Since April 2021, six people have been murdered and shots fired on at least 16 occasions in Linköping. The latest murder took place in Ekholmen on January 28, when a 35-year-old man was shot to death in a parking lot.
– It’s great that we haven’t had any shootings since then, but that doesn’t mean we don’t continue to have a serious situation, because we do, says local police area manager Ann-Christine Rehnström.
Ongoing gang conflict
According to Ann-Christine Rehnström, there is an ongoing conflict between different criminal gangs and that even if it is not visible on the surface, the police work hard to prevent new shootings. They have continued to have a lot of resources in vulnerable areas, especially Skäggetorp, and have worked intensively on the investigative side.
– We have also made a lot of weapon seizures in the last year, hopefully that has prevented any shooting, she says.
– We have had difficulty getting verdicts on the shootings, but we have still managed to lock up some individuals for other types of crime, such as drug crimes and weapons crimes, she says.
Dropout activity
She also says that several criminal individuals have left Linköping of their own accord.
– In the past year, we have worked actively with motivational talks so that you can become a dropout and choose a different path in life.
The defectors receive help in finding housing in another location and help in leaving the criminal life behind. The dropout activity is a collaboration with Linköping municipality.
– It is difficult to draw any conclusions yet, but we hope that our efforts will work. This is work that will continue for several years to come.
Hear the police chief talk about the constellations of the criminal gangs in the video above.