Response to interpellation 2025/26:36 on regulated response times and local police presence

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Lars Isacsson has asked me if I intend to initiate an investigation into a regulated response time for the police, similar to the regulations that apply to the rescue services, how I view the need to ensure an actual local police presence in all municipalities in Sweden, and if I am of the opinion that a manned police station in every municipality would be an important measure to strengthen confidence in the police in the long term.

Before I go into the written material, I can summarize my answer as a yes to several of the questions. Some of them are a bit complicated.

There is currently no work being undertaken by the government regarding a nationally regulated response time for the police in emergency cases, but I naturally fully share the starting point that citizens' access to police assistance needs to be good and that the response time is a very central part of that.

The starting point is to ensure that there is a police presence throughout the country. It is also an extremely prioritized issue for the government. It is important that all police regions have a capacity that is dimensioned so that they can intervene quickly when required.

The police allocate resources to the police regions. They do so according to a model that takes into account a number of important factors such as the size of the municipalities, the geographical distance, accessibility, and the availability of free resources. The police's intervention activities are largely event-driven, and it is the police who independently assess when, where, and how police interventions should be carried out.

A prerequisite for it to work is, of course, that the local police presence increases. Therefore, part of the government's mandate for change to the national police commissioner is also to re-establish a locally visible and safety-creating police force and good service to the citizens.

It appears, for example, from this year's regulatory letter that the police have been tasked to report on how they are working to strengthen the local police presence and increase safety. The assignment also includes showing what results are achieved and how they have reinforced and improved the service to the citizens.

There is a purposeful effort to ensure that the police grow towards the goal that the police density shall at least correspond to the average in the EU. To enable the continued police growth, the government has invested large resources in the growth and also ensured that the police's appropriations have increased significantly to meet that part of the mission.

When it comes to where police stations should be located and exactly what the staffing should look like in different locations, those are decisions made by the Swedish Police Authority. As a starting point, the Swedish Police Authority itself has the best conditions to determine where stations should be located and how service and accessibility can be provided in the best way. I understand that a review of the police's service activities is currently underway, which in practice is what many citizens, especially in rural areas, encounter. During that time, no further closures of reception desks will be carried out either.

My starting point is that physical police stations play an important role for local presence and visibility. The Italian experiences referred to here earlier strengthen that perception. We also know that the police are building new police stations in various places in the country.

We also know that the local problem picture is not only physical. Police visibility through patrolling, the possibility of rapid interventions in acute incidents, good service and accessibility, also via telephone and digitally, is completely central for us to have a modern and powerful police.

Through the government's investments in continued police growth and a clear steering towards the local level, the Swedish Police Authority is expected to continue increasing its police presence and visibility near citizens throughout the country. The government will continue with this steering.

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

Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer for the answer! I am particularly pleased with the introduction and the summary that was made at the beginning. It seems that we share quite a lot of opinions regarding this. Both the Minister and the government show good intentions in their work for a stronger police presence throughout the country, and that I welcome.

The Minister writes in their response: Decisions regarding where police stations shall be located and what the staffing shall look like in different locations are made by the Swedish Police Authority. It is the authority itself that has the best conditions to determine where police stations shall be located and how service and accessibility can be provided in the best way.

I can agree that the Swedish Police Authority should have authority over decisions regarding staffing and perhaps also regarding where police stations should be located. But it is also fundamentally the government's responsibility to ensure that there is a basic sense of security throughout Sweden. In that regard, in my opinion, there is no agency more important than the police. Here I see a concern in that the government is shifting the responsibility and execution to the Swedish Police Authority, and in practice, without clear political steering.

Mr. Speaker! I have two things to say about that. First and foremost, the politics must take greater responsibility and be much clearer about what we demand. I want the Minister for Justice to have more to say, and not just because it is Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer. I think that ministers in general should have more to say. But it might be wrong to go into that.

I come from a municipal reality and a regional reality with a much clearer responsibility and accountability in politics. It is not reasonable that such a central issue for safety in the entire country is left to become a resource distribution model within the Swedish Police Authority. There must be political demands for local presence and accessibility.

One way I highlighted here is to look at the requirements we have for rescue services and ambulance care and to have a regulated response time for the police. In every local and regional newspaper, there is once a year a review of how long the response time is for ambulance care in municipality A, B, and C. Then we have a regional council that has to answer for why it has worsened or improved.

The second thing is that it is very difficult to evaluate what local police presence means in practice. How do you follow up on it? It is difficult to get that out of the police. But both the Crime Prevention Council and the Swedish National Audit Office have shown in their reports that the police growth in local police areas has not followed the same pace as in other parts of the agency. That means that even when the number of police officers increases in total, it is not certain that people in Leksand, Rättvik, and Vansbro notice any difference.

That is where politics must step in. If politics does not steer, the authority will centralize. In my opinion, it is the same mechanism in municipalities and regions as in the state. It is always easier to pull resources to the center.

Mr. Speaker! I attended a seminar on local police stations this week organized by colleagues from the Moderaterna and Kristdemokraterna in the Committee on Justice. It was a good seminar about the great benefits of local police with personal knowledge who can work not only reactively but also in crime prevention.

