“There are new ones all the time”

As the serious violence spreads, so does the pressure on the police.
Many testify to a high workload and a feeling that it never ends.
– There is a great deal of frustration, more is needed to prevent new recruitment, says Katharina von Sydow, president of the police union.

The ongoing wave of violence puts the police under strong pressure. It is a strained situation, says the chairman of the Police Association.

It is the new recruitment that is the big problem, according to her.

– Despite the fantastic work that my colleagues do, it just keeps on filling up, there’s like no end to it. When you have arrested and someone is locked up, there are new ones all the time. There is a lot of frustration around that, says Katharina von Sydow, president of the police union.

She says that more is needed to prevent new recruitment. But she does not call for more and better laws.

– What is needed above all is preventive work. There needs to be more skills to help ensure that the influx is reduced, so that officers can focus on police work.

Threats against police officers’ families increasingly common

Katharina von Sydow thinks there is a lack of long-term planning.

– We need an agreement for more than one term. Like a defense agreement – ​​internal security needs the same long-term perspective. It cannot depend on whether one side or the other is in control.

As crime becomes more serious, the threats against police officers have both increased and changed in nature, says the chairman of the Police Association.

– Previously, the threats were in an emergency situation against the colleague who did the intervention. Now the threats are aimed at the family and that type of threat goes more under the skin, she says in Nyhetsmorgon.

She believes that the criminals map the police officers working in the area and therefore wants to look into the protection of police officers and the possibility of anonymizing names and social security numbers.

– Not by the police per se, it is easy to identify, but that names and social security numbers should not be there. It is important to look at that protection, she says.