Police matters

Katja Nyberg (SD)

Madam Speaker! Swedish police face historically large challenges today. It is not just about combating serious and organized crime. It is about recreating a society where safety, justice, and the authority of the rule of law are once again the norm, not the exception. It is therefore pleasing that Sweden has a government that takes this seriously and which, together with the Sverigedemokraterna through the Tidö Agreement, is driving a reform agenda with a focus on efficiency, clear results, and local police presence.

Madam Speaker! The police's safety-creating and crime-preventing work is a fundamental pillar in this policy. The Riksdag has for several years established that it is not enough to meet force with force – we must also prevent crime. The difference now is that this work is carried out collectively, evidence-based, and with national coordination.

Extensive and targeted work is underway within the Police Authority to reduce crime, increase safety, and reduce the vulnerability in the societal systems. The strategy for crime prevention work, as well as the investments in area police, safety measurements, volunteer activities, and cooperation councils with other authorities, are results of a conscious political will to build up a robust and long-term safety work.

Madam President! Of particular importance is the work that is now being carried out to prevent children and young people from being drawn into crime. The so-called Bob-råd, where several authorities cooperate at local and regional levels, are a clear example of how society's institutions are now working together. Here we see how state and municipality meet in concrete action, not in more steering documents or round-table discussions.

And we see the result. The Police Authority's own follow-up shows that more and more local police areas now have access to their own analytical capacity. This is crucial for being able to make the right decisions, prioritize the right interventions, and use the resources where they are needed most.

Madam Speaker! Crime prevention work without clear channels of information between authorities does not work. Therefore, it is a great step forward that the Riksdag adopted the new legislation on information sharing, which enables more efficient cooperation between, for example, social services, health and medical care, and the police. It is precisely such reforms that previous governments have failed to implement but which are now being carried out.

Parallelly, 24 state agencies have received an extensive mandate: to develop their own crime prevention work. This is an expression of the perspective that the Sverigedemokraterna have long championed, namely that the entire society has a responsibility to counteract crime, not just the police. Let me also take the opportunity to mention that in our supplementary budget, we are allocating an extra 7 million to the crime prevention work, precisely to strengthen the coordinated work.

Madam President! Naturally, the operational police activity is also central. A safe society requires a strong, visible, and present police force. That is precisely why it is so pleasing that the Police Authority is now concentrating efforts to increase the local presence. The decision that all future growth regarding the number of police officers shall occur locally and concern uniformed police in outer service is a testament to the fact that our policy yields results.

The police have also strengthened proactive activities, developed their patrolling of hotspots, and created new forms for how police in outer service work, for example with contact ban patrolling and investigators in uniform. Working hours shall be scheduled when crime is most frequent, not when it suits schedule administration. The police's service to the public is improved via digital channels, contact centers, and increased opening hours. Through this, the public's access to the police has been strengthened.

Overall, this builds up a capital of trust that is absolutely crucial for the rule of law to be able to function, because if the police are not visible, not available, or do not act, we lose both people's trust and our ability to prevent crime.

Madam Speaker! The Sweden Democrats have long been a driving force in issues concerning more police officers, higher presence, and clearer powers. We now see with satisfaction that this is being translated into practical policy, not least through investments to increase the number of police officers in outer service and through the development of the tools required to combat serious and system-threatening crime.

We also see that the police training continues to be strengthened both in quality and in breadth, and that the Swedish Police Authority is actively working to reach more competent applicants with the right motivations and skills. The focus must be on recruiting those who are best suited for the mission. The police's mission requires courage, responsibility, and integrity – not quotas or beautiful words.

Madam Speaker! It is now crucial that we hold the course, that we continue to expand the police and continue to coordinate the entire society's resources against crime and that we do this with a focus on results, not symbols. The Committee on Justice's report clearly shows that this course is fixed. The Riksdag shall not engage in micro-management. The authorities must themselves have the capacity to act. Our role is to chart the way and to ensure that the work makes a difference in people's everyday lives.

I vote in favor of the committee's proposal.

(Applause)

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

Petter Löberg (S)

Madam Speaker! I have a number of reservations regarding the report, but I choose to vote in favor only of reservation 4, regarding the importance of the crime-prevention perspective. You will soon be made aware of why I choose just that reservation.

The police are present in our everyday lives, sometimes perhaps more through news or cultural segments, films and crime fiction. But they are there, and they are a central actor in overcoming some of the absolutely toughest societal challenges that we have in our society. The police have received large resource additions – more than doubled resources in practice. One has also had a number of challenging tasks beyond that, not least in the form of the reorganization that was launched ten years ago which, of course, has taken an enormous amount of effort. But one has received a stronger mandate, and one has sharper tools.

This also entails tougher and stronger expectations from the political side. We expect the police to have a higher clearance rate. We expect increased accessibility. We expect increased visibility.

Let me be honest: It is moving in the right direction. But we also need to occasionally remind ourselves why the major police reform was made. For a long time, it had been observed that the support functions had grown increasingly larger at the expense of the traditional core activities. It was seen that the staff often felt they had to move to develop in the profession and pursue internal careers inward and upward in the organization instead of at the very front lines. This meant, as with many other agencies, that the agency became top-heavy. There was a lack of power at the outermost edge of the organization.

The reorganization became almost a reset of the system, one could say. We created a single authority and shut down the old way of organizing the police.

In one way, it has been sluggish to get the resources out into the police areas. The acute situation, with the shootings and the other organized crime, has been straining and has made it difficult to keep up with the crime prevention work. One simply has not really managed to do this fully.

The personnel growth has also taken a great deal of effort. We are currently in the middle of it, and it will continue. There is broad political agreement in the chamber about that.

But now we are still here. We really have no excuses anymore. The resources are in place. The police have started working. We set a high goal of 10,000 new police officers by 2024, and it was achieved. That mark was reached, and moreover, with a bit of breathing room.

