The shootings and explosions are at clearly lower levels than last year. However, it should not be interpreted as the tendency to violence has decreased, according to Erik Lindblad, operations manager for Frigg, the police’s special effort against gang violence. We continue to see a very high demand for serious violent crimes, he says about the criminals’ attempts to find people who want to carry out shootings and explosions. The fact that serious gang violence has so far been at a lower level may partly be due to the police becoming better at detecting and interrupting criminal plans, he believes. According to the police’s assessment, 150 potential serious acts of violence have been prevented this year alone. Many are linked to children who have strayed from hvb homes, an environment the gangs have long exploited. Today there is a much clearer focus on these young people, says Lindblad. Previously, the attitude was that the child will probably come back, which they almost always did. But now that they are used as shooters, we have to hunt them in a completely different way. Recruited from the boys’ room The gang’s focus on institutionalized children may be about to change, however, according to Lindblad, who says that you increasingly see young people living at home taking on assignments. Such a development could make it more difficult to detect criminal plans in time. The children – increasingly under the age of 15 – are not infrequently recruited from other places, instead of coming from the immediate area. Yes, my view is that it is the “new normal”, says Lindblad. Missions with details of target, weapon and payment are posted in forums that can be likened to pure job boards for murder. After pressure from the police, a group on Telegram with thousands of members where contracts for murders and explosions were advertised was recently closed. Act with force Society must act with the same force against digital recruitment as it does in physical environments, believes Lindblad. If a criminal had stood in a square and shouted out to 10,000 children, “Murder, Malmö, 250,000 kroner, who will take it?”, then I am quite sure that society would have reacted. The fact that many of the children are under the age of 15 makes it difficult, as such young people cannot be detained by the police. It is reasonable, we are talking about children after all. But from our perspective it is a concern, says Lindblad and says that there are examples where children suspected of serious violent crimes have been driven home.
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