Police issues

Fredrik Kärrholm (M)

Madam Speaker! We shall now debate the Committee on Justice's report on police matters in connection with the motions that have been raised in this area during the general motion period.

A well-functioning police force is crucial for reducing crime and increasing safety. It is clear that the police need to function better and that there are a number of deficiencies that need to be addressed. It is therefore pleasing to understand that the understanding and commitment for this is great in the Riksdag. There are over 190 motions concerning organization, work environment, methods, priorities, etc.

In several of the motions, good ideas and constructive proposals can be found. The committee majority proposes, however, that all motions be rejected, in most cases because there are already announcements from previous parliamentary years, because work is ongoing in the Government Offices, and because the police have received several special assignments from the government.

For the Moderates and the government, it is important that the police maintain a sufficient presence throughout the country, both in large cities and in rural areas. The government has sharpened the regulatory letter with a focus on clear goals and improved results, and the police have been instructed to specifically report on how the authority shall free up resources in favor of core police activities.

The Government has given the police a special assignment to report on which measures need to be taken to reach the goal of a police density that corresponds to the average in the EU. The report shall state which measures need to be taken, by whom and at what point in time, as well as what conditions must exist to reach the goal as soon as possible. The Government thus sets high demands on the police.

To this end, the police have been allocated special funds to be used for increased salaries and other compensation in order to strengthen the attractiveness of the police profession.

The government has also tasked the police with ensuring increased operational capacity to combat serious crime, with a particular focus on investigation and increased clearance of serious crimes with links to criminal networks. This assignment is to be reported on as early as tomorrow. The pace is high.

Madam Speaker! Let me be clear that the police have serious problems. There are too few police officers patrolling the streets and who can respond when citizens need urgent help. The intervention activities are severely understaffed. Despite this, it was only expanded by 143 employees during the previous year.

There are also too few investigators and an insufficient investigative organization. Processing times within the forensic operations are one of several serious problems. The number of cases reported to prosecutors decreased by almost 10 percent last year, in all crime categories.

The clearance of gun violence is also low, and the proportion of solved murders with firearms has decreased in recent years.

The police have too many paper-pushers and bureaucrats. There are far too few who patrol the streets and investigate crimes. If we are to get order in Sweden, we must also get order in the police. Severely tightened sentences are necessary, but it is not enough. We also need a stronger police force. Citizens shall not fear the criminals; the criminals shall fear the citizens' police.

As important as effective police work is, it is also that the offenders who are prosecuted receive proportionate and proper sentences. Let me take a concrete example. Last year, over 200 people were convicted of aggravated weapons offenses. The average sentence was merely two years of imprisonment.

Armed gang criminals have for all too long been sentenced to low penalties and have all too quickly found themselves at liberty again and continued to commit crimes. Now that is over. Now we are doubling the minimum sentence for aggravated weapons offenses. Gang criminals shall receive an additional double sentence. This means at least 8 years and up to 20 years. Now the time for "saft och bulle" is over.

The deterrent and preventive effects of more crime-active individuals being prosecuted and punished cannot be overemphasized. The police therefore need to strengthen and streamline their operational activities and investigative activities so that the work leads to results in the form of prosecution to a greater extent.

In recent years, the negative development regarding gang crime and other organized crime has unfortunately accelerated. It is a serious failure. As a consequence of this, we see a sharp increase in lethal gun violence.

During 2022, over 60 people were killed as a result of gun violence. The gross violence and organized crime that gun violence is an expression of are system-threatening. They undermine the citizens' legal security and erode trust in authorities and trust between people. In the long run, they threaten our free and open society. They also cause physical insecurity as people outside of gang environments risk being harmed or, in the worst case, killed in acts of violence.

We must not forget in this context that even everyday crime, such as burglaries, thefts, and fraud, to a large extent affects people's safety and quality of life. The development of serious gun violence and other crime has resulted in an increased burden on the police's investigative activities, and the serious violence takes up an ever larger share of the police regions' investigative resources. The police's organization and work must be adapted to this. It is simultaneously the police's mission to combat the violence. The police should be evaluated based on its ability to effectively reduce crime, not be excused for being inefficient because the crime becomes more serious.

Madam Speaker! The Government is carrying out extensive, well-considered and strategic work to make the police function better. Against this background, I move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report and rejection of all motions.

(Applause)

In this speech, Martin Melin (L) agreed.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Malte Roos (MP)

Madam Speaker! There is much that can be said about gang crime in Sweden today. We all agree that it must be combated. The Government has proposed a large number of sentence increases, and Miljöpartiet can agree with some of them.

What I find a bit difficult to understand, however, is the proposal for double penalties for gang-related crime, because it signals in some way that murder in gang-criminal circles is worse than murder that occurs elsewhere. Say a man murders his partner in the home – why should that crime be considered less serious than when a gang criminal murders another gang criminal?

