Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

How did reported crime rates change in Sweden last year?

A total of more than 1.5 million crimes were reported in Sweden in 2019, representing only a very slight overall change from the previous year. But there were still significant changes, including an increase in rapes, drugs-related crimes, vandalism, and a decrease in home break-ins and thefts.

Published: 16 January 2020 12:12 CET
How did reported crime rates change in Sweden last year?
Police pictured attending a crime scene. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Two categories of crime saw a particularly significant increase in reporting rates: drugs crimes, which were up by six percent on the previous year, and crimes of vandalism, up by eight percent. Around half of the drugs-related crimes related to personal use, while possession crimes represented 43 percent of the total.

The figures come from the preliminary report by Sweden's National Council on Crime Prevention (Brå), and relate only to offences reported to police and investigated by authorities as a crime, so can't always be considered as a perfectly accurate impression of the level of crime within Sweden.

Another of the biggest increases was in the number of reported rapes, which was up by six percent with 8,350 reports made in 2019.

In most cases, the victim of rape was a woman or child (aged 0-17), with rapes of women accounting for 4,670 of the total. Of these crimes, almost a third (32 percent) were carried out by the partner of the victim. The number of reported rapes of children remained almost unchanged at 3,410.

Brå does not look into the reasons behind changes in report numbers in its annual statistics, but these changes can be caused by, for example, different conditions and law changes. In July 2018, Sweden changed its laws around sexual assault to include a charge of “negligent rape” which meant all sexual intercourse without explicit consent was categorized as rape.

Crimes related to fraud were the kind which saw the biggest reduction, with reported instances falling by six percent. 

When it comes to what Sweden calls 'crimes against an individual', including both physical and sexual assault, the overall number was more or less the same as in 2018, with 290,000 reports made. 

Within this category, there was a seven percent rise in crimes of assault against children (under-18-year-olds) of which a total of 25,200 reports were made.

The number of assaults against women was 28,000, a small reduction of one percent, with the majority of these crimes (78 percent) committed by a relative or acquaintance of the victim. Just under a third (31 percent) of crimes against women fell into the category of violence committed by a partner.

By contrast, almost two thirds (59 percent) of reported assaults against men were carried out by a stranger.

When it came to theft, there were 436,000 instances reported, which represents a reduction of two percent. The biggest reduction was when it came to pick-pocketing (down by eight percent) or break-ins to residential properties (down by 14 percent). Break-ins to houses fell by 13 percent while break-ins to apartments fell by 16 percent.

But muggings increased by 12 percent, reaching a total of 7,640 reported crimes in 2019. In 657 of these incidents, the perpetrator was reported to have a firearm. 

Brå's final statistics will be published in March.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLICE

Swedish police leaks scandal: How gang criminals got hold of sensitive information

A new report in Dagens Nyheter has revealed over 514 suspected leaks of sensitive information from at least 30 members of the police force to criminals since 2018. Here's what we know so far.

Published: 30 April 2024 12:28 CEST
Updated: 30 April 2024 15:45 CEST
Swedish police leaks scandal: How gang criminals got hold of sensitive information

What’s happened?

According to an investigative report by newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN), multiple gang members have infiltrated the police force by, for example, dating police employees, or using family connections to gain access to sensitive information about ongoing cases.

The first article in DN’s series focuses on a woman the newspaper calls Elin, who met a man, Jonas (not his real name), on a dating app when she had one year left of her police education. She falls in love, but his only goal with the relationship is to get a source within the police force which he can use for access to secret information.

Over the course of four years until she was caught, she made multiple illegal searches in the police register for Jonas, his associates and enemies, as well as providing him with information on ongoing investigations against him.

Other cases investigated by the newspaper include a border guard who sold classified information to gangs, a police officer who leaked information to what DN describes as “one of Sweden’s most notorious criminals” and an investigator who was dating a man she was investigating, who she shared screenshots of sensitive information with.

In another case, the police received a tip-off that information was being leaked to the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. It was discovered that a group of five alarm operators had made an unusually high number of searches for members of the Hells Angels, who were later discovered to have connections with the gang that they had lied about during their background checks.

What have the consequences of these leaks been?

In some cases, the leaks preceded revenge attacks on enemies of the gang member involved in the relationship. In other cases, the gang members’ enemies disappeared or were murdered.

Some of the people from the police force involved in the leaks were sentenced to fines for illegal data access or breaches of professional secrecy, while the evidence against others was not sufficient to prosecute. 

At least 30 employees had for different reasons been considered “security risks” and either resigned or were forced to quit, the newspaper reported, with over 514 suspected leaks taking place from police to criminals since 2018.

How do criminals find police officers?

According to DN, they look for things that can be used as blackmail, like police officers who buy drugs, or set “honey traps”, like the one used against Elin, where they meet police officers or students on dating apps and start a relationship.

“You take Tinder, for example, and set your search radius so the police school is in the centre. When you get a match, it’s easy to check if it’s a student, through class lists or how they present themselves on social media. They’re proud of their line of work,” Jonas told DN.

They might also use their family connections to put pressure on relatives who work in the police force.

Why is this important?

It’s important because Sweden has seen a rise in gang-related violence in recent years, with a surge in shootings and bombings as gangs fight for control over different drug markets.

Swedes also have a high level of trust in the police force – 72 percent according to a 2024 study by Medieakademin, topping the list of state authorities, with a higher level of trust than universities, healthcare, the courts and even the Swedish church. This was five percent higher than in 2023.

Although the vast majority of police officers do not leak information to criminal networks, Sweden does not have a history of organised crime infiltrating the police force, so officials are keeping a close eye on these leaks to make sure they don’t become more common.

On April 29th, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told TT newswire that the leaks were “very serious”, potentially putting trust in the police force at risk.

“There are many great risks and one is that trust in police declines, that people get the idea that mafia-like methods are used to infiltrate law enforcement,” he said, before adding that he was unable to say whether it constituted a threat to national security or not purely based on the initial DN article.

“But the mere suspicion of these types of connections are damaging,” he told the newswire.

What happens now?

Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told DN that he planned to call a meeting with police leadership about the reports, which he described as “extremely serious”.

“[At that meeting] we will consider the need for further measures,” he said.

“Leaking sensitive information to criminals is against the law and can have very damaging consequences for the work of the police force,” Strömmer told DN, adding that it could undermine trust in the police and “damage democracy”.

Last summer, the government increased the penalty for breaching professional secrecy, and a special investigator was tasked with looking at a potential reform of the rules on corruption and professional misconduct in February – the Crime Prevention Council is also involved in that investigation, where it has been asked to provide information on how gangs use government employees.

“Protecting the integrity of the justice system against infiltration and other security threats is a central part of the new national strategy against organised crime that the government decided on earlier this year, and it is given the highest priority in our assignments to the authorities,” Strömmer told the newspaper.

SHOW COMMENTS