Response to interpellation 2024/25:371 on the police's role in the total defense
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
I believe that the police have a very important role in society and in the total defense 1. I want to receive an investigation within two months to obtain a basis for discussions and relevant measures to strengthen the police's role in peacetime and in the total defense 2. I emphasize that the police is a preparedness authority that must be able to resist threats and handle crisis situations 1. I believe that it is important to investigate the police's status under international law in war and whether a police reinforcement resource should be introduced 1. I point out that experiences from Ukraine are an important background for why the investigation was commissioned 2.
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)
Madam Speaker! Katja Nyberg has asked me if I can account for my view on the significance of the international law status for the police, as well as how I view the importance of ensuring that the Swedish police are given good conditions to support society in war and whether I intend to take any initiatives based on my standpoint.
First and foremost, I want to, of course, emphasize that the police have a very important role in society and in total defense. In its capacity as a preparedness authority, the police shall have a good ability to resist threats and risks, prevent vulnerabilities, manage peacetime crisis situations, and carry out its tasks during high alert. That the police has important tasks within total defense also follows from Sweden's membership in Nato and the alliance's seven recommendations or basic requirements for resilience.
In recent years, the security policy situation has seriously deteriorated. There is a broadened and heightened threat against Sweden and Swedish interests. Even the internal security in Sweden is threatened. The situation is serious and requires that the police's readiness is good. It was against this background that the government in October 2023 appointed an investigation to propose measures that strengthen the police's ability to carry out its tasks in peacetime as well as during heightened readiness and, ultimately, in war.
One of the questions the investigation shall address is what tasks and what international law status the police shall have in war. A fundamental principle in war is that the civilian population shall be protected. Therefore, a distinction is made in war between armed forces and civilians. The armed forces, in turn, consist of combatants and non-combatants. It is in principle only combatants who have the international law authority to directly participate in hostilities in an armed conflict.
For the police, according to the current regulations, it is expected that they during war both continue to perform their civil mission and participate in the armed defense. The police thus switch international law status between combatant and civilian, depending on the nature of the tasks. The investigation I mentioned is now reviewing whether this regulation should be changed and, if so, what international law status the police should have. It is a complicated question, and I do not want to anticipate the investigation's considerations today.
Another question that the investigation shall take a position on is whether a police reinforcement resource should be introduced. The assignment is in line with what the Defence Committee stated already in 2017 regarding that it should be considered to establish such in order to strengthen and free up police resources during high alert and, ultimately, war.
The purpose of the investigation is to strengthen the police's readiness and ability to carry out its mission in peacetime and in wartime. I look forward to the investigation's proposals, which are planned to be presented by April 15 this year at the latest.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for your answer, Minister of Justice!
I appreciate that the Minister for Justice shares my concern and sees the need for a stronger police force in the total defense. We live in a time where the threat situation against Sweden has changed drastically. The security situation in our global environment has deteriorated, and we now see an increased risk of both military and hybrid threats against our society. In this context, it is of the utmost importance that we ensure that the Swedish police have a clear and effective role within the total defense.
The Minister for Justice points out in his response that an investigation is now reviewing the police's tasks in war and the international law status that the police should have. It is a piece of work that is necessary, but the question is whether we really can afford to wait. It is not enough to await the upcoming investigation or to review the issue. We need concrete information on how the government intends to strengthen the police's readiness and how the police's role is viewed based on the lessons we can draw from Ukraine. The Minister for Defence, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister have been clear that we are in the most serious security situation in a very long time.
The police are a central part of society's resilience. Their mission in crisis and war is not only about maintaining law and order but also about protecting the population, ensuring essential societal functions, and managing threats from both domestic and external actors. In addition to this, the Police Authority's task is also to guard protected objects and, perhaps most importantly in this context, the Armed Forces' mobilization, which is crucial for the war effort. It is not realistic to believe that any resource other than the police could fill that role during war.
The police need clearer mandates and better resources to be able to fulfill their duties during high alert and in war. The government's investigation is a step in the right direction, but we need to see concrete measures.
The Police Authority needs complementary and war-preparatory training and equipment. In the investigation from 1998, it was stated that the Police Authority's conditions to handle a wartime reality were very strained. How it is today, nearly 30 years later, with cuts and a virtually non-existent background of conscription, we can only imagine.
Firstly, we need to clarify whether the police should be part of the armed defense of Sweden, something that several investigations have looked into. With fresh experiences from Ukraine, we can establish that the police's involvement is, at the very least, crucial. After that, we should look at the international law status to see how we can best strengthen the police's conditions. The previous investigations have established that the police's role has been of such a central character that temporary combatant status has been maintained.
Secondly, the police must receive the resources and training they need to manage their role in the total defense. It is not just about more personnel but also about increased access to equipment, weapons, and protective gear that enable them to operate under extreme conditions.
Thirdly, it is crucial that we strengthen the cooperation between the police and the Armed Forces. Today, this collaboration is not sufficiently developed. We need a concrete plan for how these two agencies shall work together during a crisis or an armed conflict.
My question therefore is: Does the Minister for Justice consider the police to be a crucial part of the total defense in the context of the war in Ukraine? If not, why?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Katja Nyberg, for the opportunity to discuss these very important issues today!
Let me begin by answering very directly to the concluding question: Yes, the police have an extraordinarily important role both in society and in the total defense. This is of course expressed already in peacetime by the fact that the police have precisely that special role as a preparedness authority in the justice system and more broadly than that.
