Here are the police officers’ best suggestions against crime

earthpressnews
Here are the police officers best suggestions against crime
Comes first in fifth place

Published: Less than 20 min ago

Abolish penalty discounts and deport more.

It is the police officers’ favorite proposal against crime, according to a new survey.

– I am not surprised, says Lena Nitz, chairman of the Police Association.

Crime is the voters’ most important election issue, according to a recent report from the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg. This is the first election campaign in which the issue is at the top since 1979.

Sweden is heading for a record year when it comes to fatal shootings, and there is a vigorous campaign to tackle crime. Magdalena Andersson (S) will “turn over every stone” and Ulf Kristersson’s (M) motto is “Now we get order in Sweden”.

The police union has commissioned a Novus survey where the members had to answer which political proposals they consider necessary, and not necessary, to push crime back.

full screen Lena Nitz, president of the Police Association. Photo: POLICE ASSOCIATION / STEFAN TELL

– We see that there are many criminal policy proposals from the politicians. Then we think it is important to listen to the profession, and the police officers who, despite a lack of resources and with an increasingly complex crime trend, work to create a safer society, says Lena Nitz, president of the Police Association.

Longer sentences, more deportations

The four proposals that are considered the most important all deal with convicted criminals having to be off the streets for a longer period of time than is happening today.

  • 73 percent of those who answered want to remove the “quantity discount”, so that longer sentences are imposed in case of multiple crimes.
  • 66 percent want to abolish automatic release after two thirds of the sentence.
  • 64 percent want to abolish the “youth discount” for those who have turned 18.
  • 64 percent want to increase the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.

    • It is thought that the penalty must be in better proportion to what crime victims are exposed to and what damage society suffers, according to Lena Nitz.

    – We have a frustration from our members that you see some serious criminals, but also people who commit mass crimes in large numbers, if I may say so, who will soon be out on the streets again, says Lena Nitz.

    When it comes to young criminals, 60 percent want to strengthen cooperation between schools, social services, the police and leisure activities. And 53 percent want to change the privacy legislation so that it becomes easier to get and give information between different social actors.

    – Once the police come into the picture, it is often “too late”. And unfortunately there is not as much focus on crime prevention work, even if it has improved now. It is important that various social actors also take their responsibility in the crime prevention work, the police will not be able to solve the problem that we see today by themselves.

    full screen The police’s forensic technician on site after the shooting in Gävle. Photo: MAGNUS SANDBERG
    full screen Shooting in Stocksund 2021. Photo: PETER WIXTRÖM
    full screen Police at the scene of the riots in Norrköping. Photo: ANDREAS BARDELL

    Facts

    The full list: Policy proposals that police officers think are necessary

  • Revise the “volume discount” so that longer sentences are imposed for multiple offenders: 73%
  • Abolish automatic release after two-thirds of sentence: 66%
  • Abolish the ‘youth discount’ for all crimes for those aged 18 and over: 64%
  • Expand the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes: 64%
  • More police officers: 61%
  • Faced with a penalty escalation ladder for repeat offenders: 60%
  • Strengthen collaboration between school, social services, police and leisure activities: 60%
  • Expand opportunities for covert wiretapping and surveillance: 58%
  • Strengthen protections for plaintiffs and witnesses: 58%
  • Expand the police’s right to preventive coercive measures in the case of organized crime: 53%.
  • New privacy legislation to facilitate information sharing between authorities: 53%
  • Tighten the requirements for parents to participate in social services measures: 48%
  • Extending the right to detain juveniles on the way to crime: 47%
  • More administrative support to free up police time: 45%
  • Criminalize participation in criminal gang activity: 45%
  • Expand the possibility of storing biometric information (e.g. fingerprints, DNA): 45%
  • Allow anonymous witnesses: 41%
  • More resources for the National Forensic Center (NFC): 41%
  • Let the police focus more on the core mission: 40%
  • Increase the penalty for criminal settlements: 40%
  • Toughen the punishment for those who recruited young people to crime: 38%
  • Increase state subsidies for hiring more teachers: 28%
  • Give the police the right to provoke crime: 28%
  • Increase state subsidies for hiring more social workers: : 27%
  • Transfer the responsibility of serious criminals under the age of 18 to the Correctional Service: 26%
  • Before system of Crown witnesses: 24%
  • Always let the police investigate serious crimes committed by non-law enforcement officers: 24%
  • Before stay ban for gang/drug offenders: 22%
  • Increase the provision of dropout activities for people from gang/extremist backgrounds: 22%
  • Lower the age of criminal responsibility: 22%
  • Raise the maximum limit for young people’s time in SiS homes: 19%
  • Before visitation zones: 17%
  • Reintroduce a standby police: 11%
  • Allow police officers to carry their service weapon on leave: 9%
  • Complement fully trained officers with officers with shorter training: 5%
  • Other: 4%
  • Don’t know/no opinion: 4%

    • The question asked: Mark the policy proposals below that you believe are necessary to implement to push back crime in the short and long term? (Free number of answers)

    About the survey: The survey has been carried out by Novus on behalf of the Police Association. The purpose of the survey is to investigate the members’ attitude to the parties’ criminal policy proposals. The result is based on 1,438 interviews, which were conducted between August 5 and August 18, 2022. The response rate is 31 percent. The survey was conducted via web interviews in the Police Association’s randomly recruited member panel.

