Police: “We are an extremely vulnerable professional group”

Pär Lundh, external officer and group manager at Farsta, cleans the police car, something that should be done after each session to reduce the risk of spreading the infection.Image: Janerik Henriksson / TT

In the garage below the Farsta police station in southern Stockholm, the equipment storage no longer looks like it used to. Two tables are filled with bottles of rubbing alcohol, detergent, gloves, mouth guards, and prepackaged cleaning kits. All prepared to protect the police officers who go to the external service and to protect the many citizens who are during each session.

At least as concerned as police assistant Anna Höglund is about being infected by the coronavirus, she is about to become something of a “super-spreader.”

– I don’t want to become a spreader because we move between different groups and people in society. We will do our best not to start spreading it between people, since you know a lot of people, only during one work shift, he says.

The police is a socially critical activities. This means that it should work even in the event of a serious crisis, such as many employees falling ill at the same time. The corona pandemic has in some places changed the employment situation of Anna Höglund and her colleagues in the external service. After each pass, the police car must be cleaned. They think about keeping their distance when meeting people.

But it is not always possible to fully protect yourself as a police officer, as when you have to go fast and you have to physically intervene against a person. Or when the police have to help a person in need.

– If you go into cardiac arrest, for example when you go to an apartment and care for people, then you may feel like “I don’t know anything about this person”. If you want to arrest someone, you can still have a dialogue, and many then say if they had a cough or fever, says Anna Höglund.

Sometimes When the police know that they are going to meet a person infected by the corona, they wear special protective equipment, including a protective mask. In addition, it is subsequently passed to a decontamination station, where a structured undressing is carried out and clothes and a car are washed.

– If you know that a person has covid, you have had time to prepare. So we protect ourselves and clean up afterwards, says Pär Lundh, external officer and group manager in the local Farsta police area.

– It is worse when you have treated a person very closely, we may have received blood and body fluids, and then you find out that this person had been diagnosed with an infection. It’s harder to handle, he continues.

Then the pandemic It started, there have been reports of several cases where police officers were threatened with corona by people they intervened against and coughed up. Anna Höglund has also heard such threats on several occasions. But it also happens that people cautiously warn that they have symptoms.

– They apologize and say that just so you know, I’ve been coughing the last few days. Show some kind of solidarity in society, says Pär Lundh.

– And some who have had a crown and have antibodies have said it, so there are both, adds Anna Höglund.

Both Anna Höglund and Pär Lundh give a very calm impression when it comes to the risk of infection. It may have to do with the fact that cops are used to dealing with dangerous situations, it’s all about the profession.

– When people escape, we are expected to enter. People call us for a reason, because they want help. And I’ve never experienced someone who doesn’t want to move on at anything, but we do our job anyway, says Pär Lundh.

Now it increases again the spread of the infection and for that there are plans in place within the police, according to Kristin Sylten, deputy chief of staff for the crown in the Stockholm region.

Should many police officers become ill in the same workplace, staff can be redirected or strengthened between police regions.

– If it becomes really critical, it is about prioritizing and we have them clear. We planned for it to get worse, says Kristin Sylten.

At an uncertain time, it is important to security that police operations are seen to be working, he believes.

– The pandemic means a concern in society and therefore it is important that we contribute to creating security, that we are there. May our planning be good and may we be prepared.