I can see many advantages with certain sentencing increases being made. Miljöpartiet has proposed some. But can it still not be considered that a murder is a murder, and that men's violence against women - to take an example - is just as bad as a gang criminal's murder of another gang criminal?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Kärrholm (M)

Madam Speaker! Thank you for the question, Malte Roos! I am pleased to hear that the Green Party is finally acknowledging the seriousness of gang crime. It is also pleasing that MP understands that at least some of the many sentencing increases being implemented now are needed.

The question of murder is less relevant, in my opinion. Murder should, as a rule, always lead to life imprisonment. Regarding other crimes, there are several grounds for qualification for serious crimes, for example, weapon offenses. If you carry a weapon in a public place, it is a ground for qualification that makes it a serious weapon offense. There are several aggravating circumstances that entail increased penalties.

I think it is reasonable that crimes committed in criminal environments by gang criminals are punished more severely precisely because it is to be regarded as an aggravating circumstance - not least against the background that gang criminality is a threat to the system. It actually means that the decisions that you and I make in here, in good democratic order, are not complied with because the state's power is challenged. It is a threat we must take very seriously, and it requires that we sharpen the legislation in this way.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Malte Roos (MP)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Fredrik!

I can accept some of the arguments raised here, but we still need to state the facts: A crime is a crime. During the last parliamentary term, Miljöpartiet proposed a large number of increased penalties, but we also saw that the major deficiency today is not that the criminals who are arrested and sentenced do not receive sufficient punishment. The big problem is that the criminals are not arrested in the first place and that they are not held accountable.

I think the government and the governing parties are conceding a bit too much and focusing far too much on the parts concerning punishing those who have already been caught. Sweden has fairly harsh penalties, and one must give credit to the rule of law we have today that many problems are handled quite well. But why prioritize punishing gang criminals over ordinary criminals? I unfortunately do not think the arguments add up.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Kärrholm (M)

Madam Speaker! This is not about priorities. There is no contradiction between making the police function effectively, ensuring that more crime-active individuals are prosecuted, and simultaneously toughening the penalties.

The starting point regarding the increased penalties is that they shall be proportionate and just punishments based on the idea that crime victims receive redress and that society's protection needs are met. By several penalties now being increased and crimes committed in criminal environments being punished more severely, society's protection needs are met. The Government has a practical approach to solving a very serious crime issue that is system-threatening.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

Before the continued debate, I would like to remind the members of the Committee on Justice that, according to Swedish parliamentary custom, we do not address each other as "you" or "you" (du or ni). We all speak through the Speaker.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Petter Löberg (S)

Madam Speaker! The Police Authority is the country's largest authority. It has extensive, often unique, powers to intervene against individuals and groups. It is also one of the most powerful tools for handling perhaps the most broken aspect of our country: the consequences of organized crime. It is therefore entirely natural that the political agenda has in many ways been shaped by how the police's resources have been allocated, the tools the police have been given, and the frameworks that criminal and procedural law constitute and which directly or indirectly affect the police's work.

The public conversation is also characterized by the expectations that politics has of the Police Authority regarding efficiency and the level of operations. We must have high expectations, given the political and economic priorities that have been made within the Police Authority over the last decade. These are funds that have been taken from other sectors of society – school, healthcare, defense, and others – and allocated to the police. The high expectations are thus a result of the resource supplements that have been received. In this chamber, we have together, across party lines, demonstrated a historically high rate of legislation.

We Social Democrats have a total of 13 reservations, but for the sake of time, I choose to move for approval only of reservation 12 under point 9. Some of our reservations are quite general and concern the need for specialized competence and the ability to work with relationship-building or with early interventions, while others have a slightly higher level of specificity, such as the number of police officers and the goals for that, and how we—perhaps with a kind of "all-in" methodology—believe the police officers should be placed. We also want to highlight examples such as Sluta skjut, which is to be exported from Malmö to other parts and places in the country.

They are forward-looking reservations, but I shall look a little backward in my speech.

The goal of the new police organization in 2015 was a clearer management structure and a more uniform operation. Another supporting thought was that the operation should also increase its efficiency and be conducted closer to the citizens.

One should further shift the focus. For a long time, the police had devoted themselves to so-called "pinnjakt" (needle hunting) – whatever that is. It is a poorly defined concept. But I will try to interpret what it is about. The police had to a very great extent devoted themselves to handling "simple crimes" – initiative crimes that were almost cleared at the same time as the intervention against them – for example, petty drug offenses, drunk driving, and traffic offenses. These crimes led to very many cases being quickly dismissed in the system, and it resulted in a high clearance rate. Many critics then pointed out, with all justification, that we perhaps should put much greater effort into the coarser and more dramatic crime that we saw emerging. And quite a lot of such crime, as mentioned, still remains to be handled today.

I have sat on the committee for pretty much this entire journey; I entered the Riksdag in 2014. I have seen how the police organization has made magnificent efforts regarding the handling of the terrorist attack on Drottninggatan, Encrochat and other apps that have been cracked, and above all, the diligence in the investigation phase following these breakthroughs.

