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What is a ‘special incident’ in Sweden and what happens when police launch one?

Swedish police sometimes tell newspapers they have launched a 'special incident' in response to criminal acts. But what exactly does that mean, and how does it work?

Published: 11 November 2019 14:54 CET
Updated: 22 January 2020 15:20 CET
What is a 'special incident' in Sweden and what happens when police launch one?
Erik Widstrand of the Stockholm police announcing a 'special incident' in response to an explosion on January 13th. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
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In November 2019, police announced a “special national incident” to look into a recent spate of violent crime incidents including explosions and fatal shootings. And on January 13th, Stockholm police launched a special incident in response to a specific explosion in the upmarket Östermalm district.

But what does it mean?

A “special incident”, or särskild händelse in Swedish, can be launched to deal with a range of unexpected or sudden issues which the relevant police unit needs extra help and resources to deal with.

It means that a temporary task force is set up to focus solely on the specified problem, in this case violent crime. The commander-in-chief of the task force is given extra powers to make decisions and allocate resources.

According to Swedish police, the advantages of the approach include access to “more police officers or specialized skills” as well as making it easier to “reduce the load on ordinary police operations”.

The length of time that the task force operates depends on the incident. Police have said they expect this one to last for six months but this may be adjusted.

A särskild händelse might be run at the regional level, which is more common, or at the national level, in which case the police's national operations department Noa is responsible for its organization. For special regional incidents, regional police are responsible for the organization and may request support or extra resources from Noa, which has the final say in which help is approved.

The special incident introduced to deal with recent violent crime is a national one.

Previous examples of special national incidents in Sweden include those which dealt with the April 2017 Stockholm terror attack, the summer 2018 wildfires, the wave of migration in 2015, and then-US President Barack Obama's visit in 2013.

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CRIME

How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

There are two main types of fines that you could be given in Sweden: fixed fines which have a set value and fines which vary in value depending on your income. Here’s how they work.

Published: 23 April 2024 14:53 CEST
How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

How do fines work in Sweden?

The two most common types of fine are penningböter (a fixed amount of money) and dagsböter (which vary depending on your income and the severity of the crime committed).

There is a third type of fine, normerade böter, which are rare. These are usually calculated based on some aspect of the crime committed – like the value of an item stolen or damaged, or the horsepower of a motor involved in the crime, for example.

Who can issue these fines?

Fines in Sweden can be issued by four different authorities: the courts, the police, customs and the coast guard. 

Things like parking fines, fines for using public transport and library fines do also exist, but, legally speaking, they’re technically fees – kontrollavgifter or straffavgifter, rather than fines – böter. This is important, as true fines will leave you with a mark on your criminal record, while fees do not (although if you don’t pay them you may be issued with a black mark on your credit record).

Police and customs issue a type of penningböter (fixed fines) which are known as ordningsböter. If you’re given one of these fines and you admit to the crime straight away, then you essentially skip going through the courts and your fine is issued directly by the police instead of being issued by a judge in court. 

Ordningsböter can be issued for things like not being able to present your drivers licence or other ID when you’re driving a car (500 kronor), not having insurance on your moped (500 kronor), or antisocial behaviour in public spaces through, for example, urinating (800 kronor) or playing loud music (1,000 kronor).

As a general rule, fixed fines are issued for less serious crimes. They can vary in size from a minimum of 200 kronor to a maximum of 4,000 kronor per crime, while the maximum amount which can be issued at one time for multiple crimes is 10,000 kronor. These fines vary in size depending on the severity of the crime rather than the income of the person who has committed it.

Income-based fines or dagsböter (literally: “daily fines”) are issued for more serious crimes, like grievous bodily harm, theft, animal abuse, damage to property or taking pictures of classified buildings, so you’re not going to be issued one just for driving slightly over the speed limit.

How are dagsböter calculated?

They’re made up of two numbers. The first is the amount of fines issued, which varies depending on the severity of the crime (between 30 and 150, or 200 if they are being sentenced to fines for multiple crimes at once), and the second is the value of each fine, which depends on the income of the person charged, but must be between 50 and 1,000 kronor.

This means that the lowest possible daily fine is 30 fines of 50 kronor each, or 1,500 kronor, while the highest is 200 fines of 1,000 kronor each, or 200,000 kronor.

As a general rule, one daily fine is meant to be equivalent to one thousandth of the yearly income of the person charged, taking into account other aspects of their personal finances like debts, savings and anyone else they have to support financially. This means that two people committing the same crime can be sentenced to different fines.

Let’s say two people get in a fight and are sentenced to 80 daily fines each. The first one has no income, so their fine value is set at the minimum (50 kronor per daily fine) meaning they pay a total of 4,000 kronor. The other has a high yearly income, so their daily fine is set to 500 kronor, putting their total fine at 40,000 kronor, despite being sentenced for exactly the same crime.

Despite the name, daily fines are not paid by day, but they’re paid as a lump sum within 30 days from the date at which the sentence becomes legally binding. If the perpetrator of a fine refuses to pay, their fine will be passed on to the Enforcement Agency (Kronofogden), who have the power to seize and sell their assets to cover it.

If they refuse to pay the fine despite being financially able to, they can be sentenced to prison for anywhere between two weeks to three months.

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