Already in 2019, the Swedish Police Agency warned the government of a gap in the law regarding the monitoring of various protected objects in the event of, for example, acts of terrorism, or gray zone situations when a foreign power puts the country under pressure but where heightened preparedness has not yet been announced.
Previously, it was the civil duty of the special emergency police that had the role of managing this type of task, but that police force was closed down in 2012.
Discussed at the government office
According to information to SVT, the question of re-establishing the special emergency police has been discussed in the Government Office since the fall, but other solutions are also on the table.
An investigation is now to be established in the near future, according to the Minister of Defence. The investigation will be part of the modernization of the total defense which is ongoing due to a deteriorating security situation.
– We are looking at it and for discussions between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice, says Pål Jonson (M).
The Armed Forces are positive about the development, and ÖB Micael Bydén is open to the possibility that personnel from the defense could perform some of these tasks at the request of the police.
– What we see in front of us are more the simpler tasks at a stage where the police are heavily involved with their tasks and where we in the Armed Forces could step in. It can be about protection and guarding of special objects or areas, where we make troops available under the direction of the police chief, says ÖB Micael Bydén.
The situation in the outside world controls
How the emergency force can be set up is something that an investigation must decide on, but various options have already been discussed, according to SVT’s information. It could be a voluntary emergency force, like the old emergency police, or further training of military police or security guards.
– We are looking forward to this investigation depending on how the situation is in the outside world, but we will see what they come up with, whether there will be a new emergency police or not, says Per Engström at the police’s national operational department.