Increased terrorism risk
Lögreglan í Reykjavík Við Hverfisgötu LR Löggan Þórður Arnar Þórðarson
The Icelandic police force cannot overlook an increased risk of terrorism in Europe, especially from the Islamic State. According to Chief of Police, Jón Bjartmarz, this is the reason that the police force is making a report to the Minister for the Interior for an increased need for weaponry.
The Chief of Police will be asking for machine guns to be bought for the police force. The 250 machine guns which the Icelandic coast guard received from the Norwegian army are about to be sent back to Norway.
"The situation in Europe has been changing a lot because of the ISIS militant group which incites its supporters to commit acts of terrorism in their homes," says Bjartmarz who looks to Norway as an example as the Norwegian police force have recently increased weaponry out of fear of terrorism. "The police force cannot simply believe that nothing like this will happen in Iceland. We have a duty to protect the lives and health of the public. The police has to have the capabilites of dealing with situations like this although of course we hope that nothing will happen."
