Swedish Police Authority
The Swedish Police Authority is the national police force of Sweden. The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-19th century, and the police remained in effect under local government control up until 1965, when it was nationalized and became increasingly centralized, to finally organize under one authority January 1, 2015. Concurrent with this change, the Swedish Security Service formed its own agency. The new authority was created to address shortcomings in the division of duties and responsibilities, and to make it easier for the Government to demand greater accountability. The agency is organized into seven [|police regions] and eight national departments. It is one of the largest government agencies in Sweden, with more than 28,500 employees, of which police officers accounted for approximately 75 percent of the personnel in 2014. It takes two and a half years to become a police officer in Sweden, including six months of paid workplace practice. Approximately a third of all police students are women, and in 2011 women accounted for 40 percent of all employees.
General structuring
The agency is headed by the National Police Commissioner, who is appointed by the Government and has the sole responsibility for all activities of the police. Although formally organised under the Ministry of Justice, the Swedish police is—similar to other authorities in Sweden—essentially autonomous, in accordance with the constitution. The agency is governed by general policy instruments and is subject to a number of sanctions and oversight functions, to ensure that the exercise of public authority is in compliance with regulations. Police officers typically wear a dark-blue uniform consisting of combat style trousers with a police duty belt, a polo shirt or a long sleeve button shirt, and a side-cap embellished with a metal cap badge. The standard equipment includes a handgun, pepper spray and an extendable baton.History
The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-1800s. Prior to that, police work was not carried out by a law enforcement agency in the modern sense. In rural areas, the King's bailiffs were responsible for law and order until the establishment of counties in the 1630s. In the cities, local governments were responsible for law and order, by way of a royal decree issued by Magnus III in the 13th century. The cities financed and organized various watchmen who patrolled the streets. In the late 1500s in Stockholm the patrol duties were in large part taken over by a special corps of salaried city guards. The city guard was organized, uniformed and armed like a military unit and were responsible for interventions against various crimes and the arrest of suspected criminals. These guards were assisted by the military, fire patrolmen, and a civilian unit that did not wear a uniform, but instead wore a small badge around the neck. The civilian unit monitored compliance with city ordinances relating to e.g. sanitation issues, traffic and taxes. In 1776, Gustav III ushered in a fundamental change in how police work was organized in Stockholm, modelled after how law enforcement was organized in Paris at the time. The office of Police Commissioner was created, with the first title holder being Nils Henric Liljensparre, who was given command of the civilian unit responsible for law and order in the city, now partly financed by the State. The reform was considered a success, as it made the streets safer. However, the system of fire patrolmen and the city guard was still kept intact and administered separately.In the mid-1800s, during a time of widespread social unrest, it became increasingly clear that law enforcement did not function properly. In 1848, the March Unrest broke out on the streets of Stockholm, inspired by a wave of revolutions in Europe. Large crowds vandalized the city, shouting slogans of reform and calling for the abolition of monarchy. King Oscar I responded with military force, resulting in 30 people being killed.
In rural areas, local county administrators were in charge of law and order, reporting to county governors. The office of länsman was a mixture of police chief, tax official and lower-level prosecutor, who in turn was assisted by a number of part-time police officers. Increasingly, their time was spent on tax matters, instead of doing actual police work. More police officers were duly employed, some dubbed "extra police", devoted much more exclusively to police work. In 1850, a new type of organization was finally launched in Stockholm, where the entire police force was placed under one agency. The title of Police Constable was used for the first time in Sweden, and the police were also given their own uniforms and were armed with batons and sabers. The police also began to specialize. In 1853, for example, four constables were put in charge of criminal investigations, thus creating the first detective bureau in Sweden.
In the early 1900s, the Swedish police had yet to uniformly organize or become regulated in legislation. The system of "extra police" did not work well, partly because it was often a temporary position lacking job security, making it difficult to recruit and retain skilled personnel. Subsequently, the Riksdag adopted the first Police Act in 1925. The act essentially codified structures already in place, but also introduced a more unified police and better working conditions for the police officers. Officers began wearing the same dark-blue uniforms nationwide, with the same weapons and helmets. Local ties remained strong, however, with 554 small districts that had great freedom to organize police work as before, even though the State now had the power to issue a number of regulations about everything from leadership to the duties of the police. There were still some problems maintaining order when larger crowds gathered, as evidenced by the Ådalen shootings in 1931, where the military was called in as reinforcement during a violent labor dispute, killing five. In rural areas, the detective work were also often rudimentary. Accordingly, the Swedish State Police was established in 1932, which would complement the municipal police.
Nationalization
The Swedish police continued to be organized under local government control for more than 30 years. The lack of co-ordination made police work difficult on a national level, and ineffective in an increasingly mobile world, which prompted the nationalization of the Swedish police in 1965. The police became more centralized and now organized under the Ministry of Justice in three levels. The National Police Board was the central administrative authority, primarily tasked with coordinating and supporting the local police. The local police was reduced to 119 districts, led by a District Police Commissioner, answering to a Chief Commissioner at the County Administrative Board. In 1998, the number of police districts was further reduced and divided along county lines into 21 local police authorities. On 1 January 2015, the police reorganized again into a unified agency, with the Swedish Security Service becoming a fully independent agency; the biggest overhaul of the Swedish police since it was nationalized in 1965. The new authority was created to address shortcomings in the organization of the division of duties and responsibilities, to reduce differences between police regions, ease governance and increase accountability. The reorganization is expected to last several years.Tasks and objectives
The role of the police is described in the Police Act of 1984. The Act states that the police should prevent crime, monitor public order and safety, carry out criminal investigations, provide protection, information and other assistance to the public, along with other responsibilities as prescribed under special provisions. This is supplemented with the annual "appropriation directions" issued by the Government, which specify the agency's main tasks and goals for the year. The Swedish police also carry out a number of administrative functions, such as the issuing of passports, national identity cards and various kinds of permits and licenses. A permit is for example required when arranging a protest march or holding a public event, such as a concert. Permits are also required for using public space to sell goods, serve food or beverages. Individuals also have the right to request extracts from their criminal records, which is asked for by a growing number of prospective employers and is required by law prior to employment at schools or daycare centers.In 2014, close to 230,000 criminal record extracts were ordered by the public — almost double that of 2009. The Swedish police also reviewed about 68,000 applications for firearms licenses that same year, which was an increase from the previous year by over 20 percent. Approximately 1.5 million passports and over 200,000 ID cards were issued, and more than 23,000 applications to use public space were received. There were more than 6,000 applications for demonstrations or public gatherings in 2014. The number of cases reported to the police have stayed about the same during 2010–2015, with 980,502 crimes reported in 2014. In recent years, about 38 percent of the total amount of resource time for the investigation and prosecution of crimes fell within the category of violent crimes, even though it only accounted for approximately 10 percent of all cases. The largest number of reported cases fall within the category of vandalism and various kinds of theft offenses. This category also has the lowest proportion of crimes investigated. In a study made by Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention in 2014, the number of legal proceedings per 1,000 inhabitants was about the same level in Sweden as in other comparable European countries.