When we have visited the operation, we have many times seen a world-class method development within the agency. We have seen staff who give their all to fulfill their mission. There are many everyday heroes out there, and that is something we shall take with us.

After this slightly sweet part, we will, of course, come to the salty. Many here from both the opposition and the government parties get a lump in their stomachs when we see the low clearance rate regarding murders in gang environments. And violence in close relationships remains at appalling levels even today. We are not quite getting what we expect from the authority.

We have strong evaluation instruments, such as the Swedish National Audit Office, the National Property Board for Government Buildings (Statskontoret), and the Swedish Crime Prevention Council, which provide us with reports that do not directly alleviate the frustration. Even the media and other external actors point out handling errors and, which for us politicians may be more important, more serious systemic deficiencies.

The Social Democratic-led government early on tasked Statskontoret with monitoring the reorganization of the police organization. In 2018, a major report was released showing that the first part of the reorganization had been successful, namely achieving a structure and leadership in a joint agency. The single agency was a reality. But the other requirements we set for the reorganization, namely the operational results and the higher quality, were perceived as not having been met in 2018 – rather, the opposite. Not least, the clearance rate within certain crime categories had moved in the wrong direction.

We also noted in the report that the organization was dismantled, not from the bottom up but from the top down. They started with the managers and middle managers, and when they reached the local area police level, there were no police left to fill the positions with. It was empty. There were simply no reserves of fully trained police to put in there. It became a failure in that part.

In recent days, we have received another of many reports. The National Audit Office has looked at the police's handling of gang crime. Even that is, in many respects, a grim reading. One points out, and I quote from the National Audit Office's report even if I may not stand behind it myself: "The police do not have a learning culture," it states bluntly, while simultaneously noting that the situation is serious and that the work is inefficient and not evidence-based. Those are words of great weight. It is a picture that has been questioned by the Commissioner of the Swedish Police and which can, of course, be nuanced, but still.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats believe that the policy perhaps needs to sharpen its clarity somewhat. Here we can also be wise after the fact after the eight years that we ourselves have sat in power. We believe that we citizens and politicians need to demand locally present police in the entire country. Therefore, we move for approval of that reservation.

It is our firm conviction that the relationship-building area police in our underprivileged areas are the core of the operation. Perhaps it is a bit of "juice and buns" that is required out there to create relationships and to obtain information and solve crime - speaking of juice and buns. Here, it must not fail. It is that simple. In these areas, there must be police officers who are active.

We must deliver resources so that more colleagues arrive on site. And we have done that for a long time. We will likely almost achieve the goal of 10,000 new police officers, not least with the help of the establishment of the two new training sites, Borås and Malmö.

I actually also believe, if I'm honest, that the current government, despite being somewhat slow to get off the starting blocks generally speaking, has a strong ambition to achieve continued expansion and development.

Also in a broader perspective, we must ensure that we in our society stand united side by side in the fight against crime. This is not solely a Justice Committee issue. Police Commissioner Thornberg said when he was with us once that he would like to sit in the Social Affairs Committee. He might also visit and have these perspectives in the Education Committee. It is the responsibility of the entire parliament, of all committees, to ensure that these problems are solved.

Outside this building, we have one of the strongest societies that has ever existed in world history. Sweden is strong and fundamentally better equipped in many ways than ever before.

We are more than happy to assist the police in its mission. Success will be measured by how well one succeeds, above all together with other actors, civil society, other social organizations, the local community and the citizens. Therefore, one naturally becomes a little extra concerned when directly harmful or counterproductive proposals such as visitation zones are put forward by the Tidö Agreement's coalition partners. This will likely be the subject of future debates from this rostrum and in other places. We will see each other there.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Torsten Elofsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! I have myself been active as a police officer for over 40 years, so let me first say that I hold the greatest respect for my former colleagues who work hard and do a meritorious job on the front line. They deserve all our support in their difficult and responsible work.

Madam Speaker! The police have the primary responsibility for our country's internal security and are society's spearhead in combating a crime that threatens people's safety and which, unfortunately, is growing ever stronger. Fundamentally, it now constitutes a threat to both our democracy and our welfare.

Earlier this week, we visited Europol and Eurojust in The Hague and received a situation report on crime from an international perspective. The situation is, to say the least, worrying. Organized crime branches out within the EU but also to countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Much of what is now happening in Sweden in the form of violent crime, drug crimes, welfare crimes, and cross-border crime has strong links to organized crime in other countries. The violence capital is enormous, as are the economic muscles. Often, the activities are directed from countries that are themselves corrupt and where extradition agreements are lacking.

Unlike the justice system, criminal networks have no regulatory frameworks to follow. When crime crosses a national border, legal hurdles immediately arise which in themselves constitute an obstacle for the police and prosecutors. Europol and Eurojust are of great help and a step in the right direction, but more must be done so that we and other countries receive legislation that is better adapted for globalized crime.

