Police safety-creation and crime-prevention work

The plan stipulates that crime cannot be met only with harder measures and that much more focus must be directed at preventing new recruitment, with schools, leisure time and social services as tools. Strengthening police's safety-creating and crime-prevention mandate in law, with more research, method development and resources in vulnerable areas, is a direct expression of this. The plan also wants work against violent crime to be based on research.

• prevention before repressiondecisive»För att få ner brottsligheten går det inte bara att vara hård mot de kriminella, det gäller att vara smartare än de kriminella.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“In order to get down crime, it's not enough to be hard on criminals, you have to be smarter than criminals.”
• prevent new recruitment»Vissa straff kan behöva höjas men mycket mer fokus måste riktas mot att förhindra rekryteringen av nya barn till gängkriminalitet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Some punishments may need to be increased but much more focus must be directed at preventing recruitment of new children to gang crime.”
• research-based work against violence»Vi vill se ett genomgripande arbete mot våldsbrottslighet, som utgår« (party programme ↗)“We want to see comprehensive work against violent crime, which is based”
• strong local communities»Starka lokalsamhällen,« (party programme ↗)“Strong local communities,”

The election manifesto promises that for every krona for more police at least one krona shall be spent on crime prevention work and that both crimes and the causes of crimes shall be combated. The counter-proposal wishes to strengthen the crime prevention task in law and discuss the balance between emergency response and prevention, which is in line with that prioritisation. The party programme also sees an equal society as the best long-term crime-fighting.

• equal resources for preventiondecisive»För varje krona som läggs på fler poliser, ska minst en krona läggas på det förebyggande arbetet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“For every krona spent on more police, at least one krona shall be spent on crime prevention work.”
• combat causes of crime»Bekämpa både brotten och brottens orsaker.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Combat both the crimes and the causes of crimes.”
• agency cooperation»Det behövs mer samarbete mellan polis, elevhälsa, socialtjänst och skola.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“There is a need for greater cooperation between police, student welfare, social services and school.”
• equality prevents crime»Men den långsiktigt bästa brottsbekämpningen är att bygga ett samhälle där de sociala« (party programme ↗)“But the best long-term crime-fighting is building a society where social”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan states that crime prevention work is the foundation for a safe society and that the most important occurs through reducing marginalization, and that the police shall be given the preconditions to work both supportively and in a crime-preventing manner. It also wants to make major efforts on prevention work in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Strengthening the provisions on the crime prevention mandate in law thereby aligns with the plan.

• prevention as foundationdecisive»Det brottsförebyggande arbetet är grunden för ett« (party programme ↗)“Crime prevention work is the foundation for a”
• prevention in deprived areas»storsatsa på det förebyggande arbetet i socioekonomiskt eftersatta områden.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“make major efforts on prevention work in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.”
• police prevention role»Polisen ska ges förutsättningar att arbeta såväl« (party programme ↗)“The police shall be given preconditions to work both”
• reduced marginalization»minska marginaliseringen och utsattheten i samhället.« (party programme ↗)“reduce marginalization and vulnerability in society.”

The manifesto makes preventive measures a separate priority alongside a strengthened chain of justice and particularly wants to prevent recruitment to gangs, which is the core of the counter-proposal's demand for a clearer crime prevention mandate. The plan furthermore wants more police present in disadvantaged areas and a more locally rooted police, which requires both methods and resources for prevention.

• invest in preventive measuresdecisive»Vi behöver rusta Sveriges totalförsvar, stärka hela rättskedjan, satsa på förebyggande insatser och en likvärdig skola.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We need to strengthen Sweden's total defense, strengthen the entire chain of justice, invest in preventive measures and an equitable school.”
• prevent recruitment»bättre insatser som förebygger nyrekrytering« (2022 manifesto ↗)“better measures that prevent recruitment”
• police presence in disadvantaged areas»Fler poliser ska finnas närvarande i vardagen, både i utsatta områden och på landsbygden.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“More police should be present in daily life, both in disadvantaged areas and in rural areas.”
• local crime prevention work»För att utveckla det brottsförebyggande arbetet vill Centerpartiet också skapa en mer lokalt förankrad polis« (party programme ↗)“To develop crime prevention work, the Centre Party also wants to create a more locally rooted police”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto explicitly requires that crime prevention work be legislated, which is precisely the kind of stronger statutory language the counter-proposal wants to see. The party programme establishes that prevention and prosecution of crime is an important task for both municipalities and state, and that criminal policy shall unite crime-fighting with broad crime prevention work. The plan also points out the socially disadvantaged areas as the place where prevention work is most needed.

