Response to interpellation 2024/25:535 on long-term plan for more police in Stockholm
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the long-term plan for more police officers in Stockholm. M argues that the government is making a significant economic investment to reach the EU average in police density 1. M emphasizes that increased trainee salaries, salary supplements, and the cancellation of student loans provide an effect here and now 2. M highlights that the growth during 2024 was significantly larger than in previous years 1 and that there is a concrete plan with an 85-percent increase of new police officers over one year 2. M believes that investments in education and higher salaries are crucial 3. S argues that there is a police shortage of approximately 1,000 officers and that the growth rate would take ten years to compensate for the shortage 4 5. S criticizes that the investments are too far in the future 5. S argues that safety is increasing and that the number of open drug scenes has decreased 6. S believes that both more police and a functioning welfare state are required 6.
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! Mattias Vepsä has asked me what the long-term plan for more permanent police officers in Stockholm looks like.
Let me first establish the obvious: To restore safety and security in Sweden, a substantial increase in the number of police officers is needed. The government's goal is that we should reach a police density that at least corresponds to the average in the EU. This is also reflected in the large economic investment in the police's growth that the government has decided upon. The police authority's appropriation is estimated to increase from 37 to 51.9 billion kronor during the period 2023–2027, an increase of 40 percent.
A key element in the growth plan is that more people should seek out and complete the police training. This is, of course, about the attractiveness of the police profession as such. The fact that the government is now pushing through a long series of new effective tools to increase the police's opportunities to perform successful work is also significant in this regard.
It is also about economic conditions. To secure the continued growth of the police force, the Swedish Police Authority has been allocated just over 1 billion kronor in extra supplements for 2025 in this year's budget bill. The bill also states that the government will return with proposals that those who study at the police academy in the autumn of 2024 or later shall have their student loans waived or repaid under certain conditions and on certain terms. Last week, an investigator was tasked with submitting proposals on the more detailed design of that reform.
I also want to highlight that the government has allocated funds to strengthen the conditions for police recruits. On January 1 of this year, the recruit salary was increased for the first time in 22 years, from 15,000 to 23,000 kronor per month. In addition, both police recruits and police officers in the Stockholm police region up to a certain salary level receive a special supplement of up to 5,000 kronor per month.
It is quite true that police region Stockholm has faced specific challenges regarding growth. The training places in the region have previously not been fully filled, and internal mobility has been high. The police have therefore taken powerful measures. For example, a monthly salary supplement has been introduced for police officers in the region with lower monthly salaries. The region also offers assistance with housing issues and collaborates with the security industry. A review of the distribution of training places at the educational institutions has also been conducted in order to ensure that more newly trained police officers are placed in Stockholm.
These measures have an effect. Police Region Stockholm is now filling assigned training places to a greater extent, and the large outflow from the region has decreased. During 2024, the net increase in the number of police officers in Police Region Stockholm was significantly larger, 119 police officers, than the entire combined increase during the period 2015–2023, which stopped at 14 police officers.
Police Region Stockholm will continue to work with the measures that have yielded results. In addition, the police region also wants to hire active police officers from across the country who have shown interest in working in Stockholm.
The National Police Commissioner has received a clear mandate for change from the government. A central part of this involves re-establishing a locally visible and safety-creating police force and good service for the citizens. That direction is fixed, and it applies to a great extent also to the Stockholm police region.
The police have been tasked with reporting on what measures have been taken to ensure an increased local presence throughout the country and to increase the number of uniformed police officers in outer service. The authority shall also report on what the local police presence looks like across the country, in the form of the number of employees within the local police areas and the number of municipal police officers and area police officers.
It is very important that the Police Authority maintains a locally visible and safety-creating police presence throughout the country. To achieve this, the police regions must have a purposeful dimensioning and an ability to sustain their own operations. The Government will continue to monitor the growth of the local police presence throughout the country, not least in the Stockholm police region.
Mattias Vepsä (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister of Justice!
