Response to interpellation 2022/23:316 on the working conditions for the police in the North region

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Isak From has asked me if I and the government are considering more measures than sending police from other parts of the country to the vulnerable areas of the metropolitan areas. Isak From has also asked me if I intend to do anything concrete to improve the working situation for the police in the Nord region and in what way the regulatory letter to the Police Authority for 2023 takes into account that the organization can carry out its activities based on actual conditions.

Let me begin by saying what is obvious and important, not least for those of us who have our roots in northern Sweden: All of Sweden shall be a safe country to live in. This presupposes a strong justice system and an accessible police force. For the government, it is therefore important that the Police Authority maintains a purposeful police presence based on the local problem picture across the entire country, both in large cities and rural areas.

It is the police who, based on a national situational picture and an overall assessment, decide which resource shifts are needed and manage the potential consequences of the reinforcements. To ensure a high police presence throughout the country, it is important that all police regions have a correct dimensioning and a capacity to sustain their own operations. It is an asset for the police to have the opportunity to act flexibly and mobilize resources, for example, during special events. At the same time, it is of course not sustainable in the long term for police from other parts of the country to be moved to work in, for example, Stockholm for a longer period.

As stated in the government statement, the Police Authority shall receive more employees with higher salaries during the mandate period. The goal is that the police density shall at least correspond to the average in the EU. The Police Authority has been allocated special funds to be used for increased salaries and other compensation in order to strengthen the attractiveness of the police profession. With more employees and better conditions, the working situation for the police in the Nord region will be improved.

The Government's governance of the Swedish Police Authority has an increased focus on clear goals and improved results. From the regulatory letter for 2023, it appears that the Swedish Police Authority shall specifically report on how the authority has freed up resources in favor of the core police activities. The authority shall also report on what measures it has taken to reduce the administration for police officers in field service. By focusing on the core activities, the Swedish Police Authority and its employees are given a better working situation and thus good conditions to tackle society's challenges.

The government has also given the Police Authority a special assignment to increase the police's operational capacity with a particular focus on streamlining the national operational department, Noa, and the police's forensic center, NFC. It is also important for the police regionally and locally that the national level delivers purposeful and effective support to the operational work out in the country. It is in that light that the special government assignment to the Police Authority to increase the operational capacity should be seen.

With greater resources and better tools also follow justified expectations from the citizens that the expansion of the police leads to an increased police presence and improved results. The ongoing growth work should therefore lead to a tangible reinforcement of the number of police officers in both region Nord and the rest of the country and thereby to an improved working situation for the employees.

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister Gunnar Strömmer, for the answer! It seems to have become a new practice from the government to postpone the answers to interpellations. This interpellation should have been answered as early as May 4th. Let me nevertheless say that I am glad we were able to have the interpellation debate before Midsummer.

I submitted the interpellation against the background of that I have experienced an ever-increasing frustration from individual police officers but also from the police union and the leadership for the police in the regions. Many of the police officers from the four northernmost counties have been sent to Stockholm to investigate fatal shootings.

Dealing with the fatal shootings and explosions here in Stockholm is naturally very important and highly prioritized, but such a long-term relocation risks leading to the police in the rest of the country not having enough time to conduct investigations of violent crimes. It is precisely these investigations that the police, over the past few months, have been able to report with great frustration are being put on hold.

I could have interpellated Gunnar Strömmer a month earlier. But I thought I would wait, because it cannot continue like this. The government has shown very little initiative when it comes to addressing fatal shootings and explosions. I thought that the relocations might be temporary, and the Police Authority has probably thought so too.

Now I am not alone in questioning this. The Swedish Police Authority, the police union, individual police officers, and also the National Audit Office, which has submitted a report that is now on Gunnar Strömmers desk for preparation, are questioning it. It is said that the long-term relocations are costly and that it is doubtful whether they actually lead to what has been signaled as the goal to be achieved.

The starting point for my interpellation is the situation in police region Nord and the increased burden that comes with the green industrial transition. When such immensely large investments occur, criminal elements also seek out that environment.

There is an agency-wide work ongoing that was commissioned by the Social Democratic-led government, and I perceive that it has been very successful. It would be very unfortunate if the resulting situation means that the police cannot respond to what is requested by Arbetsmiljöverket, Skattemyndigheten, and Migrationsverket. These agencies' work also requires a police presence, and here I think that the government is actually held responsible. I also do not think that the answer Gunnar Strömmer gives me shows that the government is actually aware of the seriousness of the issue.

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Let me first and foremost thank Isak From for an extraordinarily pressing and important question. We who have followed the debate on the police situation in northern Sweden can perhaps say that the war headlines were hardly any less a few years back in time. "The police are playing Russian roulette with security," I read in a headline from the middle of the Social Democratic government's tenure. It is written that police region Nord has been reported to the Work Environment Authority, the police's safety representative speaks out, and one thing after another.

