Fewer police officers in the external service despite more serious crimes

At the same time that Sweden’s population is increasing and the number of police officers has generally increased, the number of police officers in the external service has decreased, according to the statistics of the police authority, which has been read by the Police Journal.

In total, the number of police officers in external service has decreased by 177. In 2019 there were 9,049 police officers in external service, which corresponds to 88 police officers for every 100,000 inhabitants. If you compare it with 2015, the corresponding figure was 9226 police officers, which corresponds to 94 police officers for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Police Jeanette: “There must be financial gaps”

The police magazine has spoken with police officer Jeanette Banås Blixth, who is experiencing an increasingly stressful work environment in which they are forced to go from alarm to alarm.

According to her, the reduction may be due to the fact that it is demanding to work outdoors. Neither career paths nor salary are good enough for police officers to remain in the outside service, he says.

At the same time, Jeanette Banås Blixth points out that there is a shortage elsewhere in the organization and that it is easy for those who are not satisfied with the external service to apply elsewhere, writes Polistidningen.

– There must be gaps so that you have time to immerse yourself in what you are passionate about, such as visiting school or a traffic control. Now you think RLC will scream soon and then you’ll have to go again, he tells the newspaper.