A figure was presented stating that half of the country's police stations have been closed since 2002. I welcome that no more police reception areas are to be closed now, but that also depends on how the definition is. Only this year, they have been closed in Vansbro, Rättvik, and Leksand.

My question is: Does the Minister for Justice really believe that letters of regulation are sufficient for governance?

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

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Lars Isacsson, for another opportunity to discuss a completely central issue for both the perceived and actual security in our society. It concerns how the police shall be organized and, above all, how they shall be organized to get close to the citizens.

I raise a very central issue. It is the realization that a very large number of police stations have been closed since 2002. Over a long sequence of years, two decades, there was a systematic closure of police stations locally.

The reorganization of the police in 2015 and the following years after that rather reinforced that development. One can say, somewhat simplified, that it became a draining of resources upwards, and perhaps more towards the middle than towards the top, and more towards the regional than the local.

The Brå studies and other studies that Lars Isacsson points out confirm that picture. They also confirm how problematic it becomes if the effects of it are that the local visibility and presence of the police are also drained in that way.

Therefore, I want to emphasize that we are steering this with clear guidance. What I am aware of is the first time ever, in any case since 2002, that this is happening. We point clearly to that the growth that is now occurring shall occur locally. This is our clear instruction to the police. This has been transformed into a decision from the Commissioner of the Swedish Police that 85 percent of the net growth shall occur not only in the local police area but also in outer service.

There may certainly be a certain bluntness in that when it comes to local growth. If you get a lot of pressure out there, you might need more resources on the inside as well. But this has been a very clear way to ensure that police growth occurs close to the citizens. It has a very large effect out there. It results in, as was said, not least in outer service, very many more colleagues for already existing police officers, just as the political intention has clearly expressed. It is also about the National Police Commissioner having converted this into the instruction regarding 85 percent when it comes to growth locally.

That means that, for example, Dalarna, which is part of the Bergslagen region, currently has a significant net growth of police officers in the local police areas and also in outer service near the citizens. That is the first point.

There is, naturally, a legitimate governance. Over time, I also believe that this is what will provide legitimacy among the citizens. If we are to invest very much in the police, it is clear that it must also be noticeable to the citizens.

Since then, we have been aware that the so-called local problem picture is now not only the physical one. What we spoke about earlier, the recruitment of children, occurs in the children's mobile phones in Vansbro, Leksand, Borlänge, Falun, Örnsköldsvik and so on. It is clear that one must be able to work against that problem picture locally and regionally. We are not to deliver based on a reality, a problem picture, as it looked in 2002, but we shall ensure that resources are pushed towards the crime that affects citizens in everyday life and locally.

I am happy to continue the discussion about the police stations. I personally am of the conviction that it is incredibly important to have a sign on the door, even when there are limited opening hours, because it is a physical presence. It is a contact point for the citizens. It is a visibility that matters. Therefore, I welcome that a review is now taking place. It is perhaps also in light of some of the cases that Lars Isacsson has raised that both I and others have become aware that a removal of signs is occurring. So, I do not think we should have that. Now the police are reviewing it. During that time, no new closures will occur. We will see where they land and where it all leads.

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

Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer!

We agree on most of this here. It is more about how to ensure the governance when it comes to reaching the goal.

I am particularly pleased that you bring up how important the police sign is and what it symbolizes. Sometimes I get this thrown back at me – I am a nostalgic person, it doesn't matter, and everything happens digitally. But I believe that one then misses what the police symbolize. It is about the fact that you actually also belong to Sweden in this municipality. It cannot be that the state's only presence is Systembolaget. That is too poor.

The Minister of Justice distinguishes here between actual safety and perceived safety. I believe many recognize that. One can go for a "safety walk." One can look at the situation in the municipality and see that not much has happened, but people are still afraid to be there. Then one must act. The same applies to the whole country. It is about perceived insecurity. It causes people to be restricted. They do not dare to go out. We have elderly people who do not dare to go to the cinema even though not much has happened. There, it is also the police's role to, so to speak, prevent it.

But good intentions are not enough, one must also follow up on this. It is about governance, follow-up, and clear requirements.

We had a closely related matter. It was a government decision regarding a new police academy. It was to become a new police academy somewhere between Stockholm and Umeå – 44 miles. The Justice Minister is well acquainted with that geography.

In Dalarna, it was Borlänge and Falun, and so it was Gävle. As you know, I come from Dalarna. I think it would have been very appropriate if it had ended up there, but I would have understood if it had ended up in Gävle. But the Police Authority suggested Uppsala, and the government decided to go with that. Then I think one misses a huge opportunity, because we need to recruit local police in such a large area. That is missed. Uppsala is a fantastic city, but it does not lack higher education, and it is difficult for people to get student housing.

When we were in Italy – I bring it up again – the head of the Carabinieri spoke about why they had 4,600 police stations and the importance of that. I was struck by it. If the police cannot give people a sense of security in their own home, their neighborhood, and their municipality, you do not win this fight – it pleases me that the Minister of Justice has the same view. He also said this: If you do not know your territory, you can never control your territory. It is a bit military, but one understands the intention.

