Rolf Benjamin Wegner (born 27 October 1940 in

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

) is a Norwegian lawyer, civil servant and former chief of police. He is one of the most well known and popular policemen in Norway.

Background

He grew up in

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, R ...

and is a son of chief of police and judge Rolf Benjamin Wegner (the elder), a grandson of chief of police and county governor

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate. He was one of the country's leading mining magnates as the director-general and co-owner of Blaafarveværket, and also had significant interests in o ...

, a great-grandson of the timber merchant Heinrich Benjamin Wegner and a 2nd great-grandson of the industrialist

. His father published a book about the Wegner family. He rarely uses the name Benjamin, joking that he prefers people to believe the "B" stands for " Bastian, bank box or something like that."

Career

He graduated as a jurist at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1967 and worked as a deputy judge in

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

1967–1969 and as a junior police prosecutor at

Romerike Romerike is a Districts of Norway, traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Akershus municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern ...

1969–1972."Wegner er åpen for comeback i Bergen," ''

Bergensavisen ''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpag ...

'', 26 December 2002 He served as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions 1972–1974, as assistant chief of police (corresponding to

assistant chief constable Assistant chief constable (ACC) is the third highest rank in all British territorial police forces (except the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, in which the equivalent rank is commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as C ...

in the United Kingdom) and education director of the

Police Academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or to o ...

1974–1980, as chief of police (corresponding to chief constable in the United Kingdom) in Bodø and director of the rescue coordination centre for Northern Norway and of the Security Service in Northern Norway 1980–1985, as director-general in the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and head of the Prison Board 1985–1990, as the first director of the

Norwegian Police University College The Norwegian Police University College (; PHS) is a public university college located in Oslo, Kongsvinger, Stavern and Bodø, Norway. It offers education for the police force of Norway, including a three-year basic education and four Master's ...

1990–1992, as chief of police in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

1992–2001 and as chief of police in the

National Police Directorate National Police Directorate () is a government agency subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security which heads the Norwegian Police Service. The directorate is led by the National Police Commissioner (Politidirektør), who since 20 ...

2001–2010. He has written several books and articles on policing and criminal law, private law and criminology, as well as historical topics. He is chairman of the board of the Halden Prison Museum Foundation. He has also been chairman of the parish council of

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was org ...

. He has been a member of the council of Halden Historical Festival.

Fagereng case

As chief of police in Bergen, he had a central role in the so-called Fagereng case, in which the city's chief municipal executive Ragnar Fagereng and his wife were put on trial for filing false police reports and for insurance fraud after reporting repeated vandalism to their home. Wegner was convinced they were innocent and tried to stop the prosecution, which generated much controversy. Ragnar Fagereng was ultimately acquitted, while his wife was convicted. The case later became known as a

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent ...

, after a gangster confessed to terrorizing the Fagereng family in the 1990s and manipulating the police to prosecute them, and the Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission reopened the case in 2010, resulting in the acquittal of Fagereng's wife.

Honours

He was appointed as a commander of the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon () is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by Christian X of Denmark, King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. Nowaday ...

in 1997. He received the highest award of the Norwegian police force, the Norwegian Police Cross of Honour, in 2002, after leaving office as chief of police of Bergen. He received the Clear Speech Prize in 1996, after he had authorized a protest against the visiting Chinese President; when asked if he was aware that Chinese authorities did not like protests, he responded that "here in Bergen, I am the one who makes the decisions"."Politimester fikk pris for klar tale," ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

'' 12 October 1996, p. 6

Selected works

;Law and policing *''Privatrett for elever ved Politiskolen'', 1976 *''Alminnelig strafferett for elever ved Politiskolen'', 1977, 1985 *''Kriminologi for elever ved Politiskolen'', 1978 *''Ordenspolititjeneste for elever ved Politiskolen'', 1979 *''Politimessig lederskap'', 1980 *''Alminnelig strafferett'', 1989 *''Ordenstjeneste for studenter ved Politihøgskolen'', 1994 *''Politistrategi : belyst gjennom praktisk politiarbeid'', Universitetsforlaget, 2007 *''Strafferett'', 2 vols., 2014 ;History *''Mine tippoldeforeldre Henriethe og Benjamin Wegner forteller'', 2013 *''Barkskipet «Dronningen» af Fredrikshald og kaptein Ludvig Bernhard Martinsen'', 2012 *''Oldefar Heinrich Wegner forteller'', 2010 *''Andreas Vibe: «Onkel major», 1801–1860'', 2009 *"Halden gamle fengsel," in ''Wiwar : gammelt fra Østfold på ny måte'', 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegner, Rolf B 1940 births Living people People from Ålesund People from Halden University of Oslo alumni Norwegian police chiefs Norwegian jurists Directors of government agencies of Norway Norwegian non-fiction writers Recipients of the Order of the Falcon