In The Hague, we also met the Dutch police, who described a case involving a crown witness who provided important information about a criminal organization. The price was high. Relatives of the crown witness have been murdered, as has a crime reporter who was covering the case, and there are clear signs of attempts to undermine the justice system with infiltration and threats against police officers, prosecutors, and judges. There is reason for us here in Sweden to be vigilant against such a development - the signs are there.

Madam Speaker! The fight against organized crime is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and costly. Police and prosecutors must, in the future, allocate large resources to meet the threat, and we must, as said, obtain legislation that is better adapted for the purpose. Increased international police cooperation is necessary as a success factor in that work.

At the same time, there is a desire for an increased police presence in the local community. It is not the case that what we can call traditional crime and public order offenses have ceased. The major reorganization with the creation of a police authority was done with the motto – as also mentioned earlier – "A police officer closer to the citizen". But it became rather the opposite, with increased centralization, local withdrawals, and closed police stations. We can see that the waiting times to make a report are unreasonably long, and many experience an absence of local police as inconvenient and something that affects safety.

Confidence in the police is still high, but dissatisfaction smolders among those who have been victims of crime. According to a survey by Brå, only 25 percent of crime victims experience that the police are effective. The proportion of solved crimes is frustratingly low in a majority of crime areas, and traffic surveillance also has major deficiencies.

What do we do then to get a better and well-functioning police force? Fundamentally, it is about four components.

The first component is recruitment and training. We must achieve a more operationally adapted recruitment and training. In recent years, great focus has been placed on training police officers for external service. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but we need more competent police investigators with increased specialization who can handle the more everyday crimes. Today, the investigative activity is the weak link in the chain of justice. We need to recruit police officers with interest and aptitude for investigative activity and also traffic police officers. We underestimate the traffic police as a good resource. Many criminals roam around out on the roads. It is not just about traffic surveillance in itself, but it is a matter of catching much in the net.

The second component is local police. Good police work is largely based on good knowledge of people and the local area, continuity, and good cooperation with the rest of the local community. It is a matter of a police force that is accessible to the citizens in the municipality where it operates and that is not consumed by reinforcement movements to other parts of the country.

The municipalities are now given a crime prevention responsibility, and in that case, a strengthened and closer cooperation between municipality and police is certainly required. It is clear that security guards, despite increased powers, cannot replace police officers.

The third component, which we have touched upon earlier, is an improved investigative activity for traditional crimes. I have touched upon it, but I say it again: The police must strengthen the investigative activity. At a meeting with the Food Retailers, they told us that some time ago they conducted a pilot study on theft and other disturbances in stores. Before a police report was made, a consultation was held with a former prosecutor to test whether the report met the requirements so that it could lead to prosecution. They submitted 100 police reports. How many of these led to prosecution? Zero! All were written off.

Then we must keep in mind that these crimes are entry crimes among the young. That is where it can begin. It sends out wrong signals when they notice that there is no form of punishment. Such things also create a sense of resignation among crime victims. People simply stop reporting. It is dangerous if it takes hold - if the police do not succeed in turning the whole thing around.

Thefts, violent crimes, sexual crimes, crimes in close relationships, and fraud are all examples of crimes that must receive better handling with increased clearance. It is far too low today.

The fourth component is a sharpened operation for organized and international crime. This requires a higher degree of specialization with a number of distinct competencies and increased international cooperation. For our part, we must be responsive to the need for new or changed legislation identified by prosecutors and the police. It is our task in the chamber to ensure that they receive the tools they request.

Madam Speaker! The Government is now working intensively on the areas I have now highlighted. With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal to reject the motions currently pending with reference to ongoing investigation and preparatory work.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Katja Nyberg (SD)

Madam Speaker! A well-functioning police force is a prerequisite for a secure rule of law. The Swedish police face great challenges in fulfilling their mission and need increased resources both financially and in terms of prosecution, but it is also a leadership issue.

Serious crime today consumes a great deal of resources from other police activities. Investigations of everyday crimes are deprioritized. Many times, the only reason for a private individual to file a police report is to receive compensation from their insurance company.

Ordinary citizens feel abandoned to everyday violence because neither the police nor politicians have the time to care about what is happening. The police refer to the fact that there are more serious crimes that require their attention.

The Tidö Agreement contains necessary proposals that lay the foundation for a new era for Swedish crime policy. But to tackle the serious crime and insecurity that has spread in its wake, new legislation and economic resources are not enough. A sound police organization and an effective police force are required.

The Swedish Police Authority still needs increased resources, but it also needs to streamline its organization. For a long period, the authority has failed to deliver the expected results based on the large budget supplements it has received.

The police budget has doubled since 2015 to almost 40 billion kronor per year. During Anders Thornberg's five years as police commissioner, he has received what other agency heads can only dream of, namely multi-billion additions, thousands of new employees, expanded powers, and stricter laws. Unfortunately, the results have failed to materialize and have even worsened in important areas. A CEO in the business sector would never have regained confidence if a multi-billion investment had resulted in decreased productivity.