It is not about symbolic politics, it is about presence, knowledge, and trust. It should be a self-evident matter even in Sweden.

A visible local police presence is not only important for safety but also crucial when it comes to resisting organized crime and for people across the country to feel that the state is nearby.

Mr. Speaker! I would therefore like to ask the Minister for Justice, who has already spoken a little about this: How does the Minister for Justice view the clear connection between local police presence and the fight against serious organized crime, which they, among other things, highlight in Italy?

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

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! It is clear that we shall have a steering and that we shall follow up on it properly. I think that the clearest steering regarding the problem picture that Lars Isacsson describes, lack of local police presence, is our steering that growth shall now occur locally. It is also about the conversion by the Commissioner of the Swedish Police of that direction – that 85 percent of the growth shall occur in outer service in the local police areas. We shall, of course, follow up on this carefully to ensure that it has the positive effects that we demand.

I also think that we should continue with a discussion with the Police Authority regarding the local physical presence, and that is what I now perceive is the subject of a review. This is in light of the development that has actually taken place over a period of 20 years and which, frankly, has been slowed down in recent years but which is nonetheless still relevant, especially if one would want to turn around and go in the opposite direction, so to speak.

Regarding the experience from Italy, which Lars Isacsson conveys, I think we can confirm that insight. When we talk about preventing and deterring crime, we know that local police presence, extensive local knowledge of the conditions in a certain geography, and close and good and known relations with the business community, civil society, and the public on site in a certain municipality, for example, have a very great significance.

It is a cost that we have incurred with a reorganization which, admittedly, has had other positive benefits, but which one must nevertheless say did not turn out well here. That is why we must redirect this in line with what we both express.

I also think that one must simultaneously keep in mind that a considerable amount of what was previously described as petty crime, which was handled locally, is today part of a rather globalized and organized crime. Perhaps the most obvious example, elderly fraud, is still counted as petty crime given how it is coded in the system. In practice, it is a crime that affects citizens very locally, but it is today an organized large-scale operation carried out on a much broader scale.

It is clear that we are going to make it work. The crimes that affect citizens in everyday life – in Vansbro, Leksand, and Örnsköldsvik – we will, of course, attack as effectively as possible. There, of course, a different allocation of resources, not least in terms of the digital environment, is extremely central. But we cannot get around the fact that a great deal of what affects citizens in everyday life, including the effects of organized crime, can be combated in a more effective way if we do it based on a visible, locally present, and locally anchored police.

I am grateful that we are having this discussion. I gladly concede that the closures of the receptions in Bergslagen – plus one in Hallstavik and one in Karlshamn, I believe – shed light on the issue, not least when Lars Isacsson raises them. We now have every reason together to follow up on this.

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

Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for Justice for the debate. I appreciate having debates with the Minister for Justice.

I think it is good that the Minister for Justice highlights the importance of local presence and a growing police organization. With the historical growth that we agree on, we have the chance to succeed. We have a common picture. It should not matter whether one lives in Malung, Smedjebacken or Danderyd. Safety should be equally self-evident.

Then I am not quite as sure that one will succeed with that which one has not succeeded with previously if one does not have even clearer political steering. I was the chairman of the municipal executive board 2014–2015 during the police reorganization. It was full of good intentions. The regional police chief said: We are doing this to get closer to the citizens. It ended with local police area Avesta merging into local police area Falun. That is a few municipalities apart. It did not get closer at all. Then you go back.

I believe that we politicians, especially at the national level, must lead more and be clearer about what we want and with the follow-up. As I said, otherwise it ends up in the middle. I believe, for example, that regulated response time is one way. It would not just be about minutes. It would be a tool for accountability, follow-up, and justice. It is only when we measure, follow up, and set requirements that we know if the safety is really there where it is needed.

Mr. Speaker! I have mentioned Italy several times. We need a police force that knows its territory, is close to the people and can intervene quickly, but which also works preventatively – that is equally important.

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

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Lars Isacsson for the opportunity to discuss these important issues today. I confirm the importance of a locally present, visible and locally anchored police with long, good relations with the surrounding community: civil society, the business sector, public actors and citizens.

The reorganization of the police in Sweden has brought about a great deal of good in various respects, not least that we can work as a common force throughout Sweden in a different way than we did previously. Nevertheless, there is a cost in the form of a drainage of local presence. We now have a strong common interest in restoring that. As I said, we are to do it in a modern way and not in a nostalgic way. We shall direct it towards a problem area that is real for citizens today, not towards the reality as it looked 20–25 years ago.

The basic experience has not changed – a locally present, visible and anchored police force is indispensable, not least for preventing and deterring crime but also for solving crimes more effectively once they have occurred. I believe this is supported by experiences in other countries, not least when they have had to deal with problems of the kind that we in Sweden now have to deal with.

We are now ensuring that there will be clearer governance. Above all, police growth shall take place locally near the citizens and in field service. This is now happening on a large scale. This does not exclude that there are more ways of thinking when it comes to governance moving forward. I am happy to return to that discussion on further occasions.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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