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This weekend, the deputy chief of the National Police, Mats Löfving, threw a pair of real fire torches at the criminal policy debate. Based on intelligence material, Löfving claimed in Ekot’s interview on Saturday that there are more than 40 criminal networks in Sweden based on blood ties.
– They have come to Sweden solely for the purpose of organizing and systematizing crime. They work to generate power, they have a great capacity for violence and they want to earn money, he explained.
The police chief also called the discussion about integration naive and said that some families have no ambition for their children to become part of Sweden, that they are brought up for a life of crime.
It is excellent that Löfving is taking the leaf from his mouth on this delicate subject. But it is strange that it took so long for the police leadership to speak clearly. At least since Operation Tore, which destroyed much of the Södertälje network in the early 2010s, the police should have known about the problem.
It is very likely that the silence on the large scale has delayed important efforts by other social actors, whom the police often call out for support.
The tough message from the police must have concrete effects on the functioning of the public sector. Most social service tools against young offenders, for example, require parental approval. Of course, that order does not apply to families where crime is encouraged. Laws and regulations need to be changed here.
The authorities must also cooperate much more to access the networks. The joint work that has been started against the Ali Khan family in Gothenburg and described by Johanna Bäckström Lerneby in the book “The Family” is a good example.
Now you need politicians who have the strength to keep up the pressure.
However, what is most worrying about the interview with Mats Löfving is his description of how the clans are involved in business, political life and the government of municipalities.
Of course, it is completely unacceptable for members of a criminal network to set up barricades in certain suburbs of Gothenburg in late August in connection with a conflict with a competing gang. But really, it’s the calm that subsided after representatives from various networks got together and made up at least as sinister.
Because the further into the body of society the criminal clans and the more the black markets are divided among themselves, the less need they will have to use force to achieve their purposes.
Mats Löfving complained in the interview about how those in power turn yo-yo in their commitment to gang crime and adapt to media pressure on the issue.
Politicians are now needed who are able to keep up the pressure even if visible violence in the form of shootings and explosions diminishes.
Unfortunately, the criminal clans are supposed to be here to stay.
Read more:
“Sweden has turned a blind eye to the power of the clans“
“Do not throw the clan after people without evidence”
This is how society is threatened by criminal gangs. Hans Brun visits Ledarsnack.