It is extremely unusual in Swedish administration and Swedish politics nowadays that we manage to accomplish anything in a short time. We can hardly build a bicycle path without it resulting in years of delays. Our country has unfortunately become an administrative catastrophe. But even if we are not to micro-manage the police, the sharp objective, the clear follow-ups, and the political requirement regarding the 10,000 new police officers were a success. This will, I hope, be included in most handbooks on how politicians should engage in governance going forward: One must set a clear requirement and a clear goal. The flowery language that we love to surround ourselves with may not always work.

Now we also have a police leadership on site. Here I must give credit to the moderately-led department for demanding that the police and the new resources should end up at the outermost edges of the local police areas: Very good, Gunnar Strömmer and you others!

At last year's solemn moment – I mean when we debated the corresponding report last year – I noted that the number of open drug scenes in the Stockholm metropolitan area had decreased by ten. That is immensely pleasing. In a recently published report from the County Administrative Board, just a few days ago, it has been noted that an additional ten open drug scenes have disappeared from Greater Stockholm.

The key is perhaps not primarily the stay ban. That can be seen when one looks a bit more closely at the different drug scenes. In Rågsved, for example, it is a small number of people we are talking about. It is about a broad palette of measures, where the stay ban is indeed a part. That should be said. But I will go through briefly what success factors we are talking about in a policing sense.

It is about local and regional cooperation. Cooperation is a flowery term, a word that I do not like. But it is, therefore, a close collaboration we are talking about. It is a collaboration between the police, social services, property owners, schools, leisure activities, and civil society. It is one of the key factors.

It is also about a visible and present police force in a different way than before. It is a key factor when it comes to breaking up an open drug scene. Increased physical presence and uniformed police in the area often have a deterrent effect on open drug trafficking. At the same time, it means increased safety for ordinary people. It is about disrupting the logistics for the gangs and removing the gathering places where recruitment also takes place, even though it also takes place online in ever increasing proportions.

It is also about physical changes and safety-creating measures that the municipality takes in various respects. It is everything from bushes that need to be trimmed down or obstructed spaces that need to be built away.

Above all, it is about early interventions and targeted social support. This is something we have talked about in this chamber many times. It is the key to this.

The goal must be that there shall not be a single remaining drug scene in our country. They must go, quite simply.

The gangs will naturally shift their strategy. We are not so naive that we do not realize it. We know that it will happen. They will switch to Postnord or something else instead. But at the same time, we strike at these open markets and ensure that the gangs cannot create insecurity.

The gangs may engage in LSS activities or disappear into HVB activities, as we see in this de-privatized country. But we will, of course, do everything we can. This applies to municipalities, and I hope that the authorities are also working on this.

Parallel to this, we must build a strong society. It is about leisure activities, cultural life, and a unified school. We do not need fewer youth centers. We need to have more youth centers. We need to have swimming school for the kids in the summer and summer jobs. We need, as I usually say, to have a bit more juice and buns for the children instead of a future where they pose with weapons on social media.

We Social Democrats refuse to accept a future where Sweden approaches Turkey, with Europe's largest prison population. This is nothing other than a political failure, which we must shift our focus from.

A clear message thus comes from the Social Democrats. For every krona invested in the repressive, one krona or more must be invested in the preventive work. That is the only way to solve the issues in the long term. Therefore, we have our reservation.

Madam Speaker! Let me conclude by being very clear. We will never back down in the fight against the gang crime that is tearing our country apart.

We Social Democrats do not stand outside of reality in this part. We do not go on study tours in our particularly vulnerable areas. We are there. We operate there. We have S-associations. We have activities. Many of us, including the undersigned, grew up in such an area. We organize people and conversations.

It was a very good discussion a short while ago about the role of popular education. It is a key when it comes to building a strong civil society in the areas that are hardest hit by gang crime.

We also refuse to let ourselves be drawn into a simplified and harsh climate when it comes to these issues. The criminal policy discussion is unfortunately characterized by a one-sidedness. If I am to give a little praise to SD – I promise it is the last time I do so this year – I can say that I thought Katja Nyberg's contribution was also characterized by that insight. Now she is not even left in the chamber.

But, above all, we should also have some guilt and shame in our bodies over that we allowed this development to occur – that the gaps grew, that the segregation deepened, and that people and communities were left behind. That is where the root of the guilt lies and nowhere else.

(Applause)

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

Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Madam Speaker! The Social Democrats often speak quite proudly of a high ambition regarding preventive work. But if one looks back at the eight years of Social Democratic rule, one sees that it was quite empty of social policy reforms.

We can look at the great need for a new Social Services Act. The previous, Social Democratic government was unable to get it to delivery. It is a reform that is long-awaited among all those who work within social services, who need tools that are more preventive and that allow one to be more proactive in the interventions.

A problem when the Social Democrats initiated that investigation was that they stated in the instructions to the investigator that it must not cost more money. But it is clear that it costs more money if one reforms the social services. That is why the government is now investing 10 billion over five years in the implementation of a new social services act.

I will now move on to my question. We are actually in agreement on the importance of a locally present and visible police force. My question is how Petter Löberg defines success. 10,000 more police employees is a success. But during the Social Democratic government's tenure, the number of police in outer uniformed service increased by only 1,200. That is to say, there were 10,000 more police employees but only 1,200 more police in outer uniformed service. How is success defined?

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

Petter Löberg (S)

Madam Speaker! One could say that this is immensely pleasing. Member Mikael sounds like a traditional gråsosse – with more money for social services and social prevention and all sorts of other nice things.

I can say that we have a very good conscience regarding the crime prevention work during the eight years. We launched, for example, the first crime prevention program in Sweden in 25 years. There, we obtained a holistic approach on how to work with the crime prevention work.

In the municipalities and regions where we have governed, we have added enormous resources. The general and targeted state grants from the Riksdag for crime prevention activities increased dramatically during our eight years, parallel to that.

Then we agree that we need to have a sharper social service. We need to review confidentiality rules and information exchange between different agencies – naturally with common sense. We carry out this parallel development together in different committees. We have a broad palette of crime prevention work.