The situation that we have inherited and that we are to rectify naturally contains challenges that go beyond just the use of special events in the police's operational work. I can also not agree that we are solely responsible. The fundamental principle in the police growth that we envision, which we resource and which we are to legitimize with new growth strategies, is that the growth shall take place out in the country.

In one of the reviews that have been carried out during the spring semester, it has also been possible to establish that the police growth so far has primarily occurred from the waist and upwards in the police organization. We are therefore not inheriting a situation where there has been a large growth in, for example, the Norrland counties during the past months.

Let me say two things. The first is that it is naturally not a long-term solution to drain police resources from around the country and mobilize them in, for example, the vulnerable areas of the large cities. The second is that it is a great gain with the new organization. It has its problems – I will gladly return to them – but it provides an opportunity to act more agilely and mobilize resources, for example in the way that was done during Rimfrost in Malmö under the Social Democratic government. It was an extraordinarily successful operation.

The latest quarter's operation in Stockholm has been immensely successful, not least because one has been able to use and receive support from resources from other parts of the country. Let me also say that the effect of those operations is something that we do not only see in Stockholm but, for example, also in my old home county of Västernorrland. There, a byproduct of the operation in Stockholm was a historically large and successful operation in Sundsvall, where the bombings and drug trafficking have spread at the speed of light and have branches to what is happening in Stockholm. We therefore must not become too one-dimensional when we discuss this.

When I speak with police officers in northern Sweden, which I do often, some things emerge. One thing is the realization that we cannot, in the long term, have a situation where one drains resources; instead, we must build a sufficiently strong local police presence so that one can fulfill their core mission and also help out in other places when required. One has also, I believe, in Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, and Västernorrland, counted on receiving support back when it is needed. That is one thing.

The second point concerns the use of special events. We know that the police have also evaluated this. A mobilization during a shorter period is one thing, but something that continues for six or twelve months is something else. There is, without a doubt, development work to be done within the police.

I would also like to emphasize that the police officers who get to go away for a while learn a fantastic amount and come home as even better police officers. I also think that is something we should take with us. The police perhaps should have fewer trainings where one sits in a school desk for 14 days or similar and work more with training in this way.

But I undoubtedly acknowledge the problem that Isak From raises, and with joint efforts I am sure that we will both be able to solve the situation for police region Nord and retain the value of being able to mobilize resources when needed.

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! It was the Social Democratic government that announced 10,000 more police officers. It is clear that we Social Democrats also saw that we need to make major efforts here. I myself, and also Moderates from northern Sweden, also criticized the fact that police region Nord could not provide more than one car at disposal during the weekend in all of southern Lappland, which is an area larger than all of Västra Götaland. It is clear that there is also a local political aspect for the citizens. The police must be visible and present. Here we are in complete agreement.

What is now emerging is that the police relocations may be entirely necessary. It can and must be the case that, if needed, one should be able to move police to another location or another region. But to do so in the long term risks draining the possibilities for local presence.

Right now, I do not see that the government has taken any initiatives to curb this. Naturally, large efforts are needed in the Stockholm area to continue to crack down on gang crime. It is nothing else. But we cannot allow it to happen at the expense of other regions becoming understaffed. Not least, it concerns what I mentioned in my interpellation.

The large industrial climate investments that are happening now – they are very important for all of Sweden and for the world's transition, for Sweden is leading the way here – also attract criminal elements that exploit people. Drug sales and prostitution are increasing, and we also see through the efforts that have taken place in the joint authority work that it concerns people who have neither work permits nor employment. Suddenly they are found and live under appalling conditions. This risks creating entirely different criminal elements.

Only in the Skellefteå region has the proportion who have been convicted of gross driving under the influence and extremely gross driving under the influence - it concerns the category of labor migrants to work in or near the green industrial transition - taken up resources. It must take up resources, because if those efforts are not made, the legitimacy of the entire green industrial transition is threatened, and none of us want that.

That is why this issue also lies on Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer's desk, and it must be taken with the utmost seriousness. I still do not see that Gunnar Strömmer has reported how long this is going to continue. How long is a relocation allowed to continue? What is actually being seen? How does the Justice Minister intend to handle the National Audit Office's criticism? It cannot be discerned from the police's reports that there are objectives and outcomes when it comes to the relocations. How does the Justice Minister intend to handle that?

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Let me take the end first. Regarding the Riksrevisionen's audit of the police's use of special events, I have handled it as follows: This morning, in the authority dialogue with the Police Authority, I sat with the national police chief and raised this report. And we have discussed what in Riksrevisionen's audit there is reason to take a firm stand on.

