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Opinions on the list of vulnerable areas for the police have diverged since the police authority first mapped the vulnerable areas in 2015 and published the results. Then there were 55, today 60 areas are categorized as vulnerable, risk areas and particularly vulnerable.
The next update will likely be in late 2021, according to Linda Staaf, head of Noa’s intelligence unit, the police’s national operational department.
– There are many things that affect the calendar but planning is what I see in front of me. We have developed this so that we have a uniform national situation and to know where we need to strengthen the police presence and invest even more in local cooperation, he says.
Mapping is done in several steps and it consists of a combination of local information gathering on, for example, the types of crimes that are committed, their scope and where drugs are openly traded. In addition, an estimate of the offenders’ capacity and a written description of the situation are made. Noah collects the information and conducts an overall assessment. According to Linda Staaf, the process and criteria are reviewed each time the authority produces a new list.
– It’s very much about the new knowledge we have and what the world was like in 2015 compared to today. We follow it continuously. We wonder if the right criteria still exist and if we are looking at the right things based on the problems, says Staaf.
However, the basis must remain: a survey of the impact of criminals on the residents of these areas, a total of just over half a million people.
– If we change the criteria, it will not be comparable to the evaluations we did in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and then suddenly we cannot follow the development anymore, says Linda Staaf.
Criminologist Manne Gerell.
Photo: Anders Hansson
Criminologist Manne Gerell at the University of Malmö he participated in the development of the police method of categorizing vulnerable areas. However, he believes that the model relies too heavily on subjective assessment by the police and calls for a more objective variant.
– Today, the Local Police area performs an assessment based on how the situation is experienced. They are free to take statistics and many do. But it would be helpful if they were served statistics on the area instead. Then they can add their assessment of how they experience problems, he says.
Manne Gerell would prefer Sweden to follow the Danish model, which is based more on statistics.
– This could be crime statistics or to further develop work on how to use unemployment statistics.
Peter Johansson Municipal Police in Norrköping, with two exposed areas, is on the same track. The list is necessary, but the police must invite more actors, he believes.
– We would obtain a more realistic image and not just the police image. Then we can discover things that we do not know.
The Norrköping police are already cooperating with the municipality and other social actors in the fight against crime, and it appears to have paid off. In 2019, one of Norrköping’s vulnerable areas was removed from the list and Peter Johansson hopes that Noa will be able to remove another area next year. But when it comes to the basis of the list, it has been based mainly on the evaluation of the police.
– It would be better if we could sit down with the municipality, the owners and others, for example, the religious communities that exist. But Noah’s homework needs to come earlier so we have time to do it in a better and more structured way, he says.
Erik Pelling (S), Chairman of the Uppsala City Council.
Photo: Fredrik Samuelson
Uppsala is an example on how it can be when the municipality has not been involved in the data. When Noa classified the Gottsunda district as a particularly vulnerable area in 2017, it came as a shock to the municipality, which called for a crisis meeting.
– The first years the list came from clear skies, not even the local police knew hours before. It was not optimal, says Erik Pelling (S), chairman of the municipal board.
Now the police have gotten better at reporting, but that’s not enough. Pelling says he has repeatedly pointed out to National Police Chief Anders Thornberg that a lack of transparency has been a problem.
– If we want to have effective cooperation between the police, the municipality and others, the police must open up and be clear about how they draw up the list and according to what criteria. How do we measure, for example, if there is a culture of silence and how can we contribute to breaking it in the municipality?
Read more: The list of vulnerable areas of the police in 2019