The police's investigative activities have since 2015 increased with almost 30 percent more employees. Despite this, the total number of cases reported annually to the Prosecution Authority has fallen.

Support departments such as HR and IT have been transformed into governing departments at the expense of the core business's influence over the activities being conducted. The National Forensic Centre, which among other things analyzes DNA, has extremely long waiting times. Processing times of over a year for serious violent crimes are not uncommon, which hampers the police's ability to fight crime.

Madam Speaker! Swedish police have one of the world's best-trained police forces with a high level of competence. This is therefore not about the individual police officer, but it is ultimately a leadership issue.

There is a management culture within the Swedish police that inhibits healthy development. The strategic and operational police work is not analyzed and evaluated as it should be. The problems that the Police Authority has in its way of conducting its operations are due to a lack of basic analytical work. Criticism is often suppressed, and projects are not evaluated as they should be.

The Swedish National Audit Office has, in a recent report, audited the Police Authority's handling of large-scale crime and the large number of special operations initiated regarding serious crime, and the report points to an authority that is failing to fulfill its mandate. The National Police Commissioner's response to the criticism directed in the report was: I do not agree. It is very unusual not to take to heart the criticism presented by the Swedish National Audit Office, and it shows an authority that finds itself in a destructive circle.

One example is the passport activity, which is a self-financing unit and should function frictionlessly. But the Police Authority could not even foresee an increased need for passport applications after the pandemic.

Madam Speaker! It is not enough to focus on 10,000 more police officers by the end of 2024, stricter legislation, and increased resources. In other countries where the police apply problem-oriented policing, they have been able to quickly influence violent crime within a certain area after a basic analysis work.

It is important to introduce a clearer responsibility for reporting and monitoring results within the Police Authority. An independent control function needs to be established. Today, the internal audit and the supervisory authority fall directly under the National Police Commissioner. For obvious reasons, it is not a good arrangement to monitor the person who is one's boss.

An example in the recent past is the three internal auditors who did not want to sign their own report regarding an audit of the National Forensic Centre because it had been adjusted at the request of one of them who participated in the audit. This resulted in the responsible auditor being reassigned due to disloyalty towards the immediate supervisor, as it was expressed.

According to Section 14 of the Police Ordinance, an employee at the Swedish Police Authority and the Security Service shall inform their supervisor of such conditions in police work that the supervisor should be aware of. But when one tried to comply with this duty of notification, the responsible auditor was reassigned due to "disloyalty". That would not have happened if internal audit had been a truly independent function.

The Sweden Democrats want instead that the police's internal audit and the oversight unit should be placed directly under the Ministry of Justice and not as they are today under the Commissioner of the Swedish Police because it is clear that it is not working. We must move away from embarrassingly weak control functions in order to instead build a system characterized by robustness and sustainability and which, above all, has an unambiguous focus on the mission.

Madam Speaker! For a long time, poor wages and working conditions, but above all an increasingly insecure existence at work, have led to fewer police officers wanting to work in outer service, and it has become more difficult to recruit police students.

The requirements to become a police officer have been lowered in stages to reach the set goal of 10,000 more police employees. This has led to the fact that today, people are admitted to the police training who, with previous requirements, would have been judged as mentally weak and unsuitable. But despite lowered admission requirements and a simplified application procedure, the study places are not being filled. The goal of 26,200 police officers by the end of 2024 cannot be classified as anything other than unrealistic.

However, the quota for civil servants has been reached. The number of police employees within this category has increased by 20 percent, while the number of trained police officers has only increased by 3.5 percent.

The police profession is tough, and in order to succeed in attracting the right people, a continued re-evaluation of the profession is required with raised admission requirements, targeted salary initiatives, better working conditions, more career paths, and paid police training.

A paid police training will attract more competent applicants in the form of people who are in the middle of life with a family and everything that entails and cannot live on student loans. Paid training is also a proposal that the Police Authority has recently submitted to the government.

Madam Speaker! A major threat to police work is the police's high vulnerability to attempts at influence, that is to say, unauthorized and improper influence, mapping, harassment, and self-censorship.

From the survey investigations conducted by the Swedish Police Authority, it appears that from a national perspective, 68 percent of responding officers have been subjected to at least one, but often more, attempts of influence during a twelve-month period. The corresponding exposure for police in vulnerable areas is in some cases almost 100 percent.

Reasons stated for why police have fallen into self-censorship, meaning they have not performed their duties as they should, were fear of reprisals and being subjected to violence or threats, understaffing in intervention situations, and the risk of escalating situations during interventions.

The normalization of threats and harassment from both a work environment perspective and a prosecution perspective has reached an unacceptable level. This development is very concerning, and if it is not already, it risks becoming system-threatening.

