When the top management of the Norwegian police puts pen to paper to brief the country’s political leadership on whistleblowing, one expects facts, integrity, and accountability. Instead, the National Police Directorate (POD) has served the Ministry of Justice a masterclass in obfuscation and character assassination.
On October 10, 2025, Assistant National Police Commissioner Lars Erik Alfheim sent a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister (SMK) and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (JD). The letter was a response to inquiries from the Police Whistleblowing Ombudsman (PAVO) regarding the critical situation for whistleblowers within the agency.
Instead of seizing the opportunity to clean up, or at least be honest about the challenges, POD chose a strategy that should set off red warning lights for anyone concerned with the rule of law and good administrative practice.
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23 Attacks, Zero Solutions
A review of the letter reveals a shocking prioritization. The Assistant Commissioner mentions PAVO and its founders a total of 23 times. Each time, the purpose is clear: To discredit the sender, cast doubt on their motives, and distance them from the «official» system.
Alfheim devotes significant space to emphasizing that the PAVO founders have been «dismissed,» that they have lost cases in court, and that they must be distinguished from the new «Independent Whistleblowing Ombudsman for the Police.» A picture is painted of quarrelsome individuals plaguing the system with baseless complaints.
But what does Alfheim write about the actual conditions in the police? What does he write about the content of the whistleblower reports?
Nothing.
In a letter intended to shed light on the whistleblowing institution, the real problems are not mentioned with a single word:
- No mention of sexual harassment.
- No mention of retaliation against whistleblowers.
- No mention of a culture of fear.
This is not an oversight. It appears as a cynical and deliberate diversionary maneuver. By targeting the whistleblowers (the messengers), POD avoids talking about the rotten culture for which they themselves are responsible.
The Dangerous Silence Regarding the Union’s Warning
The most serious aspect is not what Alfheim writes, but what he omits. While POD assures the Ministry that they have «new whistleblowing routines» and that everything is under control, reality screams a completely different story from the outside.
Shortly after this letter, the leader of the Norwegian Police Federation (PF), Unn Alma Skatvold, went public in Dagsavisen with a historic and shocking message: «We must still advise our own members against whistleblowing.»
Norway is thus likely the only country in Europe where the largest trade union for police officers has a formal resolution advising against whistleblowing due to a lack of safety. That POD fails to mention this total crisis of confidence in its report to the Ministry of Justice is not just reprehensible—it is misleading the government.
Misinformation to the Top
When the Police Directorate tells the Ministry and international bodies like GRECO (The Group of States against Corruption) that Norway has good systems for whistleblowing, while the employees» representatives say it is directly dangerous to use them, POD is producing disinformation.
In the letter, Alfheim boasts that GRECO is «positive» about the Norwegian police’s efforts. But what basis for decision-making has GRECO received? Have they been shown the glossy image Alfheim paints, or have they been told that Norwegian police officers are asked by their own union to keep their mouths shut for their own safety?
A Democratic Problem
We have recently seen top leaders in public administration, such as in NAV (Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration), having to resign because the Ministry was misinformed. The situation in the Police Directorate is now at least as serious.
This is not about PAVO. It is about whether the Ministry of Justice and the Prime Minister’s Office can trust the information they receive from their subordinate agencies.
If the Police Directorate is permitted to:
- Remain silent about systematic harassment and retaliation.
- Hide that the agency is in a deep crisis of confidence with the unions.
- Use civil service resources to smear whistleblowers rather than solving the problems.
…then we are facing a systemic democratic problem.
The letter from October 10, 2025, will stand as a monument to a management culture that prioritizes its own reputation over the truth. It is high time that the Ministry of Justice looks past the smokescreen and asks the obvious question: Why is it dangerous to blow the whistle in the Norwegian police, and why is the Police Directorate trying to hide it?