Swedish police would like to have more technical tools and fewer legal restraints when it comes to working against criminal networks online.
The Swedish legislation needs to change a bit so that we can build new IT capabilities that can keep pace with what the opponents are using, said Theodor Smedius at the police's national operational department (Noa) in a recent interview with TT.
Sweden praised
However, Sweden's work in the area is being praised from a European perspective.
We at Europol are now trying to learn from what Sweden has done so that we can tackle this problem together, because it is no longer limited to just northern Europe, says spokesperson Claire Georges.
According to Georges, Sweden has been a "pioneer" even when it comes to the activity of criminal gangs.
Initially, this was something we saw in northern Europe, including Sweden. But we now see that it is spreading across Europe, she says and continues:
Organized crime has mutated. In a report we released last week, we point out that violence and violence as a commodity no longer involve gang rivalry, it has become a business model. And they use digital media to recruit young people.
Key
Exactly how big the problem is in Europe, Georges has no figures on, but she emphasizes that it is significant.
We have listed it as one of the keys to tackling organized crime.
Theodor Smedius at Noa believes that the gangs now have almost a smorgasbord of job offers. A picture confirmed by Claire Georges:
It's the business model now, the violence has been industrialized in that way. The gangs have identified the recruitment of young people as an easy way to achieve their goals.
Borderless
The digital environment, whether it's on the more publicly accessible social media or the encrypted chats, also implies a borderless transformation, according to Georges.
Technology has taken this type of crime (recruitment) off the streets. You can sit in another country and order this.
Georges, like the Swedish police, would also like to see laws around what tools the police have online and what technology they are allowed to use become more permissive:
Our lives would be much easier if we could use the same tools as the criminals.