I can say that we in the municipalities that we govern – now we govern, among other things, the three largest municipalities – have an incredibly successful collaboration with police authorities to manage this.

Success is measured, among other things, by fewer open drug scenes. Now we can also see that we have fewer shootings than before. I still think we should take away that – that the shootings have decreased for three consecutive years. The number of deaths is decreasing year by year when it comes to lethal violence. You must also think that is positive – right?

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

Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Madam Speaker! Yes, we really embrace that, and we see it positively. We are beginning to discern positive trends regarding the crime development in Sweden. There is a long way to go, but we still discern positive trends. It is important to take note of that.

But what I actually requested a reply for concerned the question of how success is measured. We see that progress is being made regarding some results. But I am thinking about the fact that we agree that we want a locally visible and present police.

They let the Police Authority double its budget. The number of police employees grew by 10,000, but the number of police officers in outer uniformed service increased by only 1,200 officers during the Social Democrats' time in government. Does Member Löberg define that as a success?

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

Petter Löberg (S)

Madam Speaker! One of the reasons why it was not possible to deploy resources in outer service was that the shootings took up an enormous amount of investigative resources. We had no alternative to that. Were we not to investigate the crimes that tore society apart? Were we to achieve specifically this with uniformed police in outer service?

Now we have reached a critical mass of police – with 10,000 new police employees – due to the decisions we made and the joint decisions we have regarding continued expansion.

We will of course see results from that. I hope so. I also know that Petra Lundh and Stefan Hector have that attitude in the agency. I therefore have a secure hope for it.

But with that said, I must also say that the resources came under Social Democratic rule. The police training centers in both Borås and Malmö were created during this period. That is the prerequisite for continued expansion. It is mainly propositions that come to the Riksdag's table that have been prepared and investigated under a Social Democratic ministry. You are harvesting the fruits of them now. I have no problem with that. The most important thing is that it becomes good for society. You are welcome to hitch a ride a bit on our investigations and present proposals here in the chamber, as long as they are good and wise proposals, which they often are when we have laid the foundation for them.

I believe fundamentally that we benefit quite a bit from having conversations across the block boundaries between the two governing parties regarding legal issues. I believe we can continue to have those moving forward.

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

Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Madam Speaker! Re-establishing safety throughout Sweden is one of the Moderaternas most important issues. When the Kristersson government took office two and a half years ago, serious organized crime had been allowed to spread. The serious violence with shootings and explosions had reached levels that completely lack parallel in countries we normally compare ourselves with.

Together with the Liberals, the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats, we are now reforming the crime policy to break the destructive development that we have witnessed over the last decade. The Tidö Agreement contains a large number of offensive and pattern-breaking measures. It is about hitting hard against gross violence, strangling the criminal economy and breaking the recruitment of children and young people.

Preventive exclusion orders, security zones, and preventive surveillance of gang criminals limit the criminals' freedom but make ordinary honest residents in our country both safer and freer. With harsher sentences, both gang criminals and serial rapists will sit behind bars for longer. The restraining order legislation is tightened to increase the safety of crime victims. With more uniformed police in outer service, crime is prevented, and more crimes can also be investigated and solved.

We are introducing a new Social Services Act where preventive work is a core mission. The parents' role and responsibility is central. Therefore, parental support is strengthened. The state child and youth care is reformed. The correctional services take over the responsibility for young people convicted of serious crimes. Young people cared for with support of LVU due to links to serious crime shall be able to be targeted with an ankle bracelet. School social teams that already exist today at many schools are further developed. The flow of information to law enforcement from social services, schools, and other authorities shall increase.

With new forfeiture legislation, we can seize the gangs' cash and luxury items. Business bans shall be able to be issued for persons involved in serious organized crime so that companies cannot be used as tools for crime. In addition, massive investments are being made in the justice system. From 2023 to 2027, the justice system's budget increases from 69 to 100 billion kronor, an increase of over 40 percent.

Madam Speaker! Sweden is, as is well known, facing serious challenges regarding safety and security. System-threatening crime, the threat of terrorism, and the influence of foreign powers require powerful measures. But we must also not forget the serious societal problem linked to men's violence against women, which we must combat with the same force as we combat gang crime. We also have widespread petty crime, ranging from theft to fraud, which must also be prosecuted.

Madam Speaker! The police are absolutely crucial for us to be able to push back the crime that has been allowed to spread. There are, of course, many other actors who are also important in this work. But the police are completely central to pushing back serious organized crime, so that even petty crime can be prosecuted and so that the preventive work, which is largely carried out by municipal actors, will also function.

The initiative for police growth therefore needs to continue. We have formulated it as that Sweden shall have a police density that corresponds to the EU average. We still have a good way to go there.

When the police now expand, the mistakes from the previous parliamentary term must not be repeated. Recently, the Justice Committee received the Crime Prevention Council's evaluation of the initiative for 10,000 more police employees. The evaluation showed that the national departments grew significantly more than the local level. Under the Social Democratic government, the number of employees at the national departments increased by 32 percent, while the local police area level only increased by 13 percent. During the same period, support activities grew by 27 percent, while core activities only grew by 17 percent.

When representatives of the opposition occasionally complain about a lack of local police presence, it is, therefore, empty barrels rattling. The legacy from the previous parliamentary term is, in fact, still making itself felt.

Madam Speaker! If it were not the case that the Moderates had already taken responsibility and pushed the then Social Democratic government forward during the previous parliamentary term, the situation would have been even worse. On two occasions during the previous parliamentary term, the Moderates and the Christian Democrats won the budget vote in the Riksdag. This meant that on both occasions, important investments in police salaries could be made, investments that would not have been made if the previous Social Democratic government had been allowed to decide.

The police salary increases contributed to fewer people leaving and more seeking the police profession. It also contributed to dampening the tendency that we have seen for many years, namely that police officers seek inward and upward in the organization – away from uniformed outer service at the local level to internal service at higher organizational levels.

