Response to interpellation 2022/23:415 on speed cameras to combat crime
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M believes that cameras are necessary aids to prevent and investigate crimes 1. M wants municipalities to be able to install surveillance cameras based on their own assessments with retrospective control, but emphasizes that cameras cannot replace physically present police officers 2. M is not prepared for changes regarding municipal fining of speeders 2. MP believes that the technology can be of great help in crime fighting and argues that the police do not use technical possibilities to create safety in the traffic environment. MP wants the directives for the investigation to be clarified and suggests that municipalities should be given more power to fine speeders. MP appreciates that several proposals are received positively or forwarded 3. M believes that municipalities have the right to have great influence over local issues 4 and emphasizes the importance of good cooperation between municipalities and the police 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Rasmus Ling has asked me whether some measures will be taken so that the municipalities can install speed cameras, and whether I and the government will take other measures to combat serious traffic crime.
Different types of cameras are, of course, completely necessary aids in the work of preventing and investigating crimes. We need traffic safety cameras that contribute to a safer traffic environment and a reduced number of deaths and injuries in traffic. We also need surveillance cameras that create safety and serve a crime-preventing and crime-solving purpose. Police officers working on streets and squares are now equipped with body-worn cameras for their own protection but also as part of the crime-fighting effort.
It is Trafikverket which, in cooperation with the Police Authority, is responsible for traffic safety cameras on the state road network. It is the municipalities which, in cooperation with the Police Authority, are responsible for traffic safety cameras on the municipal road network. In addition to the fixed traffic safety cameras, the police deploy a number of mobile traffic safety cameras that are moved around to different locations.
The municipalities have a completely central role in crime prevention work. The legislation should, of course, not set up unnecessary obstacles for effective crime fighting. The Government has therefore appointed a special investigator who shall propose measures to further facilitate camera surveillance for municipalities and regions. The investigator shall also analyze the need for expanded opportunities to conduct camera surveillance for the purpose of fighting crime and maintaining public order and safety. This assignment shall be reported by April 2024 at the latest.
As for that, the government will maintain a continuous dialogue with the Swedish Police Authority and other law enforcement agencies. It is the government's task to govern and provide the authorities with the conditions they need to be able to carry out their work.
The Government has, in the regulatory letter for 2023, tasked the Swedish Police Authority with ensuring a continuous increase in the number of fixed surveillance cameras to at least 1,600 by the end of 2024. The Swedish Police Authority has also been allocated special funds since 2022 for increased technical capability, of which camera surveillance is a part.
Cameras and other technical solutions are important tools for the police. Above all, we need more police officers who use the tools. The government is therefore also making major investments so that the Police Authority can grow.
I agree with Rasmus Ling when he means that further crime can be cleared up when the police work actively with, for example, traffic offenses. Cameras are an important part of that. The foundation is, of course, competent and committed police officers with a high presence and high visibility.
Rasmus Ling (MP)
Mr. Speaker! To begin with, I would like to thank the Minister for the answer to the written interpellation. I think it is positive that we have a consensus that technology can be of great help in crime fighting and crime clearance, that those who speed at very high speeds in central areas can have connections to other things, and that there can therefore be a special point in that the police can prosecute and investigate this.
One should, of course, never exceed the specified speed limit anywhere, but there is still a difference between driving at 80 kilometers per hour on a rural road with a 70 limit and driving 80 in a built-up area where it is max 40 or perhaps even 30.
Sydsvenskan, the large newspaper in southern Sweden, has in a series of articles described the problems in the traffic environment in Malmö. There are serious problems that exist. People drive very fast between nine in the evening and three in the morning. It disturbs people's night's sleep and creates a very insecure environment in many ways. People have also considered moving because of this.
There is a problem in the issue that I want the Minister of Justice to address. The municipalities of Malmö stad and Helsingborgs stad have sent letters to the National Operational Department, Noa, within the police with a request for cooperation regarding mobile speed cameras to resolve this problem.
The answer has unfortunately been a refusal. The goal of using cameras should, according to the police, in accordance with their agreement with Trafikverket, primarily be the zero vision, i.e., to reduce the number of injured and killed in traffic. That is of course also very important, but they do not have that safety-creating perspective and therefore say no to the municipalities' requests with that argument. There are technical possibilities, but they are not being used.
