We must have our box in order

He started with one of Sweden’s toughest police jobs – patrolling Norrmalm in Stockholm.

Stefan Hector went on to the picket force and the national task force. Now he has been given a new exposed job: deputy chief of the national police.

– I accepted straight away, he says.

56-year-old Stefan Hector is a veteran with over 30 years in the police. The first job was in the toughest environment for a police officer, the neighborhoods around Central Station and Sergels torg.

He went on to the picket force in Stockholm and the national task force where he eventually became the top commander. Since then, he has held a number of different management jobs, most recently as responsible for the police’s emergency planning.

Required an assistant

The newly appointed national police chief Petra Lundh required an assistant to accept her new job and she hesitated for several months before finally agreeing to the appointment.

But Stefan Hector immediately agreed.

– My heartfelt and sincere drive is to make Sweden safer, it may sound pretentious but it is what drives me. It was an obvious decision.

Stefan Hector says that he and Petra Lundh, who has, among other things, been the Attorney General and head of the Svea Court of Appeal, will work closely together. They have the rooms next to each other.

– It is a large and complex task, so we have to share the burdens. We’ll see exactly how it turns out.

Closer to citizens

The government wants the police to become more “closer to citizens” with visible police officers on the streets and squares and with more investigations into so-called mass crimes such as theft, assault and fraud.

The new directives mean that some police officers will be given new tasks.

– We have to reprioritize and balance, we have grown inwards and upwards and that takes resources from the citizens. But we also get new resources.

When it comes to gang crime, Stefan Hector sees positive trends, among other things through new working methods which mean that the police investigate several crimes at the same time, connected to each other, and not case by case.

– It will take time and we can influence our own work, but more people must cooperate such as Customs, the Tax Authority, the Social Insurance Agency and social authorities.

– The police must have their own box in order, but there are circumstances beyond our control. We simply have to make others better.