«... dø om så det gjelder»?: De rettslige rammer for den individuelle handleplikten ved farlige politioperasjoner

Abstract

The terrorist attack in Norway on 22.July 2011 actualizes many questions. One is to what extent the State to uphold the fundamental right to life in ECHR art. 2, can expect police officers to put their own lives at risk in order to protect the citizens. If it can be done without special danger or sacrifice, every citizen has a duty according to his ability to help any person whose life is in imminent danger. Can more be expected from the police? The more instantaneous and effective actions expected from the police, less protection will be given to the life of the police officers. It follows that protecting the life of the police officer may be detrimental to the protection of the public. Handling “shooting in progress”-incidents does not exceed what follows from being an employee in the police force. However, the duty to act is not a static commodity in the eyes of the ECHR art. 2. For the question of how directly and effectively and thus hazardous it will be prudent to apprehend the perpetrator, key factors will be the quality of the information in real time and the level of the training and experience of the available officers. More must be expected from the specialist police team than from a sole inexperienced officer. But the key standard will always be: The risk must be justifiable, meaning that the action taken by the police must have a reasonable possibility to succeed.