The same number of serious crimes unsolved – despite 30 percent more police officers

Published 17 October 2024 at 10.28

Domestic. Since 2017, the government's grant to the Police Agency has increased by 80 percent and the workforce has grown significantly. But the percentage of serious crimes that are solved has not changed, shows a new evaluation from Brå that is published today.

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The number of employees in the police investigation teams for serious crimes has increased by roughly 30 percent between 2018 and 2023. The percentage of solved crimes, however, remains unchanged at 19 percent during the entire time period. A development which, according to Brå, can partly be explained by the fact that serious crimes have become significantly more numerous and also more complex.

– We see that the police have had an insufficient ability to meet the development of serious crimes in recent years. Staff growth has taken place too late in relation to the development of crime and it has become more difficult to find staff with the right skills. The situation is particularly serious in the Stockholm police region, which has had significantly lower growth than other regions, says Kristin Franke Björkman, investigator at Brå.

The investigation of serious crimes linked to organized crime, such as explosions and shootings, has increased from 27 to 30 percent during the period studied. This type of crime has been clearly prioritized, which has partly come at the expense of investigating other types of crime.

– In order to deal with the most serious crimes, the solution has often been to borrow personnel from other parts of the authority that do not usually deal with serious crimes, but these temporary transfers are not an efficient use of personnel resources, but rather create a “hole” that is moved around in the organization, says Lina Fjelkegård, investigator at Brå, in a press release.

In addition to moving personnel, it has also become more common for serious crimes to be investigated not by specialized groups but by local police areas. It risks having a negative impact on the local police areas' investigation of mass crime. Brå's analyzes show that local police areas with a high proportion of serious crimes generally have lower detection rates of mass crimes.

Brå has also analyzed the investigation results for crimes in close relationships, rape and crimes against children, so-called crimes against particularly vulnerable crime victims. Since the reinforcement of resources began, the number of employees who are supposed to investigate these crimes has increased by 70 percent, while the influx of cases has remained constant. Despite this development, the clearance rate has only increased from 12 to 14 percent.

– The strong staff growth has not produced the results one would expect when it comes to crimes against particularly vulnerable crime victims. There is potential here to increase clarification, but not through further staff growth. The personnel situation is unstable in several places, with high absenteeism and deficiencies in management and control, and this is something the authority needs to review, says Kristin Franke Björkman.