It is important that the right to compensation for damages for police officers is strengthened. No one should have to endure violence, threats, or insults in the exercise of their profession. In the long run, it risks becoming a democratic problem if individual police officers do not dare to perform their work due to fear that they themselves or their relatives will be subjected to violence, threats, or harassment.

The police protect the citizens, and an attack against the police is an attack on the rule of law.

The compensation for harassment has been expanded so that police officers can more easily receive it, but it is still considered that police officers should tolerate a bit more than other citizens. Of course, police officers should be covered by the same protection as other citizens, which is also something included within the framework of the Tidö Agreement.

Madam Speaker! When police in outer service are brought to their knees, when the results of investigations deteriorate, when the statutory deadlines are exceeded, when the training places are not filled despite lowered requirements for those who are admitted, when passport fraud paralyzes citizens' travel and when gun violence hits record highs but few are prosecuted—then a change is needed.

Despite the large budget increases, the police organization is not functioning as it should. The expected results are not coming. The question is how long we will have to wait.

A completely new focus is needed. New mindsets are needed. New methods and new goals are needed. In short: the entire Swedish police force would benefit from a total, far-reaching paradigm shift starting from the top.

Anders Thornberg is ultimately responsible for the entire Swedish Police Authority. He has the mandate to lead and distribute the work in the manner he finds appropriate. But despite constantly increasing resources, the Swedish Police Authority is underperforming. Therefore, a new top police leadership and the establishment of an independent oversight function were needed.

I move for the approval of reservation 19.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Martin Melin (L)

Madam Speaker! I thought I would start by reading out some figures: 2, 4, 4, 63.

Two is the number of shot and killed in Finland last year. The first four is the number of shot and killed in Norway last year. The second four is the number of shot and killed in Denmark last year. The figure 63 is the number of shot and killed in Sweden last year.

The figures 2, 4, 4, 63 - for me they are telling, and they say quite a lot about the fact that we have a very serious situation in Sweden.

Last year, 63 people were shot and killed. Most of them were young men who were shot to death due to conflicts in the underworld.

That conflicts arise within criminal circles is nothing new. In the 90s, we had, among other things, conflicts within different ethnic groups. We had the MC war and the porn conflicts. In all these conflicts, people shot, sometimes with fatal outcomes. They also blew up doors and houses. But none of these conflicts can compare to the conflict we have experienced in Sweden in recent years, the one popularly called the gang war.

Six years ago, I wrote an opinion piece in one of the evening newspapers where I warned about the precipice we were heading towards regarding the increased violent crime among young men. I warned that if we did not do something about it, we would see an escalation that we probably would not be able to stop.

We are now at the precipice. I even wonder if we have not already slipped off it.

Today, the government and the Minister for Justice held a press conference where they presented the government's new, more effective crime policy and concrete measures against organized crime. Much good was said – tough reforms and concrete proposals. I will speak more about some of them here later.

Madam Speaker! During the half-year that I have been a member of Parliament, I have spent parts of the time meeting and talking with police officers, social workers, criminologists, teachers, lawyers, and former criminals to try to find out what it is that is wrong – and by "wrong" I am referring to the figure 63.

Why does Sweden differ so much from the rest of the Nordic countries when it comes to fatal gun violence, and what should society's various actors do to bring down this figure?

To begin with, all the police officers I have met agree that there are too few of them. And they have too many assignments that should not be police matters.

There is a shortage of police officers in all positions. There is a shortage of police officers in intervention activities, that is to say the police officers who work at the front of the line and go on emergency missions. And there is a shortage of police officers who can investigate crimes.

A police officer told me that there are now so many shootings that they hardly look at cases where a person is shot from the hip down and does not die. Those investigations end up in so-called balance, meaning in the pile of investigations that have to wait. That was not the case before. Back then, such a case was prioritized.

Another police officer who works with investigations has told that he has four rape reports with a designated perpetrator that he has not even had time to start looking at, because he is fully occupied with helping to investigate shootings with a fatal outcome.

Another problem is that more and more important specialists and experts within the Swedish Police Authority are resigning, which leads to worsened investigation results.

Police officers working in vulnerable areas agree on what they want. I have met area police in Malmö, Gothenburg, and Stockholm, and they say essentially the same thing: Let us work in peace, and let us be allowed to work with an operation for the time we need.

It takes time to build trust for the police in certain areas, and it is important that trust is created, not least when it concerns young people. It takes time to get to know those who live and operate in an area, and it takes time to get a picture of how it looks. Both the evil and the good forces must be identified - it is only then that one sees changes. Young people who meet good police officers and gain trust in them become harder for criminals to lure into the criminal world.

It is precisely that which is happening today. Older criminals influence children to believe that the police are evil and that the police are the enemy - this in combination with the children in the area receiving money for simpler criminal tasks, such as hiding weapons or drugs or keeping watch during crimes. They simply recruit the children into their activities. And by children, I mean ten-year-olds.