Now we see how the local police growth is actually gaining momentum. During 2024 alone, the number of police officers in outer uniformed service increased by 700. There is still a long way to go until we are satisfied, but it is obvious that it is now heading in the right direction.

Madam Speaker! In order for us to have a locally visible and present police force throughout the country, more new police officers are needed. For a long time, it was a problem that many places at the police training programs remained empty. That is no longer the case. Now the places are filled, and we have qualified applicants in the queue. The Government recently tasked the Swedish Police Authority with investigating the possibility of increasing the number of places at the police training. This involves both investigating the conditions for establishing the police training at a new educational institution and expanding the places at existing educational institutions. The assignment is to be reported back to the Government on September 1.

The government is also making it more attractive to study to become a police officer by ensuring that the student loans from the time as a police student can be written off or repaid. This applies to everyone who has started the police training from autumn 2024 onwards. The government appointed an investigation less than a month ago to investigate the specific forms of how this shall proceed. The investigation is to be completed on 16 October. In addition, the trainee salaries have been raised for the first time in 22 years, from 15,000 kronor per month to 23,000 kronor per month. It therefore makes a difference who is in power if we are to get more police officers.

Madam Speaker! We can look back on a decade of a very destructive development where firearm violence on the open street, which previously had created headlines, today only becomes a flash on the mobile phone that whizzes by. Young people – children – are recruited to commit very serious violent crimes. Organized crime is eating its way into the body of society.

We are now two years into a ten-year journey of pushing back this crime and restoring safety in Sweden. Even though much remains to be done, we can still discern results that provide some basis for hopefulness. The number of shootings during 2024 was at the lowest level since 2017. The number of fatal shootings has decreased by 30 percent, and the crime clearance rate regarding these serious crimes has risen from 15–20 percent a few years ago to over 70 percent today. The police are also succeeding in preventing more and more serious violent crimes before they have a chance to be committed.

All this ensures that spirals of violence can be broken. But the development is fragile. The level of conflict is high in the criminal environment, and the amount of violence is great. But while the work must continue, it is important to give recognition for the work that is being done and acknowledge the successes that are actually achieved.

Madam Speaker! I would like to conclude by expressing my thanks to all employees within the police for the important missions they perform every day all around Sweden. Thank you for your work in maintaining safety and security, in preventing and solving crimes, and not least in providing good service and good treatment to all honest Swedes who, in various contexts, come into contact with the police!

I vote in favor of the proposals in the report and against all motions.

(Applause)

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

Gudrun Nordborg (V)

Madam Speaker! I begin by moving to approve reservation number 2. It focuses on preventing, deterring, and detecting criminal activity, which are the police's primary tasks.

I and many others believe that the police's crime prevention work continues to be neglected even though it has been expanded. There are deficiencies when it comes to methods and resources and, not least, evaluation, despite it being a central area. According to outside assessments, the police's safety-creating and contact-creating activities need to be significantly strengthened with resources. Furthermore, research and systematic method development are needed. This must also be translated into the training of the police officers.

The Swedish Police Authority has made strategic decisions on how the work shall be conducted. It is important but not complete. It would be a start if we could strengthen the police's marked task of being preventive in the legislation, but it should occur in cooperation with many others. The police cannot manage this alone.

There are many challenges. We have touched upon some earlier in the debate. One of them is definitely organized crime. In addition to shootings and explosions, which we often talk about, there is now an increased infiltration of criminals into economic contexts. There, exploitation of the welfare state occurs. This has been made possible by the extensive privatization that allows for the infiltration of profit-driven companies within school, healthcare, and elderly care. In addition to this draining the society of tax revenue, the cost increases because we also have to use tax revenue to invest in administration in an attempt to gain control over the exploitation.

We have also touched upon a competition that has sometimes existed and which I hope can pass. It concerns the conflict between investing in personnel and finances to work against violence against women or against organized crime. Violence against women affects children both directly and indirectly in families. There should not be a competition between these two areas. They are connected, not least when it comes to the recruitment of young people into crime.

Only during this week have we heard statements from the police commissioner during the visit to the committee that most young people have experienced violence. During yesterday's important seminar in the Riksdag, this fact was confirmed by those responsible from among others Järfälla municipality, who argue that all young people have experienced violence, and by the representative from Bris. We have also heard examples earlier here in the chamber that new research from England has documented that it is so.

I would like to assert that research for decades has shown that there is a great risk that boys who see their father hit their mother learn violence as a factor of power and repeat this both in their own relationships and in other contexts. Bris summarizes the children's situation as that without vulnerable children, there is no recruitment. A conclusion that we from Vänsterpartiet have asserted many times from this rostrum is that it is about poverty and other forms of vulnerability.

We must act early to save the children who have experienced violence and other forms of vulnerability. In that regard, the police can make incredibly important interventions. They can, of course, make reports of concern if they encounter children in the "wrong" contexts, and in the handling of crimes against children, they can, together with social interventions, provide support to these children. Regarding the investigative work, it is also a matter of needing forms of cooperation, for example, children's houses.

We have also mentioned protected housing earlier. There I see with concern that a privatization is occurring. More focus is placed on shell protection than on the social support and the encouragement that the women really need, for both themselves and the children, to be able to leave a violent man and save the children from the father's violence.

I would also like to mention some projects that I think would be worth repeating in several places. One is Rätt kurva, which is a collaboration between social services, the police, and other actors in civil society – especially the business community. There, the focus is on supporting children who may already have a certain level of criminality and have committed some crimes. It is young people between 8 and 15 years old who can be relevant in this project. It is currently launched in Södertälje, Linköping, and parts of Gothenburg and will be evaluated by the university there. The concept consists of the police and social services contacting and visiting families. They try to offer tailored interventions for both children and families.

The preparedness lift opens up opportunities to further engage the business sector and provide economic resources. Work is being done, among other things, with mentorship, work hours while the children are in school, opportunities for summer jobs, and other activities that can provide something meaningful. Parents can also be supported if they need it, for example, with a job closer to home or a job at all.

