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Demokratiskolan
The Safety & security card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 107 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaSafety & defense
  • Centre of gravityThe municipality
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe municipal election
Safety & defense

Safety & security

Feeling safe about where you are

Feeling safe where you live is something other than being statistically safe, and both are shaped by political decisions. This is the cluster's most municipal card: the lighting, the park, the public order guards and the crime prevention work lie largely in the municipal offices.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · environments, guards & prevention · approx 50 %
  • Region · safe public transport & care · approx 10 %
  • State · police & laws · approx 40 %

The safety in your everyday life is shaped most in the municipal election: the urban environment, lighting, public order guards and preventive work are local decisions.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe everyday environment · centre of gravity
The regionThe journey & the care
Central governmentThe framework & the police
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige), the technical committee, the social welfare committee and the crime prevention coordinator.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the public transport committee.
The Riksdag, the Police (Polismyndigheten) and Brå.
What do they decide?
Lighting, parks, youth centers, public order guards, cameras on municipal land and the statutory crime prevention work.
Safety on board and at stations: safety hosts, cameras and staffing, plus the care that meets those affected.
The police's presence, the laws on public order guards and camera surveillance, and national safety surveys that show the situation.
Where are decisions made?
In the committees' decisions, the municipality's situation picture and the cooperation agreement with the police.
In public transport's safety work and the region's budget.
In the Riksdag's laws and the police's priorities, measured in Brå's surveys.
Who pays?
Municipal tax: the urban environment, guards and preventive efforts.
Regional tax and the ticket revenue.
The central government budget: the police and the justice system.
Fastest way in?
The municipal election Report broken lighting, go on a safety walk, respond to the safety survey.
The regional election Report unsafe travel environments to the transport company, the regional election steers the staffing.
The general election The general election steers the police's resources. Citizen dialogues with the local police are open.
EUThe EU has no direct role in your local safety, this is decided in Swedish elections.

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 A dark underpass becomes safe
  1. Municipality

    The insecurity shows in the survey

    The municipality's safety survey and the police's dialogues point to the same place: the tunnel under the tracks is avoided after dark, especially by women and the elderly.

    Point of influence

    Respond to the safety survey when it comes. The places pointed out are the ones that get fixed.

  2. Municipality

    The situation picture demands action

    Since 2023 the municipality is obliged to map insecurity and crime and decide on measures. The tunnel ends up in the action plan that the council follows up.

  3. Municipality

    A safety walk with residents

    The municipality, the police and residents walk the stretch together in the dark: where is it shady, what is broken, where is sight needed. The record becomes a concrete order.

    Point of influence

    Safety walks are open to residents. It is one of the most direct ways to change your immediate surroundings.

  4. Municipality

    The technical committee rebuilds

    New lighting, trimmed bushes, painted walls and repaired asphalt. If needed, the municipality applies to the police for camera surveillance or a public order guard area.

  5. State

    The police add their part

    The local police include the place in their citizen pledge and pass by more often. The central government's part is the presence and the laws, the municipality's part is the environment.

  6. Your everyday life

    You take the tunnel again

    Six months later the survey shows that more people walk through the tunnel instead of the detour. The safety was built by a survey, a walk and two committee decisions.

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. Which place do you avoid where you live, and does the municipality know about it?

  2. The sense of safety and the crime statistics sometimes point in different directions. Which of them should policy follow?

  3. Cameras and guards in more places: what does safety gain and what does freedom lose?

  4. What makes a place safe for you: people, light, order or something else?

  5. Whose insecurity is taken most seriously in your municipality, and whose should be taken more seriously?

Glossary

Trygghetsvandring
An organized walk where residents, municipality and police examine an environment together and propose measures.
Trygghetsmätning
A survey of where and when residents feel unsafe, the basis for measures.
Lägesbild
The municipality's mapping of crime and insecurity, a legal requirement since 2023.
Ordningsvaktsområde
A defined area where public order guards may operate, decided by the Police agency after an application.
Medborgarlöfte
A concrete commitment from police and municipality, based on dialogue with residents.

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.