Published 8 December 2021 at 18.11
Domestic. Almost half of the police in the country have been subjected to some form of threat or violence in the last twelve months. Among police officers in the intervention activities, it is just over 8 out of 10. And the threats are becoming increasingly serious, shows a new report from the Swedish Police Association which was released today.
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Police officers are exposed to everything from threats to themselves and their families, violent resistance, kicks and blows. They get stones and bottles thrown at them and are shot at by pyrotechnics.
It shows a new Novus survey that the Police Association conducts every two years among more than 2,000 police officers.
The overall conclusion of the report is that the exposure to threats and violence remains at high levels – despite the fact that we have lived with corona restrictions.
– This is a development that we can never accept and we must reverse it. Threats and violence against police officers are an attack on society as a whole, says Lena Nitz, chairwoman of the Swedish Police Confederation, in a press release.
The report shows that eight out of ten police officers (82 percent) believe that there are rarely or never enough police officers in external service to handle potential or actual violence against police colleagues in the best possible way. The survey also shows that 87 percent of respondents believe that the exposure to threats and violence will increase in the next two years.
In addition, few police officers report when they have been exposed to threats and violence. Many people think that this is not an idea because it still does not lead to anything. 53 percent of the police in the survey also believe that they do not get the full training required to handle the tasks in the safest possible way.
– Not getting the backing required when something happens is incredibly serious. The single most important measure to address the vulnerability of police officers is because we are becoming more numerous. With more police officers, we can get more solved crimes, work more with preventive measures but also make more safe interventions, says Lena Nitz.