I would also like to highlight Fryshuset, which operates very important activities in several parts of the country.

The Center against Violence-Oriented Extremism can offer a lot of support and work preventatively to prevent, above all, risks of violence in schools.

There is another aspect that I do not think has come up particularly often. It is an activity that comes closer to reality and the citizens, namely citizen promises. It concerns municipal projects where the municipality and the police, together with others, attempt to take action. Sometimes it is done in ways that resemble the Rätt kurva project.

Finally, I want to mention the police training, which is addressed in another important reservation that Vänsterpartiet is involved in. It is about broadening the recruitment base so that the police get greater opportunities for cultural competence and the ability to understand also immigrants' ways of behaving or being polite when, for example, approaching a family or stepping into their home.

Just recently, we saw an example of truly terrible racism within the police, something that absolutely should not be allowed to occur. I am thinking of a case that has been raised several times and even more so now with everything that has come out about the young boy Mohamed. He was kidnapped and eventually killed. The mother sought help, but the police almost mocked her and refused to provide her with an interpreter. This should not need to occur in today's society. We must act to create much greater respect for cultural differences.

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

Ulrika Liljeberg (C)

Madam Speaker! We hear all too often about shootings and explosions, but also about violence, murder, and assaults. The crimes are far too many and too brutal, and they are devastating both for individuals and for us as a country. The police have a very important and often decisive role here in creating and restoring safety. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all police officers and police employees for the efforts they make day and night, all year round, for all of us in Sweden. Many thanks!

We in the Center Party have stood behind the historically large and much-needed increased resources for the Swedish police which are now being realized. The police are governed by laws, budget, and regulatory letters. They also have a vision: We make all of Sweden safe and secure.

In this year's regulatory letter from the government, it is stated that the Swedish Police Authority shall report on how it has worked with results and what results have been achieved regarding progress towards the goal that the police density shall at least correspond to the average in the EU. It shall also report on how it strengthens the work with a locally visible and safety-creating police and good service to the citizens in the entire country.

So, this is what is being said from the government. But at the same time, three police reception centers in Dalarna are being closed, and then the government says it is the police's game plan, not the government's. It is the same government that, among other things, says that the police shall report the number of persons checked within the framework of the temporarily reintroduced border control at the inner border. It shall be by nationality, the number of denied entries, and how many are minors. They shall indicate different proportions. Furthermore, the Police Authority shall, per tertial, report an update regarding the number of fixed and mobile surveillance cameras and body-worn cameras.

When it comes to cameras and border controls, the government wants the exact number, but regarding police reception points with fixed opening hours, such as in Leksand, Rättvik and Vansbro, nothing is said.

I know this may sound a bit mocking, but it is not. We in Centerpartiet think that border controls and cameras are truly important and necessary. But we also think that an accessible police force throughout the entire country is something both important and necessary.

In the government's Sweden, the police are closing reception centers in the countryside. Despite historically large investments in the police, several police reception centers in the countryside will be closed. The population in Leksand, Rättvik, and Vansbro have been informed that their opportunity to physically visit the police with fixed opening hours will disappear.

It is absolutely good to have investments in improved service via telephone and digital platforms. But when it comes to community services, such as passports, lost property, reporting of crimes and observations, a local physical presence is many times completely crucial.

If one refers to a police reception many miles and many hours away, it hits those with few resources hardest. We must not forget that. Persons with disabilities, persons who are referred to public communications, and persons who are not digital or who have other challenges are always those who are most affected by decisions such as these.

An accessible and present police force that builds trust is crucial for preventing and investigating crime. It may be only the fifth time you meet a police officer that you dare to take heart and tell them what you are being subjected to in your home or what you know about local crime.

Police reception desks are, of course, not expected to solve all of this alone, but the reception desks also cannot be seen merely as a negligible part of a streamlined organizational chart. We who live in the countryside contribute to all of Sweden in many ways, and we have the right to expect a basic police service and not closures. At the same time as deadly shootings and explosions within criminal networks have hit our country hard, the largest proportion of crimes are those directed against individuals, for example violence and threats against children and women, as well as thefts, frauds, and acts of vandalism that affect individuals and small business owners across the country.

If not even Leksand, which is a medium-sized Swedish municipality with a strong tourism industry, can have an open police reception, one wonders what the government means when the Minister for Justice here in the Riksdag's rostrum says that the countryside will experience the effects of the large resources for the police within a tangible near future. For a Center Party member, that would mean that the closures in Leksand, Rättvik, and Vansbro would be stopped.

Madam Speaker! In another part of Sweden, far from the asphalt of the big cities, mountain rescue is also an important part of life. In Sweden, there are around 400 mountain rescuers distributed across about thirty units in Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, and Dalarna. They are often responsible for rescue operations in the Swedish mountain world under very difficult weather conditions. Both those who live there and the tourists who come to visit depend on help arriving quickly when misfortune strikes, and this applies to both winter and summer.

All volunteer lifesavers make invaluable contributions, and more are needed. Therefore, the Center Party believes that it is necessary to continue pushing to improve the situation for this group, including with expanded deduction possibilities. I would therefore like to conclude by move for approval of reservation 5, which concerns the support for the country's mountain rescuers.

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Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Madam Speaker! I share Member Liljeberg's concern that the local police presence in many places in Sweden is too low. We need more present police officers throughout the country. I also come from a county with many small municipalities, namely Västmanlands län. There, the presence has for a long time been far too weak.

The picture is somewhat fragmented, however. The police are not closing down everywhere. Arboga in Västmanland is a municipality comparable in size to Rättvik and Leksand. There, the police are going to open a new police station. Obviously, the local police managements are making slightly different assessments.

Fundamentally, this is due to the fact that the local police growth has been far too weak for many years. It has been difficult to make the resources suffice for a local presence everywhere where it should be.

Now the police are growing. Just during 2024, last year, the number of police in outer uniformed service increased by 700 in Sweden. We will see even larger increases ahead. The police training programs are full. We are expanding the police training programs. A lot is happening. I am hopeful that we will get a significantly better local police presence all around the country.

