Within a week, five Swedes have been arrested suspected of crimes in Denmark. Denmark's Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard (S) now believes that "Sweden must clean up its mess".
A criticism that Gunnar Strömmer agrees with.
That's also why we're now changing our policy on a broad front and we're doing it to a high degree with Denmark as a model, he says.
In practice, we're now implementing the Danish gang packages.
"Swedish gang package"
Strömmer mentions, among other things, residence bans, visitation zones, and double penalties for serious weapons offenses, all of which were rolled out this spring.
Other things are taking longer, such as anonymous witnesses, where the government's legislative proposal was rejected by the Law Council this spring, double penalties for gang criminals, where an investigation will present proposals first in May next year, and criminalization of gang participation, which may not become a reality until after the next election.
Danish politicians have particularly expressed outrage after young Swedes take on murder assignments in group chats and called the development frightening. Since April, criminal gangs in Denmark have attempted to recruit "Swedish child soldiers" to perform tasks 25 times, according to the Danish Justice Minister.
"More effective tools"
Does the Swedish police have the right competence and tools to tackle this problem?
I perceive that the Swedish police are very competent when it comes to the digital environment, and also through our reforms, they're getting increasingly effective tools to be effective, says Strömmer.
However, the police need to get the right to go through mobile phones even with suspects under 15 years old, he believes.
There, we have an investigation underway to develop the police's opportunities to do so.