Regarding the mobile measuring stations that the Minister of Justice refers to, there are, as the Minister stated, a number, but no more than 15 in the entire country. They have also, as it turns out, reached their technical lifespan, so it is quite cumbersome to operate them. According to the police themselves, it will take quite a long time before the procurement is finished and such stations can be had in the municipalities. This is, of course, regrettable.
For those listening to the debate - it is different cameras that are being discussed. The Police Authority is to receive more surveillance cameras, but these are often in environments such as squares or around hospitals and other places. Here, it is the surveillance of traffic on the municipal road network that is intended, and that is something they have not invested in.
The Minister mentions the investigation that has been commissioned, Mr. Speaker. The problem is that nothing specific regarding surveillance in traffic environments is mentioned in the directives to the investigation. It is true that it states there is nothing preventing the investigator from submitting proposals, provided that it fits within the timeframe. But the problem is that it is not just about the surveillance itself, but also about what one does with the information obtained from the surveillance.
My question to the Minister is whether he is prepared to clarify the directives to the inquiry so that this issue is addressed.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Rasmus Ling, for an important question! I cannot say in plain terms that it may be a question of some additional directives yet. Rasmus Ling points to a rather open wording in the directives, so I can certainly undertake to ensure that this issue reaches the investigation in an appropriate manner. What the investigation then wants to do with it is, of course, up to the investigator.
What makes me think that it is very positive that these questions are being raised is, naturally, that this concerns the crime-preventive and crime-combating work and with which tools it should be carried out, and the importance of effective tools. In this lies, naturally, the broader question of what opportunities technology offers and, not least, the very concrete question of cameras with different purposes.
It is quite true, as Rasmus Ling pointed out, that surveillance cameras are something different than traffic safety cameras. According to testimonies that I have received from very many municipalities around the country, the possibilities for local decision-makers to, in parallel with the police, set up surveillance cameras through municipal decisions where they believe there is a need to increase safety in practice are quite limited. It can take a long time; it is the County Administrative Board that handles the permit issue. There are many frustrated and sensible municipal politicians out there who think that today's regulation is far too rigid.
It has therefore been very important to tackle this issue at an early stage in the parliamentary period and to task an investigator to look at the possibility of actually turning things around - giving the municipalities the right to install surveillance cameras based on their own assessments and then having a retrospective check through supervision to ensure that it has occurred within the bounds of the law. This is an expression of the insight into the need to be close at the local level and of ensuring that the decisions are as close to local knowledge as possible.
When it comes to road safety issues and the cameras in that context, it is clear that they primarily have another purpose: simply to monitor traffic. They also have a preventive effect. People keep their speed down if there is a risk of being caught by a camera. It is clear that they justify their existence already for that reason.
I understand the demand that exists from a local politician in Malmö. When one sees this type of traffic disruption, one wants to be able to monitor this in an effective way.
I want to take note of what I understand the police have answered; Rasmus Ling was also involved. The number of mobile units of this type is limited, and I understand it as that one is in a procurement process to obtain a new generation of mobile stations, hopefully more than the 15 that exist today. I assume that this is to take place in close interaction with the local communities where these stations must be located to be effective.
Lastly, I want to say something about the connection between the traffic safety cameras and the broader crime fighting. The most important thing when it comes to traffic and crime is that it is police officers who are out there stopping cars. It is when you stop cars that you can check your registers, see if there is stolen goods or weapons, and so on. The cameras undoubtedly have a significance in this context, but they can naturally never replace the present, visible police, who can act on the spot.
Rasmus Ling (MP)
Mr. Speaker! It is good that the Minister for Justice lets the investigator address the issues, and I hope that the directives are clarified if required and that they continue to press on for this.
We have made a decision in the chamber regarding new legislation that gives the municipalities a statutory responsibility for crime prevention work. This is something that many municipalities have gladly taken on – many have worked with it even previously. We had a broad consensus on this, and this legislation could be adopted early in the mandate period; it was ready.
As the Minister for Justice says in the response, the government's task is to provide the authorities with the conditions they need to carry out their work, and there should be no unnecessary obstacles. But then one comes to the problem that the municipalities want and can even set up cameras that capture registration numbers and so on, but it is still the Police Authority that must take this further. The municipalities have the possibility today to, for example, fine those who park incorrectly in their road network. But one does not have the possibility to fine those who drive too fast in urban environments. One question is whether the Minister for Justice could consider reviewing that issue - to simply give more muscles to those municipalities that want to work with this.
