If we are to move towards the EU average, it is most likely that we will have 10,000 more police officers in Sweden, says National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh.
Today, there are almost 25,000 police officers in Sweden – and growth continues. But how many police officers should we have? So far, a new concrete police goal from the government is lacking.
The previous goal of 10,000 more police officers by 2024 is outdated, and was not achieved as intended. It became too many civilian employees and too few new police officers.
After that, the politicians' approach has instead been to set a police goal based on police density.
Police officers - not civilians
A reasonable starting point, according to the government, is 300 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, which they mean roughly corresponds to the average in the EU.
Sweden currently has a police density of 237 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants.
At present, we are far below the EU average, notes Petra Lundh.
To reach the EU goal, she estimates that 10,000 more police officers are needed, but perhaps even more.
When the goal is to be achieved, the Police Authority cannot say. It is said to depend entirely on continued financing and investment in police growth from the government's side.
But the National Police Commissioner emphasizes that the increase this time will consist of police officers, and not civilians.
That's what they changed last time (in the old police goal). At first, they said police officers, then it became police employees, and a majority of those hired were civilian employees, says Lundh.
In the end, it became just under 4,000 more police officers, and almost 7,500 more civilian employees, during the period 2016-2024.
External service
The police's own goal is now to grow with a thousand police officers every year, of which a clear majority will be in external service.
This means that we are currently training approximately 1,700 new police officers every year. Then there are always some who quit, but we expect a net increase of a thousand per year, says Petra Lundh.
The government will set a new police goal, but it is unclear when it will be presented.
The EU figures on police density have been criticized at the same time. This is because the definition of what is meant by a police officer can differ between countries, which can make comparisons misleading. The police have no comments on the fact that it is the figure that the government uses.
There are currently approximately 25,000 police officers in Sweden.
Police density is around 237 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants.
The government has not set a new concrete police goal, but has talked about reaching a police density of at least 300 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, which is considered to correspond to the EU average.
The police's own goal is to grow with 1,000 police officers per year.
The old police goal of 10,000 more police employees applied to 2016-2024. In the end, it became approximately 4,000 new police officers and approximately 7,500 more civilian employees.
Source: The Government, the Police
