Father-of-two Joakim G. Halvorsen, together with his daughter (6), son (10) and girlfriend, enjoyed a sunny day at the swimming beach, Kadettangen, in Bærum.
After the children had played, bathed and eaten a good lunch, they decided to head home.
Joakim held his daughter in one hand and carried a rainbow colored beach bag over his shoulder on the opposite side.
– Suddenly an angry man came storming towards us and pointed at the bag, says Joakim to TV 2.
He describes the incident as threatening, and therefore stood in front of the children in an attempt to protect them.
It was Asker and Bærum Budstikke who first mentioned the matter.
The drama continues
During the afternoon on the Friday in question last week, it started to blow heavily.
Therefore, Joakim was unable to locate where a giant cloud of saliva that should have flown towards them came from. Parts of the wet saliva hit the daughter.
– I didn’t have time to think much about it before the angry man came out from behind a tree, Joakim says.
Then the father of two immediately began to sense danger.
– He came threateningly towards us with raised shoulders while pointing at the bag and screaming. I grabbed him with my hands to keep him away from my children, he says.
He says that they held each other by the neck in a strangle hold. The six-year-old daughter was frightened and reacted by starting to cry.
– I asked “why are you spitting on my daughter?”.
The man passing by then allegedly pointed at the rainbow-coloured bag and shouted “principle”. Only then did Joakim realize what the attack was about.
– GOT HITS: The rainbow-coloured bag should make more people react. Photo: Private
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Just behind, according to the father of two, several men should have arrived at the scene.
– They screamed things like “homsebag”, “gay bastard” and commented in an ironic way what a “damn good” role model I was for my children.
He describes the incident as a hate crime.
– The adrenaline was pumping
The biting must have lasted about five minutes. Joakim’s friend asked them to stop and reminded them that there were children present.
Eventually, the angry man will have let go.
Joakim then took the children some distance away from the scene and decided to contact the police.
– At this point I was probably quite high up, and adrenaline was pumping through my body, he says to TV 2.
Despite the drama, the father of two considered the incident to be beyond life-threatening danger. Therefore, he called the 02800 line to the police instead of the emergency number.
It must have been around 15 minutes before he got through on the phone line. And he was first told that there was no available patrol in the area.
– KADETTANGEN: The well-known bathing place, Kadettangen, in Sandvika in Bærum. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB
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– I tried to call again, but then the operator said that too much time had passed and that it would be like searching for “random people”. They thought I should have called the emergency number instead, says Joakim.
Shortly after they ended the call, the police called him back. This time they encouraged him to report the relationship.
Ample atmosphere
Joakim had difficulty understanding why the police could not yet send a patrol. In addition, he was still affected by the incident.
– I replied by saying that I did not bother to report the relationship. And that it was going to be dropped anyway, he says.
The police operator at the other end must then have retaliated with the same coin.
– I got answers like “if you don’t bother, we won’t bother helping you either” and “why do you bother calling us then?”, says Joakim.
Despite the fact that Joakim takes self-criticism related to the way he acted in the situation, he believes the police’s work is worthy of criticism.
Time-critical events
Acting head of joint operational service in the Oslo police district, Runar Skarnes, is familiar with the incident.
He writes in an e-mail to TV 2 that the caller was clearly angry with the police, but on the other hand fails to answer whether their operator had responded in a similar way.
– The operator tried to make it clear that he can call 112 in time-critical incidents, writes Skarnes and adds:
– The inquiry was taken seriously, and he was also recommended to report the case. He didn’t want that. Some time had passed here, and the people who should have done this were gone.
– THE EMERGENCY NUMBER: The police believe that the public should call the emergency number if you need immediate help. Photo: Martin Fønnebø / TV 2
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According to Skarnes, if residents are exposed to incidents where immediate help is needed, they should call the emergency number. This is to provide knowledge of the incident as quickly as possible.
– When it appears that an immediate response is required, one or more patrol cars will be sent. If necessary, redirected from lower priority tasks.
The police must always assess the purpose and what a patrol can accomplish, writes Skarnes.
High severity
The Oslo police district has its own national competence environment that works directly on cases related to hate crime.
– It is important that these are reported to the police so that we can carry out investigations and possibly an investigation, says Skarnes and continues:
– You can call 112 when this type of time-critical incident occurs.
Skarnes writes that the police take hate crime seriously. Nevertheless, he states that in some cases there can be challenges around matching tasks and resources that are immediately available.
– Every single incident must therefore be assessed individually. Unfortunately, this can lead to it being perceived as discrimination and deprioritisation, he writes.
Made an active choice
After the dramatic experience, Joakim felt compelled to have a chat with the children.
He asked them what they thought of what had happened.
– My daughter said she was glad there had been no more fighting and that she was very scared, says Joakim.
Nevertheless, the family decided to go down to the beach the next day again. This time, the rainbow-colored bag remained at home.
– It is absolutely horrible that it has to be like that. But I don’t want to take the chance that something like that will happen with my children present again, says Joakim.
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