Let me be clear. My view is that there should be locally anchored police throughout Sweden. My starting point is that there should also be permanently stationed police in almost every municipality in the country. But we have a debt to work on again because the police growth over many years has been far too weak.

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Ulrika Liljeberg (C)

Madam Speaker! In many and many parts, I completely share the member's view that we should have done more in Sweden in this area. That is why we stand behind the large resource additions that have been made and view positively how the police are now recruiting in very many different ways to achieve a police presence throughout the country.

There is a lot of talk about external service, and it is a part of it. But we must remember that the major crime scenes are distributed – they are indeed on streets and squares but also in people's homes and in cyberspace. We need to act in all areas. Therefore, I can think that it sometimes becomes a bit one-sided if one only talks about external uniformed service.

Then it is about police receptions. There is also talk of a good and accessible service. The government considers that the police should handle, for example, passport issuance. There are also other permits and so on that should go through the police. In that case, there are many times a need for an accessible service in our entire country for many groups.

I must say that I do not know off the top of my head how many people live in Arboga. The member may be welcome to inform me of that. Leksand was Sweden's median municipality recently. That means that 145 municipalities were larger and 145 were smaller. Given the municipality's strong tourism industry, one wonders how it is judged that the need does not exist there.

I can understand the grounds for this, but I think the government has too low ambitions. Resource additions are being made, and there is a strong focus. The government proposes very much good legislation that the Center Party stands behind. But I think the ambition is too low and that too little is being done for a present local police throughout the country.

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

Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Madam Speaker! I can promise the members that the ambitions are not low. On the contrary, the ambitions for local presence are high. Then the members know just as well as I do that many operational and organizational decisions are made at lower levels. It is very difficult for the government to say exactly where police receptions and police stations should be located. But that there should be a good local presence throughout Sweden is unconditional.

My question to the member linked to that is what the governance of the Swedish Police Authority would look like. I have not seen any proposals from the Center Party that, for example, one should demand that the Swedish Police Authority must have a police station in every municipality. Such a demand could be made, and it would have other consequences in the Swedish Police Authority's operations. But if one is to be consistent, one must follow up this type of statement with clear demands and expectations on how it should look. So far, I have not seen anything from the Center Party in this motion report or anywhere else regarding an absolute requirement that there must be a police station in every municipality.

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Ulrika Liljeberg (C)

Madam Speaker! That is why I began by saying how the police are governed. They are governed by laws, budgets, regulatory letters, and other things. We all know that what the government highlights in its regulatory letter is what they consider important. That is why the government says that one must report the number of cameras at a detailed level and exactly which cameras they are. One must report at a detailed level the number of minors and what nationality they have. Internal border controls are carried out. Here, the government is very clear. One puts the spotlight and the light on it because one thinks it is important. Do not underestimate the governance systems that exist and what the government highlights! On the other hand, for example, requirements on the number of police stations shine by their absence in the regulatory letters.

It is good that the member thinks that the Center Party should have proposals and ambitions, and we do. I have learned here in the Riksdag that there is a lot of talk about previous parliamentary terms and upcoming parliamentary terms. But I know that the Moderaterna and the government have gained power and taken on the responsibility. It is you who sit in Rosenbad and rule this. Then you should be able to answer why you choose to prioritize cameras and internal controls, which is important, but in the steering systems do not lift up the number of police receptions and local presence – if you now think that this is so important. The Center Party thinks that it is important and that one needs to have higher ambitions and see all of Sweden and the need for a locally present and accessible police.

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Martin Melin (L)

Madam Speaker! During the two previous parliamentary terms 2014–2022, when the Social Democrats governed this country, I was not actively involved in national politics, but I was in the so-called reality, more specifically in a police car out on the streets of Stockholm. I sat there in my police car and complained about the politicians. I thought they had no clue how it worked. We had a Minister for Justice and a Minister for the Interior who I thought were paralyzed in action. They did not understand the problems and the upcoming problems that we police officers on the street warned about. I also complained about a National Police Commissioner who did not listen to his police officers and who seemed to be more interested in saving on the budget than in achieving a better clearance rate. Above all, he was not interested in having satisfied police officers.

This period was quite gloomy for the Swedish police. The budget for the police was low, which caused the wage development for the police to fall behind. This, in turn, led to fewer people wanting to become police officers. Unfortunately, too many police officers also chose to leave the profession. This also led to training and continuing education within the police having to be cancelled due to staff shortages. Equipment was stopped from being purchased due to poor finances. The police officers who remained had to work mandatory overtime, which resulted in a poor working environment and dissatisfied police officers.

Fewer police meant that the investigation results also dropped. The investigations were left on hold. Serious crimes such as rape often had to sit in the balance and perhaps even had to wait up to half a year before an investigation was started. The important crime-prevention work had to take a backseat. The police officers who were supposed to work with the preventive work had instead to work on responding to emergency calls. It was simply a catastrophe. It was a crisis. But no one from the Social Democrats in this house or on the other side of the Strömmen did anything about it. They chose to turn a blind eye and keep their eyes shut. Above all, they refused to listen to the police officers who tried to draw attention to it.

Madam Speaker! What we see today, with explosions, shootings, increased organized crime, and more and more young people being drawn into criminality, is a result of the mismanagement of the Swedish police that the previous government engaged in. I will be honest here as well. The Swedish police were also mismanaged during the previous bourgeois so-called alliance government. But I do not hear representatives from that government standing here in the speaker's chair in the Swedish Riksdag and having high-handedness.

I hear, however, in almost every debate – I say, almost – how from the Social Democrats one beats one's chest and tells how well one managed the justice policy during one's eight years; one produced a lot of legislative proposals and improvements, started up more police training, and all that. But those training places that one started up were not filled. They were barely half-full for several years. And many of the laws were produced on the initiative of other parties, including the Liberals.

