Faroese MPs seek more information on Danish laws affecting police

Faroese MPs should receive more information when laws or regulations from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice are to apply in the Faroe Islands and to the Faroese police, Kringvarp Føroya reported on Thursday.

The issue has arisen as a regulation is opened for consultation that would allow police to see who has been online and when. Bjørg Brynhildardóttir Egholm, a member of the Løgting for Tjóðveldi, raised the need for better information during a discussion on the radio programme Breddin.

The law itself, the Administration of Justice Act, was passed in 2019. As a result, the Løgting does not need to decide whether police should receive the tool. The measure only requires a regulation from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice, followed by comments from the Faroese government.

Ruth Vang, leader of Framsókn, said the Administration of Justice Act had been passed without a substantive debate about privacy. She said parliamentarians had not been given clear figures showing how much the police need the tool.

Kári Jacobsen, the police investigation chief, estimates that police cannot proceed in one in four serious online cases because they do not have access to it.