STAVANGER, Norway – Norwegian police are laying down their arms.
After carrying guns for about a year, police in the Nordic country will go back to patrolling the streets unarmed next week, the National Police Directorate said Friday.
Norwegian police were armed as a temporary measure after the country’s security service raised the terror alert level.
It has since been downgraded and the police directorate said “there are no grounds to continue the temporary armament.”
It said police will go back to keeping firearms locked in their patrol cars.
Norway has debated the preparedness of its police force to deal with terrorists since a horrific attack in July 2011, when a single anti-Muslim gunman slaughtered 69 people on a summer youth retreat after killing eight people in a car bombing in Oslo.
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