BBC News reports that the officers were distracted by a bomb Anders Behring Breivik had set off in Oslo, and there were various communication flaws and other mishaps, which led to the police arriving to Utoeya Island about an hour after Breivik began his killing spree.
"On behalf of the Norwegian Police, I want to apologize that we did not arrest Anders Behring Breivik sooner," Oslo Police Director
Oeystein Mayland told reporters.
"It is hard knowing so many lives could have been spared if he had been arrested sooner," he added.
Mayland then explained that the boat to Utoeya Island was over capacity, which delayed their arrival.
According to
ABC News, police had been reluctant up until now to admit that they could've responded any differently to the attacks in Norway last July.
Another major flaw in how Norwegian police responded to Breivik's attacks was leaving a police helicopter unused until after Breivik had already surrendered.
"That should have been done faster," police inspector
Anstein Gjengedal said.
Magnus Ranstorp, a terror expert at the Swedish National Defense College, said the way Norwegian police handled the entire situation raises questions about they had been trained to deal with an "active shooter."
"The most important thing you can do in this type of situation is to send two or three armed police officers to confront the perpetrator as quickly as possible," Ranstorp said.
Anders Behring Breivik admits to carrying out the attacks, but he does not believe he committed terrorist acts. Breivik maintains his victims had betrayed Norway by embracing "liberal immigration policies" which he claims will lead to a "Muslim colonization."
According to
BBC News, prosecutors consider Breivik mentally ill, and will seek to have him committed to psychiatric care, and not jailed.