I think, instead, that those from the Social Democrats should admit that they did not do a good job. The figures are crystal clear. If we are only talking about shootings, there was more than a doubling of the number of shootings from the year 2014 to the year 2022.

The number of police officers per capita in 2014 was 206 per 100,000 citizens. In 2022, the figure was up to 209 per 100,000. This means that Uppsala had received an addition of a full three police officers. In Stockholm, the figure was much bleaker. There, the figure was negative. There were fewer police officers in 2022 than there were in 2014. This year, we are up to 218 police officers per 100,000 per capita.

I am worried that, if there is a change of government next autumn, we will get a government that has already shown that it is not capable of conducting a functioning and effective justice policy. This applies in any case if one continues to stubbornly claim that one has done a good job during the last two terms. I am worried.

If we then look at one of the parties that the Social Democrats will govern with, Vänstern, it is a party that has been against virtually every proposal that the government has come up with. It is laws that, when they have been launched, have proven to be functional and effective in crime fighting.

The Left was against preventive measures, the secret eavesdropping. It is a law that has enabled the police to prevent hundreds of serious crimes, including murders.

The Left was against security zones, which in the places where they have been used have proven to be one hundred percent: no shootings and no explosions have occurred, and no weapons have been seized, in the places where one has had security zones. It is a one hundred percent result.

The Left was against a more effective law when it came to camera surveillance. It was against the use of ANPR, which has proven to be very effective, especially for being able to track, among other things, gang criminals.

The Left was against removing the prescription period for crimes that can carry life imprisonment, such as murder.

The Left was against the preventive stay-away orders. It is perhaps the law that has meant the most for the business owners and the citizens in vulnerable areas. Those who previously caused trouble and committed crimes have been forced away from the area thanks to the law. There are many who thank the police in those areas. It was the Left against it.

The Left voted no to the police being allowed to use secret coercive measures to search for wanted persons. I find it difficult to see why the police should not be given good tools to be able to find wanted persons.

The Left was against – and it is incomprehensible to me – that police officers who worked at the front line, the most exposed who worked against serious organized crime, those individuals who have a large amount of violence capital, should be able to use a numerical code instead of names during reporting. This is to avoid receiving threats and getting home visits.

It was Vänstern against, just to take some examples. It is a party that has demanded to sit in the same government as the Social Democrats after the next election.

I sat in my police car during the last parliamentary term, and what I saw happening before my eyes was the decay of an authority and bad politics. The criminals took more and more ground, and young people were drawn into crime. Police lost their energy and the desire to work. Will it come back after the next election? That is what I am worried about.

(Applause)

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

Gudrun Nordborg (V)

Madam Speaker! I understand that Martin Melin wants to attack the Left Party and question our policy. He has every right to do so. But the question is why and with what arguments.

We have been against some of the reforms he mentioned because we believe they go much too far from the perspective of privacy considerations that we are obliged to take according to many legal principles, the constitution, and conventions.

I can give a few examples where I do not agree with what has been reasonable and right. When it comes to the visitation zones that you introduced, I can understand that nothing happens there while the police have a high surveillance, but where is it happening instead?

The Danish example, which was a precursor, marked that one establishes visitation zones in order to be able to implement many social interventions. We support that, and we call them security zones and safety zones instead.

The code for police is a reform that is underway. New legislation is now coming that we are prepared to support. What was said is not correct. We have been hesitant.

I still think it is about legal certainty. When it concerns the officials that one has contact with – officials who are police officers or those who work in another profession – one should in most cases be told who they are. But here, codes can be safety-creating for several professions, and we also accept that.

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

Martin Melin (L)

Madam Speaker! To begin with, the security zones shall be used when there is an acute threat against one or more persons in an area. That is why it is limited to up to two weeks.

During those two weeks, a fairly large number of police officers are placed in the area and extra surveillance is maintained, quite simply. That is what it is about. They are deployed when it is urgent. When the acute threat is over, the police officers are withdrawn.

It has worked. Nor has anything happened after the police are gone. Yes, it is true that it has happened in Södertälje. But in the other areas, it has been calm even afterwards. It has worked as a deterrent.

Often it is a person who shoots someone. Then it is someone else who is to take revenge. That is preferably done the same evening, the next day, two days later, and so on. That is where the security zones have been implemented. After a couple of weeks, it is often no longer relevant. In that way, the security zones have been successful.

In my world, there should be a large number of police officers present in those areas around the clock from the start, in the best of worlds. That number of police officers does not exist yet. But hopefully, we can perhaps reach that in a couple of years so that there can be enough police officers in the areas. Then one basically does not need to establish any security zones for it to be calm and safe. That is where we should reach.

As I understand it, we have to do something, and that is why security zones have been established. I do not believe that security zones will be used for Swedish police in five years. By then, there will already be police on site, and hopefully, it will have become calmer and safer.

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

Gudrun Nordborg (V)

Madam Speaker! I want to counter a little bit by saying that the zones have also created problems. Many people experience being searched time and again because they have a different skin color and that it is racialized people who are subjected to searches.

The police already have the possibility today to conduct certain searches if they have reasonable grounds. But here it can occur without specific suspicion. It has obviously also created anxiety and fear among many in these areas. It is a negative effect.

We must also ensure that the police work in a way that creates trust and confidence and can open up for communications and obtain important information. I do not agree that it has been successful.

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

Martin Melin (L)

Madam Speaker! I shall only correct the member here. Since 2004, the police have had the right to conduct searches without reasonable suspicion according to the Police Act. That is also the law one relies on today.

The only difference is that in Section 22 of the Police Act, it has been introduced that one may also inspect vehicles without reasonable suspicion. This is because these individuals have learned to store the weapons in the cars instead of carrying them on their persons. This is, therefore, in principle the only difference.

I have spoken with police officers out in these areas – skilled and sensible police officers who work there. They want to work on building trust, building relationships and so on. I actually get other signals from them, because they tell me that the residents go out and say: Thank you for being here! Thank you for checking these people, because we know it is they who are criminals!