This is the third time that the undersigned has initiated a debate on the police situation in Stockholm. The situation is tough – I intended to return to this a bit later in the debate. I can, however, state that it has been difficult to get a simple answer to the simple question that concludes the interpellation: Where is the plan for more police in Stockholm? I think it is a fairly straightforward question, but I do not perceive a similarly straightforward answer.
In our first debate in 2023, Gunnar Strömmer says from the rostrum: ”It is of course not long-term sustainable that police from other parts of the country are moved to work in Stockholm for a longer period. To ensure a high police presence throughout the country, it is therefore important that police region Stockholm has a correct dimensioning and an ability to sustain its own operations.” This is repeated in a way here today but also in debates during 2024.
We agree with large parts of what is said in the answer. The Social Democratic government reformed the crime policy. It expanded more police trainings in more locations, but it also increased the resources to the police force. Large parts of the initiatives described in the answer as part of the solution to make the police profession more attractive – that is, to facilitate more housing or to introduce special salary supplements – are tools that have now been in the toolbox for a number of years and also existed under the Social Democratic government. But we saw already then, and we see now, a police shortage that can be summarized to approximately 1,000 police officers if one compares with other police regions and the growth that has occurred there.
We had the Riksdag's investigation service look into this last year. It was then determined that in order to reach the police goal by January this year, 1,068 more police officers would be required. This can be put into relation to the net increase mentioned in the response, namely 119. That increase is still positive, as it is larger than what we had in previous years.
We also know that others have investigated the police situation in Stockholm. Brå says in a report: "The situation in police region Stockholm requires powerful measures." We know, in fact, that the situation in Stockholm is very challenging. A large part of the disadvantaged residential areas are in Stockholm. We know that Stockholm is a larger municipality when it comes to population, and the vulnerability to crime is greater here than in many other regions. But still, police region Stockholm has not increased at the same rate as other police regions in the growth that we have initiated.
Stockholm has had the lowest police growth. There are a number of different reasons for this. The conclusion is, after all, that there is a major shortage.
In an Instagram post from January this year, the Minister for Justice writes that the government is now investing in a significant police increase in Stockholm to break the spring's spiral of violence with 16–17 explosions and continued shootings. But I have not seen any plan for this, instead, they borrowed police in January who came to Stockholm on a short-term basis.
Then I must repeat the question: What does the long-term plan look like for more permanent police officers in Stockholm?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Mattias Vepsä, for the opportunity to discuss this important issue today! Yes, I will get to the plans, but let us still start with the results.
The Social Democrats ruled for eight years. They stepped off the pier of an oil tanker that, in many important respects, was heading in the wrong direction. An important and serious issue was precisely the situation regarding the number of police officers in Stockholm.
During the period 2015–2023, there was thus a growth of 14 police officers, and the lion's share of them arrived in 2023, after we had taken office. There was a total absence of growth of police officers in Stockholm during the eight years that the Social Democrats ruled.
Now we have stepped onto the oil tanker and are trying to redirect it for a new course that can provide a completely different volume when it comes to the number of police in Stockholm.
That 119 new police officers were added during the last year naturally does not mean that we have reached our goal with the redirection, but it is therefore 85 percent more just during the last year than the total growth during the entire period covering the Social Democrats' eight years plus an additional year after that.
The first thing we must take note of is that what is now being done nationally by the government and the Police Authority, and locally in the police region Stockholm, is now starting to have an effect.
Let me take up another expression for that. I was visiting Södertörn and the police training there last week. In press clippings from the past parliamentary term, one can see that before each semester, especially the spring semesters, there were headlines about seats at Södertörn's police training remaining empty. That has turned now. Now it is full. It is full next semester. I believe there are 80 people who have met the qualification requirements and are now standing in line to get in. They are preparing an expansion to almost double the number of training places at Södertörn's police training. This is completely central because approximately 85 percent of those students then become police officers in just Stockholm. It is a very substantial part of the plan that I accounted for earlier.
