that it has taken several steps to prevent the passport crisis. Read the full answer in the article.

Asks questions about supplier selection

Thales is a French company that has trouble producing enough passports and identity cards for Norway and other European countries.

The reason is that the epidemic and disruption of the supply chain of important materials used in the production of war in Ukraine.

Lægreid, however, believes that many questions can be asked about the handling of the Norwegian authorities.

– Should they have spread the risk, rather than betting everything on the cheap supplier who won the tender competition? He asks.

Crossing district boundaries

Another question is about the ability to coordinate at different levels of management.

Great pressure on some passport offices led some to cross district boundaries to avoid long queues. On Tuesday, Dagbladet announced a case in which two colleagues traveled from Bærum to Harstad to obtain a passport just in time for the holidays.

– Do people have to leave the region to go to town to stand in line? This seems completely prehistoric, the UiB professor continues:

Digitalization has become an important integration tool, but the police do not seem to have a particularly good grip when it comes to passport management.

He is clear that citizens will not accept any responsibility in this matter.

– Creates great uncertainty

According to Lægreid, the passport crisis affects two other aspects of public administration, namely management efficiency and legitimacy.

The first is about whether the authorities can introduce measures to reduce the harmful effects.

– Of course there is a complex causal system that can explain the situation, but in reality they do not have enough management skills, says the professor.

It could re-infect the legitimacy of the ruling, that is, the confidence of the people in the authorities, Lægreid elaborates.

– It starts throwing the ball now. This creates great uncertainty, and I think confidence in the police will be weakened in a situation like this.

May be unconstitutional

Hans Peter Grover, a law professor at the University of Oslo, explains that at some point, people will not be able to get a passport until Article 106 of the constitution.

“No one should be denied leave of the empire unless it is necessary to prosecute effectively or for the effectiveness of military service,” it says.

– The freedom to leave and re-enter the Empire is precisely protected by the rules for issuing passports in accordance with Passport Life. When it takes more than half a year to get a passport, one can certainly ask if the authorities are fulfilling their duty under the Constitution, says Graver.

He believes they are committed to doing what they can to ensure that the waiting time is kept to a minimum. In the short term, it may be to ensure that people do not have to wait long hours.

– Passport supplier production problems are very difficult to deal with in the short term. But the experiences we have now should give us reason to ask whether it is fair to hand over the passport product to a private person, the professor concludes.

Directorate of Police: Has taken several steps

Unit chief Unni Noram responded in writing that it was not the role of the Norwegian Directorate of Police to enter into the debate on whether officers are fulfilling their duty under the Constitution.

He points out that due to delays following the outbreak, the directorate has been trying to get people to renew their passports since last fall.

– Among other things, he says, SMSes have been sent to those who need to renew their passports, announcements in the media and information to the public on police websites.

– made the situation even more difficult

Noram also points out that both opening hours and staffing have been significantly extended. Passport offices in the Oslo Police District are open every day of the week and until 11pm on all days of the week, except Fridays.

– Since then, there have been challenges in the supply of raw materials to the manufacturer, and the war in Ukraine has further aggravated the situation. The reason for the passport crisis is that there is more demand for passports than can actually be issued, says the head of the division.

So far this year, police have registered about 560,000 applications for passports and national identity cards.

– It is understandable that many people do not think about their passport before booking a trip, and unfortunately for those who are unable to go abroad, Noram says and continues:

– That is why we ask people to wait to book a holiday abroad until they know that their travel documents are in order.