I have checked the JO reports, and there is not a single report linked to a search in a security zone – not a single one. And yet, around 450 searches have been carried out.

In my world, I feel that this has shown the residents in the areas that we take them and their concerns seriously. We are here for you, and we ensure that these people do not shoot and explode so that you can have your children in the playground! That is the perception I get when I talk to police officers out in the areas, but perhaps we are not talking to the same police officers or the same residents.

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

Jacob Risberg (MP)

Madam Speaker! In a time when gang crime requires a lot of focus and resources, I want to begin my speech by highlighting another very pressing area, which we believe should be prioritized higher. Children in our surroundings are subjected to serious sexual abuse daily.

Despite the fact that Sweden has had legislation for many years stating that sexual acts performed, or which one causes someone else to perform, without consent are criminal. And despite that children under 18 years of age are to be covered by the legal protection for children, there are many gaps remaining to be closed in the legislation.

The purpose of this is threefold: the victim's redress, the accountability of the perpetrator, and that society once and for all establishes that the guilt for the abuse lies with the perpetrator – never with the victim. This also applies if the crime was committed on the internet.

It is therefore deeply problematic that there can still be a lack of funds to satisfactorily investigate and prosecute perpetrators of sexual crimes against children on the internet. This must become a priority, and funds must be earmarked for the investigations. It is extremely serious that so many children express that they do not even report the crime because they are afraid of not being believed or because they will be believed but dismissed when the investigations are closed immediately. This also sends a serious signal to our society that sexual crimes against children on the internet are only taken seriously in exceptional cases.

That children are exposed to, for example, "outing" on so-called expose accounts, are threatened into sending nude images, and are subjected to grooming online is evident, for example, from Bris's annual report 2025. The area of children's digital lives is one of the areas highlighted particularly in the report.

Madam Speaker! In addition to the fact that resources and earmarking may be required to ensure that all crimes are investigated in a satisfactory manner, other measures may also be required. The police's ability to investigate crimes linked to, among other things, people subjected to commercial sexual exploitation, prostitution, and human trafficking presupposes that police officers receive solid training in these issues. Training in interacting with vulnerable people, for example the groups mentioned above, should therefore be introduced in police training.

Another type of crime where additional efforts are needed is hate crimes. A hate crime means that the perpetrator carries out an attack due to their negative attitude towards certain people's characteristics. Hate crimes can be the crimes of incitement against a population group and unlawful discrimination, or other crimes where the motive has been to violate a person or population group due to skin color, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or other similar circumstances. According to the Swedish Crime Prevention Council, the most common hate crimes are harassment and unlawful threats.

Sami people are one of the groups subjected to hate crimes in Sweden. Hate crimes against Sami people occur both physically and digitally, and those who clearly express their Sami identity, such as reindeer herding Sami and persons with Sami names, are particularly vulnerable. Previous experiences have also shown that a harsh debate climate regarding issues such as land use for reindeer husbandry risks increasing the occurrence of hate against Sami people.

Lack of knowledge about Sami culture and Sami history hinders the work of combating prejudice, racism, and contempt towards the Sami. Representatives for Sami organizations have stated that racism against the Sami, among other things, manifests in actions against reindeer. Since reindeer and reindeer husbandry are a fundamental prerequisite for being able to preserve and develop Sami culture, tortured and killed reindeer are not only a horrific crime but also a clear expression of racism against the Sami.

Unfortunately, there are major deficiencies in the possibility of pursuing cases in court and achieving convictions. This is due, among other things, to the fact that very few crimes are reported and that there is often a lack of sufficient evidence to report and prosecute when, for example, reindeer are tortured or killed.

This is unacceptable. In Sweden, no one should be subjected to discrimination or hate. We need to intensify the authorities' work against hate crimes and highlight the abuses that have been committed against the Sámi historically, but also those that occur today.

Madam Speaker! Every hate crime constitutes a violation of a person's rights and is an expression of the view that not all people are equally worthy. Miljöpartiet wants to take a decisive stand against hate crimes on several levels, including through reinforced work within the police and on the internet.

The work against hate crimes within the police should be strengthened by expanding the hate crime units, improving internal training, and reinforcing the police's cooperation with civil society. Another important measure is to introduce a specialized support line for those who are subjected to hate crimes. The work to combat hate crimes online and place higher demands on internet platforms should also be intensified.

Madam Speaker! For many children and young people, the internet is a large part of life, and this applies in particular to various gaming platforms. Unfortunately, it has shown that the gaming world where an overwhelming proportion of Sweden's children and young people spend much of their social lives risks becoming a breeding ground for violence-oriented far-right extremism.

Expo's annual mapping of the far-right environment in Sweden points out that extremists are incredibly successful with influence campaigns and recruitment efforts online, especially in social media. The police, social services, and other expert agencies must be given resources to follow and develop their presence and knowledge in the area. Examples from the EU and the police in the Netherlands show that police presence in gaming environments and online is crucial.

Sweden also lags behind when it comes to solving crimes in gaming environments. A review in SVT from 2023 shows that there are only 27 convictions in the last six years for this type of crime, despite the fact that we know that many play games and are exposed to crimes, and that the industry generates tens of billions every year.

Overall, the police must be given resources to develop digital work, especially to combat crimes with extreme characteristics committed against children and young people.

Madam Speaker! In conclusion, I also want to mention something about one of the measures needed to ensure that the police have the best conditions to do their work. A central issue for the police's legitimacy is that the composition of the staff reflects the population in terms of gender and ethnicity. Despite some efforts having been made, we do not see a desirable development in this regard.

The Swedish Police Authority and the Inspectorate of the Swedish Police need to therefore intensify this work. A broad recruitment base provides better opportunities for the police to have the right competence when it comes to cultural and linguistic understanding, with the improved capabilities this provides in both crime-fighting and preventive work.

Madam Speaker! I naturally stand behind all of MP's reservations, but I choose to move for approval only of reservation 8.

(Applause)

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 29 April.)

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