When we speak about the importance of education for police growth, I can mention that we, from the government's side, are trying to invest in different ways and make it more attractive. That we have now enabled an increase in the trainee salaries from 15,000 to 23,000 kronor – the first increase in 23 years – is a very important element in this. That we are now finding a model to write off student debts is another important part. From our side, we underpin a very substantial part of the plan, namely the attractiveness of the police training. We ensure that more places are built out in the police training, not least at Södertörn, where the training is so central for the recruitment to Stockholm. Furthermore, I accounted for the very methodical work that takes place within the police in order to ensure in the long term that the growth continues.
Overall, when we look forward, it will naturally take some time to compensate for the entire absence of police growth that we can see when we look back. But the turnaround over the past year, with an 85 percent increase in the number of police officers in Stockholm compared to the entire growth over the past eight or nine years, is an important expression that the plan is starting to bite. We are on the right track. The people of Stockholm have good reason to demand more police on the streets and squares, and those police officers are on their way.
Mattias Vepsä (S)
Mr. Speaker! It is clear that we can rejoice that the reorganization of crime policy that began in 2014 is now also bearing fruit – that is to say, more educational places, more police training, and more police officers. It is a result of the reorganization that is taking place.
The parts that the Minister for Justice points out regarding aspirant salaries and the proposal on waived student loans – we will see how it turns out – are parts that can very well have an effect in a number of years. One of the major challenges that the police themselves and also Brå point out when it comes to guaranteeing more police in Stockholm is the living conditions in our city.
If we are to continue to use the analogy of an oil tanker that has lost its steering, I can say that I am wondering in which direction the SD government's oil tanker is currently heading. It is an enormous construction crisis, mass unemployment, and enormous layoffs. Fewer homes are being produced, and welfare is being put under pressure. It becomes harder to live. And it is clear that all of this becomes even tougher in Stockholm, where prices are higher and where there are fewer homes.
Something that the Police Union and the police here in Stockholm have worked hard on is making housing available for the aspirants and police officers who want to come to our city and perform a very important job. We see that the government talks about increasing incentives, but they deliver a reality that runs counter to the goal they have set. Just welfare workers, police officers, and hospital staff are finding it harder to find housing and live in the Stockholm region, because a policy for the whole is not being pursued.
It would be interesting if the Minister for Justice could reason a bit more in depth and not just talk about general solutions. From the Social Democrats' side, we can come back when it concerns the write-off of CSN funds for the police training, but we haven't seen that proposal yet. It is a proposal that lies far in the future. But how about looking at more solutions specifically for Stockholm, given the high vulnerability to crime that is a reality here? Instagram posts saying that enormous investments are being made right now are not enough.
What we are hearing about here are initiatives that lie far in the future. These are general initiatives for more police officers and a more attractive police profession. We can agree that it is needed, but to solve the challenges here and now, so that one does not need to rely on redeployments and short-term borrowing of staff, something else is required.
Despite an 85 percent increase in relation to what we saw in previous years – these 120 police officers – at this growth rate it would take approximately ten years to catch up. And given further growth in the rest of the country, it would take even more time for Stockholm to achieve the growth and the necessary resources required. It is about the municipality, region, and state working hand in hand and side by side to be able to take their responsibility to push back the serious organized crime also in Stockholm.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! A great deal of what is being done naturally has an effect now – not first far into the future. The apprentice wages were increased as of January 1st this year. The possibility of having student debts waived applies from and including the autumn semester 2024, that is, from and including this autumn. It has an effect here and now. The wage supplements that go to police officers in Stockholm occur here and now. When it comes to the availability of housing in interaction with the region, work is ongoing here and now, which has an effect here and now. The interaction with other industries, such as the security industry, when it comes to similar challenges is something that occurs here and now.
We see the effects here and now. We see that it is now full at the police training on Södertörn. We know that it is significant because, as I said, 85 percent of those students experientially end up in the Stockholm area. It is full next semester, and there are 80 applicants who are qualified for the training who are standing in line. This has an effect here and now.
It is not that the gap between the permanent supply of police officers and the long-term need will remain empty. Naturally, during a transition period, it will also need to be filled as needed from other sources. But for the first time since the major police reform in 2015, there is now a realistic plan. These are things and matters that are happening here and now and which have had an immediate effect. Among other things, there has been an 85 percent increase in the number of new police officers in Stockholm during a single year. This can be compared with what happened during the preceding nine years.