• legislated crime prevention workdecisive»Kommuners brottsförebyggande arbete ska lagstadgas.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Municipalities' crime prevention work shall be legislated.”
• shared prevention task»Arbetet med att förebygga och beivra brott är en viktig uppgift för såväl kommuner som staten.« (party programme ↗)“The work of preventing and prosecuting crime is an important task for both municipalities and the state.”
• broad crime prevention work»En socialliberal rättspolitik förenar brottsbekämpning med ett brett förebyggande arbete samt med en kriminalvård som ger individen förutsättningar att bryta med en kriminell livsstil.« (party programme ↗)“A social liberal criminal policy unites crime-fighting with broad crime prevention work and with criminal care that gives the individual conditions to break with a criminal lifestyle.”
• prevention in disadvantaged areas»En starkare skola i Sveriges utsatta områden kommer göra att färre unga glider in i kriminaliteten.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“A stronger school in Sweden's disadvantaged areas will make it so fewer young people slide into criminality.”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan establishes that the most important way to combat crime is through preventive measures and that the police's outward-directed crime prevention work and cooperation with social services and schools should be given high priority. Strengthening the provisions on the safety-creating and crime-preventing mission in law is in line with this and with the election manifesto's requirement for strengthened crime prevention work. The plan's requirement for streamlining the police's mission is a qualifying but not conflicting point.

• prevention before repressiondecisive»Det viktigaste sättet att bekämpa brottslighet är genom« (party programme ↗)“The most important way to combat crime is through”
• police crime prevention mission»Det utåtriktade brottsförebyggande« (party programme ↗)“The outward-directed crime prevention”
• strengthened crime prevention work»Tryggheten på gator och torg måste återupprättas, brottsförebyggande arbetet måste stärkas, brottslingar dömas och brottsoffer få upprättelse.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Safety on streets and squares must be restored, crime prevention work must be strengthened, criminals must be sentenced and crime victims receive redress.”
• streamlined police mission»Renodla polisens uppdrag.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Streamline the police's mission.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan wants to clarify the police's task with focus on detecting, investigating and clearing up crime, not to broaden it with tightened legislative provisions about a crime-prevention task. The preventive effort is instead placed in social services, schools and abuse care and in putting more gang criminals in prison, according to the plan. To move police resources from response and investigation to prevention therefore goes against the plan's prioritisation.

• clarified police taskdecisive»Renodla Polisens uppdrag med fokus på att upptäcka, utreda och klara upp brott« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Clarify the police's task with focus on detecting, investigating and clearing up crime”
• prison is most effective prevention»På kort sikt är den mest effektiva brottsförebyggande åtgärden att sätta fler gängkriminella i fängelse.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“In the short term, the most effective crime-prevention measure is to put more gang criminals in prison.”
• prevention through social services and schools»Det handlar om över 50 reformer för att stärka socialtjänst, skola och missbruksvård.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It involves over 50 reforms to strengthen social services, schools and abuse care.”
• knowledge centre for crime prevention»Inrätta ett nationellt kunskapscentrum för brottsprevention och ett nationellt avhopparprogram för gängkriminella« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Establish a national knowledge centre for crime prevention and a national exit programme for gang criminals”

The plan explicitly takes a position against focusing on prevention measures that have not proven to work and instead requires that the criminal policy direction be redirected towards zero tolerance and incapacitation. Legislating and prioritising the police's crime prevention mandate at the expense of emergency response and investigation thus goes against the plan, which wants to streamline the police authority to combat criminality. The plan's prevention track concerns tougher early interventions, not expanded social prevention.

• rejects soft preventiondecisive»Istället för att bortförklara brott och rikta fokus mot förebyggande integrationsåtgärder som inte visat sig fungera, är det hög tid att lägga om den kriminalpolitiska inriktningen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Instead of dismissing crime and focusing on prevention integration measures that have not proven to work, it is high time to redirect criminal policy.”
• zero tolerance and incapacitation»Sveriges kriminalpolitik behöver helt läggas om för att bygga på nolltolerans och inkapacitering.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden's criminal policy needs to be completely redirected to be based on zero tolerance and incapacitation.”
• streamlined police mandate»polismyndigheten bör renodlas till att bekämpa brottsligheten och finnas nära medborgarna« (2022 manifesto ↗)“the police authority should be streamlined to combat criminality and be present close to citizens”
• early but sharp interventions»Ge socialtjänst, skola och rättsväsende möjlighet att ingripa med tuffare tag i ett tidigt skede« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Give social services, schools and the legal system the opportunity to intervene with a tougher hand at an early stage”