A number of police officers believe that the recent turmoil surrounding the police leadership has pointed to a larger problem that exists within the authority. Where positions are filled via friendship and where a destructive culture of silence means that you do not dare to openly criticize the authority.
– If what you mean by destructive culture is that it is something widely spread and general, then I mean we don’t have it. On the other hand, there are groups and workplaces where there is a destructive culture of silence, says Mikael Säll Lindahl, regional police chief in the North region.
Säll Lindahl further says that the police’s own employee surveys show that 30 percent of the staff think that there is a culture of silence at authority level.
– We need an open police authority and that is why we are working on the issue, he says.
See the interview with Mikael Säll Lindahl in the video above.