A new Brå report shows that the proportion of serious crimes solved last year was 19 percent – the same level as in 2018.
One explanation for why the clearance rate is not increasing, despite large budget increases and more employees, is that serious crimes have simultaneously increased significantly, and investigations have become more complicated.
Katharina von Sydow says that there is a very heavy workload on investigators, who must both train new colleagues and be responsible for more complex investigations.
Rotation of Staff
"We have no pool of reserve police officers and the rotation of staff within the authority, where police officers are temporarily reassigned to areas with high demand, is impairing long-term work", she says in a comment.
To retain experienced police officers, better salaries and conditions and clear career paths are needed, von Sydow believes. She agrees with Brå that the investigator role "must be upgraded".
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) believes that the report confirms what the government already knows, that the clearance rate of crimes has been far too low for a long time.
He emphasizes that the government, when it appointed a new national police chief last autumn, was clear about wanting to increase pressure on investigative work – and also get a guarantee that the funds allocated to the police are being used as efficiently as possible.
Strömmer notes that the study extends up to 2023.
"When we look at the time after that, we can see that the clearance rate of serious crimes is increasing. And how more and more serious violent crimes are being stopped before they are committed", he says.
"Solving More"
The Police Authority notes that the crime trend during the studied period has been exceptional. However, it believes that much of the work is now going in the right direction.
"For example, we are solving significantly more explosions and shootings in gang environments, more frauds and more other volume crimes", writes the national media center in a comment.
However, for crimes against particularly vulnerable victims, such as women and children, deficiencies remain, despite the number of investigators having increased significantly.
"From this, one can conclude that adding personnel has not been the solution to increasing the clearance rate in this category, we need to work in a different way", writes the police.
