Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M) believes that the police made progress during the year in the fight against serious violence.
During the next year, the government wants the police’s local presence to increase throughout the country.
Strömmer does not want to say that he is satisfied with the results of the police in 2023, because “we can never be satisfied”, the way society looks like.
But he points out that by working in new ways, the police have achieved “great success” when it comes to shootings and explosions. Many have been arrested, large weapons seized and many serious violent crimes prevented.
– It also seems that the criminal investigation has been completed with regard to the serious violence, says the Minister of Justice.
TT: But are you satisfied?
– I will say this, every day 37,000 police employees go to work and do a fantastic job, says Strömmer.
– The police have reason to feel proud of that and the citizens have reason to feel hopeful about it.
More local police
The new police leadership has received a number of different change assignments from the government. Now there is one more in the regulation letter for 2024. The government sets there a new goal that the local presence of the police should increase throughout the country.
– More police officers must be present on the streets and squares, close to the citizens, close to the crime that affects the citizens in everyday life, says Strömmer.
The starting point is, according to the minister, that the number of police officers should increase in each local police area.
In addition to more visible police officers, the government also wants more everyday crimes to be investigated and resolved and for waiting times to reach the police by phone to be shortened.
In recent years, growth in the police’s national departments has been greater in percentage terms than in the police regions, and neither within the regions have the local police areas had the greatest growth, despite previous governments’ intentions.
– The growth that we now see in front of us should not take place at the top, nationally or regionally in the first place, but it should take place locally, says Strömmer.
The moderate-led government’s new goals are not yet very concrete. It is not mentioned, for example, how many more area police officers will be there or how short the response times on the phone will be.
– They must be translated into concrete numbered goals and time and measures set. All that lies in the mission that the new police leadership has been given.
Reach EU average
For several years now, the police have had an overall goal of growing from the 2015 level by 10,000 police employees, to just over 38,200 before 2025. In October, the number was 37,302, of which 23,054 were police officers and the rest civilian employees.
The police want that of the target of 38,200 employees within the police, 26,000 should be police officers, which may be difficult to achieve.
The government wants the police to continue to grow even after that goal has been reached and is working with a new goal for Sweden to reach the same police density as the average in EU countries.
However, Strömmer cannot say today what such a goal would mean for the number of police officers in Sweden. It is something the police have been tasked with counting on.
– I want us to calibrate and get the same picture as the police authority before we quantify the target, says Strömmer.
According to Eurostat, the EU average was 335 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants in the years 2019-2021, while Sweden’s figure was around 240 police officers. But different countries have different ways of counting and different types of police.
When the new EU target will be achieved depends on how it is quantified, but Strömmer is betting on the year 2030, plus or minus something or a few years.