Technology

Availability of police automobiles.
As of August 1993, there were approximately 1,620 police automobiles. Approximately 1,000 of these were State-owned; the rest were rented. In addition, there were 86 motorcycles, all of which were State-owned.

Electronic equipment.
Computer technology is used by the police force for a variety of purposes, including reporting crimes, gathering and processing crime statistics, budgeting, accreditation of officials and fingerprinting. (An Automated Fingerprint Identification System [AFIS] has been in use with the National Bureau of Crime Investigation since the beginning of 1985.
All police and sheriff stations have on-line links to a central computer network maintained by the Police Computing Service. At present, police cars are not mounted with mini-computer terminals, but there are plans to mount a fleet of police cars with such equipment later this year. Mobile telephones, radio equipment and radar guns are also widely used.

Weapons.
The most common type of weapon with which police arm themselves is a wooden baton. There are 2 main types of guns available for use by ordinary police officers: US carabiners (30 caliber) and Smith & Wesson revolvers (model 10). Machine guns are available to specially selected police units, such as the anti- terror squad. There are light bulletproof vests for approximately half of the operative police force. They are distributed unequally between the various police districts depending on need. Almost all police officers on patrol in Oslo have bulletproof vests. There are also approximately 2,000 heavy bulletproof vests and helmets distributed between the police districts.