The investigation we initiated in 2023 also takes place against that background, both the insight into the police's importance in the total defense and the insight that the global developments make it justified for us to scrutinize all relevant issues in the area in a proper way in order to be able to make necessary decisions as we look forward.
The security situation has been serious for a longer period of time and can also be said to have escalated over time. This is also the background to the investigation I mention, which was commissioned for exactly this purpose and which covers all the extraordinarily relevant issues that Katja Nyberg raises in her interpellation and in her contribution here.
The question of the interaction between the police and the Armed Forces is a central theme for the investigation. We have addressed it in other ways during the parliamentary term as well, for example by giving a specific government mandate to the Police Authority and the Armed Forces to develop and strengthen their interaction within the framework of today's regulations. It is, however, evident that more is required, which is the reason why, for example, the question of police emergency resources is also included as an important part of the investigation.
I also appreciate the impatience regarding making progress that Katja Nyberg expresses. Pleasantly enough, we do not need to wait so long for the basis to move the issues forward because the investigation is to report its assignment within the span of two months. In light of that basis, the government shall both in a clear way articulate its own positions and move reforms and measures forward at a swift pace.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! Sweden has for many years had a rather naive view on security issues, where we have taken stability and safety for granted. But reality has changed rapidly. Our authorities, including the police, must be equipped for the threats of the new era.
The Minister for Justice mentions that the question of a police reinforcement resource is now being investigated. This is something that the Sweden Democrats have been calling for for a long time. We believe that such a resource should be built up expeditiously with specially trained personnel who can relieve and reinforce the regular police during crisis or war, alternatively that the government follows the line previously proposed that the special emergency police should be focused on anti-sabotage activities and thus be granted combatant status.
The Preparedness Police was phased out in 2012 without any replacement structure being put in place. Since then, we have had a heightened security situation and a history where the police previously had a clear role in war planning, not least in coup defense. The current security situation, in combination with the fact that an ever-decreasing proportion of police officers perform military service, however, shows the need for a special unit that can relieve the police of war-related tasks such as support during, for example, mobilization.
In 2022, the Riksdag, at the initiative of the Moderaterna, issued a motion to the previous government regarding a reintroduction of the emergency police (beredskapspolisen). Can the Minister for Justice explain his view on the emergency police? If the Moderaterna do not consider it the emergency police that should relieve the police, what other resource could do so?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! It is a very well-known Moderate position that has been expressed here in the Riksdag for many years that we shall reintroduce a police reinforcement resource – that which was previously the emergency police. In the investigation assignment that is on the table and whose results are to be reported in the middle of April, this is one of the main issues. It also aligns with what has been stated by, for example, the Defence Investigation earlier.
Naturally, a great deal has happened since 2012, both in our global environment and regarding our own political priorities when it comes to meeting the threats to our internal and external security. We must, of course, also take that into account now as we are to design a reinforcement resource. One could call it a readiness police for our time, our new time, or our future.
I look forward to reviewing the commission's proposals in these parts. Regarding the importance of such a resource, it is entirely correct as Katja Nyberg pointed out that it is something that the Moderaterna have pointed out for a long time. That is also my opinion. I look forward to reviewing the commission's proposals on how such a resource should be designed for our security policy era.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! Insight is also needed into what type of antagonist one is dealing with. It is an adversary that attacks civilian targets and totally disregards international rules, conventions, and law. In all the investigations we have looked at, the investigators assume that the enemy adheres to the rules of the game. It may come as a shock to the legal experts, but the enemy does not care about them.
It is not my intention to downplay the importance of building a country with laws, but we also know that the law is adaptable. There is a clear difference in the security situation between the investigations from the Cold War and those from 1998 and 2001, which later proposed civil status. The investigations from the Cold War take the secure for the insecure, that is to say that the police's decisive role in coup defense in combination with the security situation weighs more heavily than a legal interpretation that the police should be civil.
We welcome, as said, that the government takes these issues seriously, but the security situation is already serious today, and there is a risk that we will end up in a sharp situation before the investigation is complete and measures have had time to be taken.
In conclusion, I would like to summarize some important observations. The investigations have many good arguments for and against. One thing that is consistent is that a prepared and quickly capable police force is deterrent. It would be a security policy mistake to disregard this fact.
The war in Ukraine demonstrates how crucial the police's role is in a coup defense role. It is therefore of great importance that Swedish police, who will be first on the scene, have international law protection as combatants to avoid being classified as illegitimate war participants.
It is also likely that a completely civilian status will not lead to any efforts to make the police combat-ready. Regardless of what the investigation concludes, it is possible to carry out training to strengthen the police's capabilities to survive and perform their tasks in a crisis or war situation.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Katja Nyberg, for the opportunity to discuss these important issues today!
The police have great significance in our society in peacetime and for the total defense in a situation where we handle both hybrid threats and threats to our external security. The police have an incredibly central role to play. That insight has been greatly reinforced by the fact that there is war in Europe. The experiences drawn from the war in Ukraine are an important background to why we already in 2023 chose to appoint an investigation that systematically reviews all questions that have relevance and which Katja Nyberg also raised. Among those questions are both the one regarding combatant status and the one regarding the need to re-establish a readiness resource within the police to be able to handle threats of various kinds.
I look forward to receiving this investigation within two months. It will provide us with a basis to conduct an important discussion and, above all, to take relevant measures to strengthen the police's role in society at large in peacetime and in the total defense. We shall equip them for all the threats that we here and now and – as it appears – also in the foreseeable future must expect to handle.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.