Another consideration concerns what the Minister for Justice says about the police on site having to apprehend those who drive very fast. I share this view. But one can also imagine that this could reach the police much faster than today if one has more cameras that capture registration numbers. Even with an expansion, it will be limited where the police can be present physically. There would be technical possibilities to work more effectively with a type of system that warns and says where the cars are traveling so that the police can rush out. But in that case, today's regulatory framework must be adapted accordingly.
Against the background that the government sees it as its task to carry out the work as efficiently as possible, there should, Mr. Speaker, be no obstacle to working in that direction.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Let me just make a few brief comments. First and foremost, I want to emphasize that I truly see the need that Rasmus Ling highlights regarding cameras for monitoring traffic. It is an effective and resource-efficient way to monitor if it is to be done over a longer period and at specific locations, so that one does not need to have staffing around the clock. I therefore want to approve of this on a general level.
It is also easy to empathize with the situation for residents in areas where things are run in the way that Rasmus Ling describes. There, one naturally wants to get a grip on the situation by any means necessary. On that, we are in complete agreement.
I do not think we are in disagreement either when I said that this cannot replace police officers. By that, I meant rather the broader crime fighting. A camera, after all, cannot search for weapons, explosives, or stolen goods.
Something that can make the whole thing even more efficient moving forward, when we get through the reforms we want, is that a police officer who stops a car through a few simple taps on their mobile should be able to get a very good picture of who they are dealing with and see if there is reason to seize [items] or perform other searches. That type of broader crime fighting presupposes a physically present police officer. Then one can certainly find an interaction between them, for example, with a technical development that makes it possible to use the information from these types of cameras a bit more immediately and so on. That is something I would like to monitor.
When it comes to the imposition of fines, my starting point is that a criminal law issue of that nature is a police matter that shall ultimately be examined by a general court. I am perhaps not as ready to see changes there, but otherwise, I think there are many points here that seem productive to proceed with. I am happy to continue that discussion.
Rasmus Ling (MP)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister of Justice, for the answers! For the common man, it might not be perceived as any great change or revolution if the municipalities were to be granted such a power. Criminally and for lawyers, it is another matter, but I still do not think that the question should be dismissed. Even if one does not want to go that far, one can still facilitate the whole thing.
I say it again: It has been a problem. The municipalities have gathered information which they have then given to the police, but the police have then not had the resources or time to take this further. In that case, it becomes quite meaningless to produce the information, because even if you serve it on a platter, the police do not proceed with the case. Then you will not continue to produce this. Something must happen regarding that if the work from the municipality's side is to be preserved. The interaction must work for anything to come of it.
In other respects, I appreciate that several of the proposals are not dismissed, but some are received positively and some are to be forwarded. We will, of course, follow up on this. It is not so many months until the investigation is to be completed. We will continue to follow this and press on so that the urban environment is improved in Helsingborg and Malmö and in other places in the country and so that this issue is to receive a solution.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Once again, a thousand thanks, Rasmus Ling, for the opportunity to discuss these issues!
Let me conclude by saying two things in light of what Rasmus Ling raised. The first is that municipalities, just like citizens and other actors in society, naturally have the right to have high expectations of the police. It is expected that the police will receive, with an open hand, the material, intelligence, and information that can then serve as a basis for, for example, prosecuting people who commit various crimes. I am completely convinced that the police do not have any other view, and I want to emphasize that it is a very legitimate expectation.
The second thing is that it is also a legitimate expectation of the municipalities to have great influence over and great opportunities to influence matters that are, in practice, local issues. How the situation for residents in certain areas is affected by traffic is, of course, such an issue. I also think that one must confirm that. There are high and reasonable expectations for good cooperation between municipalities and the police also in this respect. I would like to emphasize the importance of that.
It was also excellent to be able to raise the conditions in just Malmö and Helsingborg in today's debate. I think there is great value in even having the opportunity to discuss this nationally. With joint forces, we can monitor the issues and see if there is reason to come back and do something from the national level to promote safety and security for the citizens in Malmö and Helsingborg and in other places.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.