The police officers I speak with say that in previous years it was the school youths in upper secondary school that they visited and spoke with, partly because one becomes of legal age at 15, and partly because it is in upper secondary school that many try alcohol, tobacco, and drugs for the first time and that path sometimes unfortunately leads into crime. Now, the same police officers argue that more focus must be placed on visiting the schools earlier and speaking with students already in middle school, because that is where the criminals are now recruiting from.

I was informed about how the police in Malmö, over a few years, had worked against a criminal group that had completely taken over a small center in Lindängen in Malmö. The gang recruited youths who were made to do everything from standing guard to storing drugs. The youngest were as young as 13 years old. The gang controlled the small center, and people were afraid of them.

The police decided to carry out an operation and were able to work undisturbed here. They worked systematically to map out which individuals did what and could then, through both physical surveillance and camera surveillance, strike against the gang. They obtained convictions, and several of the youngest talents actually got away from the criminal world.

This was a successful operation that yielded results because the police were able to work long-term and without having to interrupt for other assignments. They map out, they surveil, they collect evidence, and they strike. It is police work 1.0. But because of the police shortage today, the police hardly manage to finish the mapping before they have to interrupt to handle other assignments.

What the area police are requesting from the police leadership is a more pure and clear prioritization, and I think the police leadership must be sharper towards the government and ask what it wants to prioritize. Sometimes I wonder a bit whether the national police commissioner knows which activities are working and which are not, and why. What does the reporting upwards look like within the Swedish police, and the reporting further to the political leadership? And does the national police commissioner set any requirements downwards in the organization?

Another thing that suffers because we have too few police officers in Sweden is that important training and continuing education for police officers have to take a backseat. Sweden has, as we heard earlier, one of the world's best-trained police forces, and we must continue to have that; it is important.

The fact is that our entire democracy requires that we have a well-functioning police force. If the criminals are allowed to take over, it will affect our entire society. We know that criminals are already today getting into, or trying to get into, authorities, politics, and administrations. This is a threat that must be taken much more seriously than I perceive is the case today. We do not want persons with connections to criminal networks to be involved in decisions concerning, for example, crime fighting. I raise a warning finger here once again.

I mentioned the figures 2, 4, 4 and 63 - that we have a gigantic problem with young men shooting each other here in the country. And the question is what we should do so that we do not stand here next year with the same grim figures. What is the solution?

To begin with, this will take time and cost money, and it will require both difficult and tough reforms, such as those we heard the government present today. But I actually believe that there are measures that can slow down the negative development. One must at least hope and believe.

We have today approximately 9,000 individuals who are actively criminal in various networks. If one counts in the tail, that is, those who have one foot in criminality and the other in an organized life, the figure is almost 20,000. And for every individual who in one way or another is removed from criminality and the street, two new ones arrive.

So, primarily, the most important measure is to stop new recruitment. That is the absolute most important thing that society must now address. How do we do that?

I say: the school. There, children who are struggling early on must receive help, from grade 1. There must be support resources that can relieve the teachers and help those who are struggling. The teachers' role must become more specialized so that they can focus on pure learning.

I advocate for the establishment of special classes, such as those that existed before. Critics of this say that children placed in such classes become excluded and develop poor self-esteem. I can state that they become excluded and develop low self-confidence already while sitting in the classroom because they are constantly reminded and told that they are the worst. And if you do not receive respect in the classroom, you can gain respect on the schoolyard by becoming involved in criminal networks. In some areas, unfortunately, that is how it works.

Preschool also has an important role. Children who do not speak Swedish at home and also do not learn it in preschool will directly end up at a disadvantage when they then start in grade 1 in school. Being able to speak the Swedish language is important.

The school, therefore, has a very important role in stopping new recruitment. And I know that the school today is crying out for more money so that they can hire, for example, support resources.

I have met teachers in areas of social exclusion, and they are exhausted. No adult should have to work in such an environment as our children are in, in the classroom, one of them told me. Several teachers said that they are not surprised when former students end up in serious crime. They could have told that already in grade 5, they said.

School is therefore important, perhaps the most important, to stop the new recruitment.

Madam Speaker! The second thing that must be done is to increase the police presence, especially in the places and in the areas where criminals move, store weapons and drugs, control the residents, monitor and threaten business owners and in some cases also have influence on the municipality and administration. It must become difficult to be a criminal. They should have the police's eyes on them 24/7, 365 days a year.

Let us talk about the controversial proposal regarding visitation zones in a limited area for a limited time. It could be an area where various criminals stay - a square in a marginalized area where it has been restless for a while with many shootings, or why not Stureplan in Stockholm, where many criminals move. It should be a place where there is a need for the police to be able to search for weapons and in that way prevent shootings.

The law on visitation zones gives the police the right to search a person for the purpose of searching for weapons, and reasonable suspicion is not required to do this. This does not mean that the police will search every person they see. If one looks at how this is used in Denmark, one sees that it is extremely rare that a search is carried out on a person who has not previously been the subject of police actions. One thus has a high hit rate. Furthermore, visitation zones are used sparingly. In Denmark, it concerns approximately 200 times over 20 years.