    Source: The Police Association / Novus.

    Read more

    In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on the need for more police officers, both from politics and the police themselves. In a similar survey as the Police Association did in 2019, “more police officers” came in second place. Now that is the fifth most important question.

    Lena Nitz emphasizes that it is still a very important issue, but believes that the reason why the issue has dropped is that a decision has already been made to increase the number of police officers.

    – Then I think that you instead focus on and prioritize the proposals that you would like to have a decision on. After all, it takes time for all political decisions to reach work level.

    full screen On Thursday it is “Police Day”. The police union organizes a full day at the Kulturhuset in Stockholm, where among other things party hearings are on the agenda. Photo: POLICE ASSOCIATION / STEFAN TELL

    The Police Association has also asked the question which political proposals are not deemed necessary. Allowing police officers to carry service weapons during off-duty time is considered unnecessary. Then comes a proposal to supplement the workforce with police officers who have received shorter training, and to introduce emergency police.

    Fourth most unnecessary is the proposal to introduce visitation zones, according to the survey.

    What arguments are there against introducing such, within the police force?

    – It is not something we can deduce from this investigation. But what we heard earlier are mainly two reasons. First – they believe they already have the tools needed to search if needed. The second is that visitation zones have such strong symbolic value. And what I often hear is that people think it risks destroying the important relationship building that is needed to counteract crime, and recruitment to gangs, in the long term, says Lena Nitz, president of the Police Association.

    Facts

    The full list: Policy proposals that police DO NOT think are necessary

  • Allow police officers to carry their service weapon on leave: 52%
  • Complement fully trained officers with officers with shorter training: 48%
  • Reintroduce a standby police force: 42%
  • Before visitation zones: 37%
  • Lower the age of criminal responsibility: 21%
  • Give the police the right to criminal provocation: 19%
  • Before stay ban for gang/drug offenders: 18%
  • Increase state subsidies for hiring more social workers: 18%
  • Allow anonymous witnesses: 17%
  • Increase state subsidies for hiring more teachers: 17%
  • Raise the maximum limit for young people’s time in SiS homes: 15%
  • Before system of Crown witnesses: 15%
  • Transfer the responsibility of serious criminals under the age of 18 to the Correctional Service: 12%
  • More police officers: 12%
  • Always let the police investigate serious crimes committed by non-law enforcement officers: 11%
  • Criminalize participation in criminal gang activity: 11%
  • Increase the supply of defector activities for people from gang/extremist backgrounds: 10%
  • Abolish automatic release after two-thirds of sentence: 9%
  • More administrative support to free up police time: 9%
  • Expand the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes: 9%
  • Revise the “volume discount” so that longer sentences are imposed for multiple offences: 8%
  • Don’t know/no opinion: 8%
  • Abolish the ‘youth discount’ for all offenses for those aged 18 and over: 8%
  • In the face of a penalty escalation ladder for repeat offenders: 8%
  • Expand opportunities for covert wiretapping and surveillance: 8%
  • Let the police focus more on the core mission: 8%
  • Increase the penalty for criminal settlements: 8%
  • Sharpen the punishment for those who recruited young people to crime: 8%
  • Strengthen collaboration between school, social services, police and leisure activities: 7%
  • Tighten the requirements for parents to participate in social services measures: 7%
  • Expand the police’s right to preventive coercive measures in the case of organized crime: 7%
  • Strengthen protection for plaintiffs and witnesses: 7%
  • Expand the possibility of storing biometric information (e.g. fingerprints, DNA): 7%
  • Extending the right to detain juveniles on the way to crime: 6%
  • New privacy legislation for easier information sharing between authorities: 6%
  • More resources for the National Forensic Center (NFC): 6%
  • Other, namely: 2%

    • The question asked: Mark the policy proposals below that you don’t think are necessary to push crime back? (Free number of answers)

    About the survey: The survey has been carried out by Novus on behalf of the Police Association. The purpose of the survey is to investigate the members’ attitude to the parties’ criminal policy proposals. The result is based on 1,438 interviews, which were conducted between August 5 and August 18, 2022. The response rate is 31 percent. The survey was conducted via web interviews in the Police Association’s randomly recruited member panel.

    Source: The Police Association / Novus.

    Read more

    afbl-general-01