New police officers rage against their employer.
After completing their education, many of them end up at the reception – to solve Sweden’s passport chaos.
– It feels too damn bad when there is a lack of staff in external service, says a police assistant.
When there has been a shortage of officers at Sweden’s passport offices, police assistants have been called in to help. In Region West, there are 90 so-called “sixth-term terminals” who may interrupt their education or assignments – and put themselves in the passport slot.
The new police as the industry magazine The police newspaper are critical of the fact that part of their training should be devoted to an administrative emergency solution.
– It is clear that we help each other when something unforeseen happens. But this is something else. The authority must have seen that no passports were produced during the pandemic and should have trained civilian employees to handle all applications that come now, says a police assistant to Polistidningen.
According to the newspaper, the police assistants feel that they have missed several parts of their introduction to the police profession. First because of the pandemic, now because of the passport crisis.
– It’s just poop sandwich on poop sandwich, says one of them to Polistidningen.
Had to change location
A police officer who completed his training in November has been reluctantly forced to attend a passport training – and change offices.
– I have a basic placement in one place, then I have been forced to sit in the reception in another place, so I have to commute two extra hours a day to get there as well, says the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, to Aftonbladet.
– There is a common frustration, and not only among us who sit and do workouts but also from colleagues who still work out there and know that we are snatched from where we are needed. Nobody wants to be there, but you have no choice.
After the relocations, the police assistant has experienced that too many have ended up on the passport office.
– There are quite a few who stand there and feel quite redundant, he says.
– The problem is that there are only x number of places at each police station where you can receive a passport application. We have three, but we are maybe ten to fifteen people standing there in the reception, and it feels too damn good when you know that there is a shortage of staff in external service.
Wanted to quit
Another police assistant, who also wants to remain anonymous, says that he has considered quitting – if the police in the West have not said that the relocation only applies until 17 June.
– I had those thoughts, but when I found out that it was a short period, I felt that I have studied for two and a half years and I do not intend to give up my dream job just because my employer suddenly put me in the reception, he says.
– If I had been told that I would be sitting in the reception for a whole year, I would not have thought so much about it. Then I had resigned.
But the police assistant is not sure that June 17 will be a definitive end date.
– No one dares to take anything out in advance anymore, because we know that we are the youngest in service and when we received this message it was completely without warning, he says.
– Everyone is afraid that we will get there again this autumn, because now we have trained as passport officers.
“Confidence dropped”
According to the police assistant, work ethic has taken a real turn just months into his career.
– It feels really bad and many colleagues feel the same way. Confidence in the employer fell quite sharply and my older colleagues in external service, who were not placed in the reception, have to get up and work overtime, he says.
– From a societal perspective, I think it is very sad, because it is the citizens who suffer.
The assistant has spoken to civilian investigators at the police who are wondering about the solution.
– I have even heard people say that “if they had asked me, I could have worked voluntarily for six months or so, it can be fun”, he says.
– If they had just asked the question and searched a bit, they might not have had to put all the new police there.
“Anger is total”
According to Carina Björk, administrator at the passport office in Ystad, the civilian employees who normally handle the passport services have also been hit hard by the chaos.
– It is only because of the employees’ incredible loyalty that this works at all, she says.
– And I understand that the frustration and anger is total among the police aspirants who are forced into the passport officer show. We have gang crime, shootings and so on in Sweden and so they command new police officers, with good courage who want to come in and make a difference, to sit in the passport door.
Carina Björk thinks that the police authority should have been able to predict the passport chaos a long time ago.
– You can see very early that there will be such an onslaught, she says.
– If you had the foresight to hire civilian passport officers early – I’m not talking this year and maybe not even last year – we would have had a completely different situation than today.
“Head in the sand”
She is terrified of what it will look like in five years, when all passports issued this year expire.
– The police authority has had its head in the sand for far too long. Something has to happen and something has to happen now, she says.
– And what will happen in 2027 when all passports will be renewed? I’m just saying stack all colleagues if our employer still has his head in the sand then.
Morgan Orvenholt, chief of staff at the regional office in the West, tells Polistidningen that the police assistants have been the least bad alternative for solving passport management. This is because they are giving an introduction and are not in the work in the same way as their older colleagues. He is aware that it has been a quick change for many, but has not heard of anyone considering quitting.
– What we have said is that the sixth semesters will only be in the passport business until 17 June. And if they miss any of the additional education that is included in the introductory semester, they should be allowed to attend them later. They will carry out PNF (emergency driver training, editor’s note) while they work with travel documents, he tells Polistidningen.