The Office of the Commissioner of National Police has put forward a notable proposal: round-the-clock police presence at the Alþingishús, the seat of Iceland’s parliament in Reykjavík. The aim is faster response times and a reliable way to deal with any threat, whether it turns up at noon or 3 a.m.
Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, the Speaker of Alþingi, laid out the request in a letter to the parliament’s Budget Committee. Officers have long been on hand during parliamentary sessions, committee meetings, and events at Alþingi — but the police say a permanent 24/7 watch is now the only workable solution. Making it happen would mean hiring six additional officers, at an estimated cost of around ISK 154 million a year.
In the letter, the Speaker stressed the need to protect not just members of parliament and their staff, but also the building itself and the historic cultural artifacts it holds. She backed the National Police Commissioner’s recommendations and asked the committee to set aside the necessary funding.
Recent events have made the argument harder to dismiss. In early October, a man got into the Alþingishús without authorisation and spent the night inside. He managed to persuade a Securitas security guard that he had legitimate business there. That guard was subsequently dismissed.
The Alþingishús was built between 1880 and 1881 and contains a range of historical artifacts — among them portraits of past parliamentary presidents, as noted in recent coverage on RÚV. With parliament now looking seriously at tightening security, keeping those items safe is very much part of the conversation.