This is fundamentally a question for the Police Authority, as these are tools that they have at their disposal. But my own conclusions in this part concern, among other things, the value of being able to mobilize resources in a flexible way to be able to meet problems in Sweden as a country. We do not want to jeopardize that. At the same time, things emerge in the Swedish National Audit Office's report which, for example, concern the clarity regarding why a specific incident has been initiated, the time frame for the incident and - and this is not least important - how this is followed up and evaluated. There is a potential for development there, if I put it that way.

My view is, not least after this morning's conversation, that the Swedish Police Authority finds itself in the same position in that part. There I want to confirm Isak From's concern regarding that issue. It is important, and I also perceive that the police have taken this to heart.

Then there is the question that is linked to this question. It concerns the long-term conditions for police growth in northern Sweden, not least in light of all the investments that Isak From mentions. It is clear that there can only be one answer to that question. There must be a police growth out in the country, if we are now talking about the Norrland counties, which is permanent and which also creates a margin so that one can both take care of a growing problem picture when it comes to crime locally and can support other parts of the country when needed.

It is Brå who has submitted the corresponding revision during the first quarter, which concerns precisely how the growth is in light of the goal regarding police employees, as Isak From pointed out. Brå says that that growth until now primarily has not occurred out in the local police areas, but it has occurred higher up in the organization. That development must naturally be broken.

What is the government doing to achieve this? To begin with, this government is the guarantor that the police will receive the financial supplements that the police have assessed are needed to be able to have sustainable growth during the coming years. This includes, among other things, investments in conditions that make the police profession even more attractive. This is not least about the salaries. We are also prepared to look at other issues, for example, different models for partially or fully financing police training in order to increase the competitiveness of the police profession compared to other professions.

We have also given the police a special assignment to report on what is required for growth to become sustainable and how that growth should occur out in the capillaries.

It is about more police officers out on the streets and squares and more cars in the inland of Norrland. I agree. There has been talk about the entire Västra Götaland or the area of double Denmark, or however one would describe the inland of Västerbotten, and the single police car that drove around there. It is, of course, a completely inadequate situation. Now I know that the police in Västerbotten have found a way to increase the presence so that it is more than one car rolling. But it is clear that if this is to be sustainable, it requires that we, from a national level, ensure that the increased resources that the citizens are now pushing into the justice system and the police have an effect at the very ends of the capillaries, closest to the citizens and in the entire country.

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! It is not only police region Nord that has criticized this. I read this morning that even the Värmland and Kronoberg areas see this. They have sent out police, and when they return to their area, the overtime account is already blown. It is clear that it is not long-term sustainable for us to deplete the local resources in that way. It also risks being an obstacle if something further were to happen, as new redistributions would need to be made from a new situation.

Here, the Police Authority and especially the government and Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer need to have a preparedness. What do you do if this happens, if you have taken that resource and depleted it? If you need to deploy new resources somewhere else, you need to have a preparedness for that.

I agree that fundamentally it is about more people wanting to become police officers and wanting to train to become police officers. Here, it is a common mission to highlight the profession and the opportunities within it. But here and now, the Minister for Justice should speak to the Chamber, to those listening to this, and to the police about how long such a national effort can continue without the government reacting and clearly saying: No, now this needs to be slowed down. Now we actually need to take a break and see if we are doing the right things. Here, the government is responsible.

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Speaking of the Speaker Mikael Damberg, Mikael Damberg was responsible for domestic affairs for a longer period in the previous government. I remember very well how the Speaker boasted in Malmö in connection with the Rimfrost operation, which was a mobilization of the kind that is now taking place in Stockholm and which had very great successes.

What have we seen in Stockholm during the last quarter? There have been record numbers of seizures when it comes to weapons. Record numbers of crimes, explosions, and shootings have been stopped. It is an effort that has also had ramifications in the Norrland counties. I will return to the large mobilization that took place in Sundsvall a few months ago, as a consequence of this effort. Sweden is connected. We must not jeopardize the possibility of mobilization. I think it is important to take that to heart.

But having said that, I think Isak From's question is justified. How one is to work with this in practice and concretely matters in the short term. There, the National Audit Office asks relevant questions, which I, for instance, as recently as this morning, have raised with the police commissioner. We do not want to jeopardize the possibility of mobilization. But how long shall a special event be? How clearly should it be defined? That is, what is it about in the most fundamental sense? How is it to be evaluated? And how will we learn on an ongoing basis to use this instrument in the right way? These are justified questions. They have been posed with appropriate clarity to the Police Authority, and I assume that they will come back and describe this.

Then, naturally, this cannot be managed in the long term in any other way than by ensuring a police growth that does not only occur from the waist and upwards, as it unfortunately seems to have been until now, but which primarily occurs out in the local police areas. It is about more police on streets and squares and in patrol cars in the interior of Västerbotten and elsewhere, and about more police in the local investigative work. There, we further cooperate. This was an excellent starting point for that.

The interpellation debate was hereby concluded.

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