More is required – we must invest further – from the Swedish Police Authority nationally and from the region locally. But for the first time ever, there is a plan. It is concrete. It is about an interaction between government, authority, and the police locally, and it delivers effects here and now.
I would like to add a question that is not entirely insignificant in this context. There is a local interaction that is very important, in this case with the City of Stockholm. It is a reality that the police now must hire security guards to compensate for the extensive cuts of security guards that have occurred in the City of Stockholm.
I would say that a good local contribution from the Social Democratic government would be to safeguard a division of labor and an interaction that ensures the municipality takes its responsibility on the security guard side so that the police do not need to allocate resources to compensate for the cuts that have been made. In that way, the police could allocate even more resources to police growth, place even more focus on purely police tasks, and achieve an even better safety-creating work in cooperation with the municipality – for the benefit of the citizens, for the benefit of the field personnel who do not dare to be out when it is dark, and for the benefit of the long-term development both in the City of Stockholm and in the entire Stockholm region.
Mattias Vepsä (S)
Mr. Speaker! Despite the SD government's economic policy, things are moving in the right direction even in Stockholm. Just this week, we received news presented by the police and the municipal leadership. The number of open drug scenes has decreased by eight in Stockholm. Under the Moderaterna, they increased. They also decreased during the Socialdemokraternas previous tenure in the City Hall. Then we unfortunately had a parenthesis when they increased.
We see how the safety barometer shows a small but still positive development where more Stockholmers feel safe.
If the Moderates were given the chance to govern in Stockholm City Hall, it would mean 1.8 billion kronor less for welfare in our city. One can add up the government's economic policy, with hollowed-out state grants, and the ideological conviction to hold back the tax increase. They have dismissed the Social Democratic tax increase, which unconditionally went to exactly school and social measures to break the gangs' development but also increase the possibility for ordinary families with children to send their children to a well-functioning school. It would then mean approximately 2,500 fewer employees when it comes to our welfare here in Stockholm.
If we are to talk about going hand in hand and in the same direction, we Social Democrats would say: Both are required. It is required that the state takes its responsibility to maintain order and tidiness. It is about more police and visible police out on the streets and squares. We also need to have a welfare system that works with social workers, field assistants, and schools. There is no stop to hiring security guards in our neighborhoods, but the difference is that the neighborhoods themselves get to make the choice. The result so far is increased safety, fewer drug scenes, and a development in the right direction, despite the SD government's economic pressure on the municipalities.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! That the open drug scenes are disappearing in Stockholm – not only in the city of Stockholm but also in municipalities around Stockholm, some of which are ruled by the Moderates – is primarily a result of the new preventive stay bans.
I am glad that the Social Democrats stood behind them in the chamber. Unfortunately, there were a hail of reservations from the Social Democrats' base even on that issue, so it is highly doubtful whether they could have been in place under a Social Democratic government. But that being said: It is good that they are in place.
They have had a revolutionary effect. I was in Fittja – it is indeed Botkyrka municipality – last week. There, they say it hasn't been as safe as now in 25 years, and that is due to the police's application of the preventive stay bans. I have been in Rågsved and in other places in Stockholm city. This has had a corresponding effect there. It is fantastic.
New effective tools, new resources and new ways of working are making a difference.
It is also outstanding, despite everything, that last year we saw an 85 percent increase in the number of police officers in relation to what has happened over the past nine years. It is a result of a conscious reorganization and the establishment of a concrete plan. It is about the government's efforts, not least when it comes to investment in growth. It is about opportunities for the police to work with high salaries, about the trainee salaries, and about investments in police training. It is about everything that happens in the agency and everything that happens locally here in Stockholm. It is starting to take effect now, and it is a very important message to the people of Stockholm.
It matters who rules. It matters what we do. It is not predestined that Stockholm should have a negative net growth when it comes to police when the rest of the country is growing. Now it turns. Now we will do everything we can to hold on to it, for the benefit of Stockholm and for the benefit of Sweden.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.