Swedish Police Chief warns of 'unprecedented' crime

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
6 Feb 08:55
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National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg bemoaned in Swedish media that crime has become more complex and that getting witnesses to speak out has become more difficult.

People lay flowers and candles near a crime scene in the Hammarby Sjostad district in Stockholm on October 22, 2021. (AFP)

Sweden, formerly recognized for its calm and law-abiding citizenry, has been afflicted by gun violence, explosives, and gang crime for many years. Sweden broke the terrible European record for the most deadly shootings in a single year in 2022, outnumbering neighboring Nordic countries by a significant margin.

The country's police chief has written a scathing opinion piece in which he complains that organized crime has reached "unprecedented heights" and has gotten more complicated and tougher to deal with.

National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg bemoaned in Swedish media that crime has become more complex and that getting witnesses to speak out has become more difficult.

"Prosecutors, witnesses and perpetrators, who have previously spoken to the police and testified in court, now almost never give any information. This makes the investigation significantly more difficult. Success in prosecution often requires finding other, more difficult evidence," Thornberg said.

Thornberg, a former director-general and head of the Swedish Security Service, also emphasized that the police force is now understaffed and underfunded, pleading for more money and officers.

He also urged for new legislation and improved inter-agency coordination, stressing that the police mission should be fine-tuned to address evolving difficulties.

Confrontations have even spread to schools

For many years, the formerly calm country has been beset by gun violence, explosives, and gang crime. Sweden set the terrible European record for the most deadly shootings in a single year in 2022, with 64. In comparison, neighboring Denmark, which has a mostly similar culture and economy, had only eight gun-related deaths in 2022.

Although primarily blamed on opposing gangs, killings and explosions produce collateral damage since innocent onlookers are frequently injured and venues are ruined. The confrontations have even spread to schools, prompting authorities to produce recommendations on how to deal with these issues, which many have taken as a "normalization" of gangland violence.

At the start of the year, Sweden was hit by a wave of retaliatory crimes, according to the police. The surge in violence and carnage that dominated the news over the Christmas and New Year holidays constitutes a threat to the minority administration led by the Moderates, as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson ran expressly on a pledge to confront organized crime, claiming to "straighten out Sweden".

Kristersson predicted a "paradigm shift" in criminal justice, promising heavier jail sentences to get gang members off the streets and discourage fresh recruits from joining the underground. The long-awaited turnaround has yet to occur.