Search zones are one of a series of good and useful tools in targeted operations. In Denmark, it is also a double penalty if one is found with a weapon inside a search zone. They go a bit more all-in in Denmark.

One can absolutely, as some politicians do, distrust the police and believe that with visitation zones the police will search the bags and pockets of everyone they see. But then one has the attitude that the police are a profession that abuses its trust, and I would wish that elected officials would stop having that attitude. Stand instead behind the police force we have – feel free to condemn individual police interventions, but do not judge the collective!

Visitation zones are a good tool in the fight against gun violence. I think it is a pity that I cannot remain in the Riksdag to continue following that debate.

The police in these areas welcome another legislative proposal, namely stay bans. In the countries where it is used, it is a very effective and good tool for breaking up gang constellations. Even in Denmark, of course, stay bans are used with success. In fact, many countries in Europe make use of it.

CCTV is a difficult dilemma for some liberals. It is about personal privacy versus the ability to solve crimes and, in that way, give people more freedom through a safer society.

Cameras rarely prevent crime, but they are a good tool for collecting evidence to be able to solve crimes. And second best, after being able to prevent crime, is still the ability to solve crimes.

Already today, we are filmed every time we enter a shop or grocery store, when we travel by train and boat, or fly. Why are some so afraid of being filmed when they walk down a street – a filmed sequence that with a 99.9 percent probability will never be viewed by anyone?

Anonymous witnesses is a proposal that is on the government's table. There, I am met with shrugs from police officers. Even seasoned prosecutors are not entirely sure what they think, so I welcome an investigation that can bring clarity to what such a proposal would lead to in practical terms.

Today, the crime of assault in a legal case exists if someone threatens a witness, where the purpose is to intimidate the witness and silence the witness. Society must become much clearer about how it wants to react when a witness is intimidated. Today, it is far too weak. I want to see an automatic detention and a minimum sentence of two years for the crime. This would also be a signal from society that it is not okay to threaten those who step up and testify. We have neglected the crime victims for far too long. We must shift the focus from the perpetrator to the victim. A witness always deserves support from society.

It must also be investigated more thoroughly what we can do to protect police officers and prosecutors. In that regard, the principle of public access makes it all too easy today for criminals to obtain personal information about officials. No police officer or prosecutor should doubt that society stands behind them in the fight against crime. No threat shall cause a police officer to hesitate before an intervention. It is important that those who work with crime fighting, and there I also include judges and staff within the correctional services, are protected through laws and regulations that work.

Crimes of assault in legal proceedings and threats against officials must be re-evaluated when it comes to sentencing scales, or if it is in practice that it fails. Some individuals that the police encounter today are people without a sense of consequences. Such individuals are dangerous, both for police and for the general public, and they should be locked up.

Madam Speaker! The third thing we must do is to stop being naive and stop guessing and believing. We must start listening more to what reality says than to what our hopes and desires say. If we believe that young men become criminals because they live in a poor area and shape our policy based on that, it will be wrong when all research and all voices from those who know say that is not at all what decides. Then the policy becomes wrong, and measures and resources do not end up where they should.

We all know here that the majority of young people who grow up with poor or uneducated parents in an area of exclusion do not become criminals. There, the thesis that poverty is a cause of crime dies. Not infrequently I hear how parties on the left flank claim such things, completely without evidence.

Furthermore, there are young men with a lot of money who nevertheless continue with their criminality. It is therefore something else that governs or attracts. Most experts mention respect and values when I ask what it is about. The young people who enter or get involved in criminality do this because they want to be someone. They want to be seen and receive respect. The follow-up question then becomes, of course: How do you give a young man the self-esteem needed for him to feel seen and heard without having to commit crimes?

I have no answer there, and I rarely read that others do either. But to return to what I said earlier about school, I believe we have a solution there somewhere. A successful schooling rarely leads to crime.

One must not forget that the young men who today are deeply involved in crime, perhaps with debts both financially and in the form of services, have no other friends than the criminals they associate with. If society then, through defection activities, takes these men from the group they usually belong to and places them somewhere else, it is a life in solitude that is offered. The former criminals I have met have been lucky enough to meet the right people from social services or from the police and have received a significantly supported new start with support. Some of them are now well-educated, and some work to prevent more people from becoming like they once were. A former criminal who received debt restructuring on half a million says that he now works with youth because in that way he wants to pay back to society.

In conclusion, I would like to urge the Committee on Justice to continue to monitor the interests and will of the Swedish people - that we should have a safe and secure society, a society where no one should feel anxiety about being subjected to crime. It is a society where young and old, men and women, or whatever one identifies as, are allowed to live in peace - a society where the good forces prevail and where the police are not something that draws attention when they arrive, but are a natural element in the streetscape.

(Applause)

(cont. § 14)

Police issues

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)