The wave of violence continues seemingly unabated. The government sees the killing as a brutal confirmation of a societal development that has been going on for a long time.
– Much of what we are doing now should have been done in the last eight years, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M).
The government’s response to the shootings is to convene an extra meeting of the Council against Organized Crime next week.
The law-enforcement authorities sit in the council, including the national police chief, but also the National Board of Institutions (Sis), the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish School Administration must participate because they come into contact with young criminals.
The aim is to discuss the urgent situation and measures to break the new recruitment of children and young people.
– We want to ensure that all relevant actors have the same picture of the situation, so that there is a common force in the measures, says Gunnar Strömmer.
“A brutal confirmation”
Seven fatal shootings in the course of ten days are the result right now in Sweden, several of which are linked to gang crime.
– It is a brutal confirmation of the social development that has been going on for a long time. Several of the patterns we have seen for many years are escalating.
– The fact that people now seem to be targeting each other’s relatives within the gangs, then it is clear that new boundaries are beginning to be crossed, says Strömmer.
When asked what the government is doing to break the trend, the Minister of Justice mentions that they want to introduce a system of anonymous witnesses, strengthened crown witness system and visitation zones.
On October 1, the police will receive a new tool in the form of secret wiretapping for preventive purposes, to prevent or prevent crime. “Incredibly important”, according to the minister.
“Will take time”
At the same time, confidentiality barriers must be demolished between the police and social services.
– We naturally focus on a number of different fronts, I can state that much of what we are doing now should have been done in the last eight years. Then we would have been in a better position, says Strömmer.
He even describes it as the ability to “immediately fight back” would have been better with the government’s actions.
TT: When does it turn?
– I have said from the very beginning that we have to expect it to get worse before it gets better. And given how deeply and widely these problems have spread in society, it will take time to reverse the trend.
But I can promise one thing, and that is that we will use our time in government much better than how it was used in the past eight years.
FACT council against organized crime
The Council against Organized Crime was established by the government in December 2022. The purpose is to strengthen and streamline the collective work against organized crime. The work in the council must create better conditions for measures taken to be accurate, efficient and lead to practical benefit.
In addition to the Minister of Justice, the coordinating state secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the state secretary in the Ministry of Finance, the council has the following permanent members: the national police chief, the head of the National Police Agency’s operational department, the attorney general, the director general of customs and the directors general of the Ecocrime Agency and the Tax Agency. The council is chaired by the Minister of Justice.
Source: Ministry of Justice
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