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Demokratiskolan
The Police card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 86 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaSafety & defense
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Safety & defense

Police

Long arm of the law?

The Police (Polismyndigheten) is a single national agency, since 2015 merged from 21 county police authorities into one. Your municipality (kommun) therefore cannot hire more police, but it negotiates with the police about what the local officers should prioritize, and more and more municipalities hire their own public order guards.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · cooperation & order guards · approx 15 %
  • State · the whole police agency · approx 80 %
  • EU · europol & cooperation · approx 5 %

The Police is entirely national: the general election decides the budget and number of officers. But what they do in your area is shaped in cooperation with the municipality.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe cooperation partner
The regionOutside the mandate
Central governmentThe agency · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal executive board (kommunstyrelsen) and the crime prevention coordinator, in dialogue with the local police area.
No formal role in police matters.
The Riksdag, the Government and the Police (Polismyndigheten) with the National Police Commissioner at the head. The Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen) is a separate agency.
What do they decide?
Cooperation agreements and citizen pledges with the police, municipal public order guards, cameras and the preventive work the law requires.
The region meets the police's work through emergency care and psychiatry, but governs none of it.
All police activity: investigations, interventions, permits, border control. The Riksdag sets the budget, the Government the goals.
Where are decisions made?
In the cooperation agreement and in the municipality's safety work.
Not at all.
In the Riksdag's budget decisions, the Government's appropriation directions and the agency's own priorities.
Who pays?
Municipal tax: order guards, safety measures and preventive work.
Nothing earmarked.
The central government budget pays for the whole police.
Fastest way in?
The municipal election The municipal election steers the safety investments. Citizen dialogues ahead of the citizen pledges are open.
The regional election No direct way: the police are governed nationally and locally, not regionally.
The general election The general election decides the size of the police. The local police's citizen dialogues are open to everyone.
EUThrough Europol and the EU's police cooperation the police share information across borders. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case More police for your municipality: how it works
  1. State

    The Riksdag sets the budget

    How many police employees Sweden has is decided by the Riksdag's appropriation and by how many are trained. That is the only way to more police overall.

    Point of influence

    The general election is the election that steers the police's resources. No municipal decision can increase the number of officers.

  2. State

    The Police agency allocates

    The agency allocates the resources across seven police regions and on to police areas and local police areas. The allocation weighs population, crime and special needs.

  3. Municipality

    Municipality and police sign a cooperation agreement

    The local police area and the municipality agree on a shared situation picture and what is to be prioritized: school environments, the nightlife, traffic, exposed places.

    Point of influence

    The cooperation agreement is public. The municipal election decides who negotiates for your municipality.

  4. Municipality

    Citizen pledges take shape in dialogue

    The police and the municipality ask residents what creates a feeling of insecurity and promise concrete measures, such as visible police at the station on certain evenings.

    Point of influence

    The citizen dialogues are open: respond to the survey or come to the meeting. That direct an influence is unusual.

  5. Municipality

    The municipality complements with order guards

    Many municipalities hire public order guards for squares and town centers. They are appointed by the Police agency and may only operate in decided areas, paid for by the municipality.

  6. Your everyday life

    An area officer who knows your block

    The visible police effect in your everyday life is the sum of the Riksdag's budget, the agency's allocation and the municipality's negotiation work. Three decisions, two elections.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What would you want the officers in your area to prioritize, and do they know it?

  2. Are public order guards a good complement to the police or a sign that something is missing?

  3. The police have been national since 2015. What does your town gain and lose from the decisions being made far away?

  4. What builds your sense of safety most: visible police, solved crimes or something else entirely?

  5. Have you seen your municipality's citizen pledge, and does it match what you yourself would promise?

Glossary

Lokalpolisområde
The police's smallest geographic unit, the one that works closest to residents.
Samverkansavtal
An agreement between municipality and police on a shared situation picture and priorities.
Medborgarlöfte
A concrete commitment from police and municipality, based on dialogue with residents.
Ordningsvakt
A person appointed by the Police agency to maintain order in a defined area, often paid for by the municipality.
Regleringsbrev
The Government's annual steering document for an agency: goals, assignments and money.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.