The appropriations to the authority have increased by 80 percent since 2017, and the number of employees in the police's investigation groups for serious crimes has increased by more than 30 percent between 2018 and 2023. Yet, the proportion of cleared crimes remains at 19 percent throughout the period, shows an evaluation from the Crime Prevention Council (Brå).
According to Brå, the development can be partly explained by the fact that serious crimes have become significantly more numerous and complicated to investigate.
"The personnel growth has occurred too late in relation to the crime development, and it has become more difficult to find personnel with the right competence," says Kristin Franke Björkman, investigator at Brå, according to a press release.
The situation is particularly serious in Stockholm, which has had a clearly lower growth rate than other regions.
Gang Crime Prioritized
On the other hand, the clearance rate for serious crimes linked to organized crime, such as bombings and shootings, has increased from 27 to 30 percent during the period. These investigations have been prioritized by the police, partly at the expense of other types of crime, according to Brå.
"To handle the most serious crimes, the solution has often been to borrow personnel from other parts of the authority who normally do not handle serious crimes, but these temporary reassignments are not an effective use of personnel resources and instead create a 'hole' that is moved around in the organization," says Lina Fjelkegård, investigator at Brå.
The evaluation shows that it has become more common for serious crimes to be investigated by local police areas, instead of by specialized groups. This can negatively affect the local police areas' ability to investigate volume crimes, and Brå's analyses show that areas with many serious crimes generally have lower clearance rates for volume crimes.
Crimes in Close Relationships
Brå has also examined the results for investigations of crimes in close relationships, rape, and crimes against children. The number of employees who are to investigate these crimes has increased by 70 percent since the resource reinforcement began. The clearance rate has, however, only risen from 12 to 14 percent – despite the influx of cases being the same.
"The strong personnel growth has not yielded the results one could expect when it comes to crimes against particularly vulnerable victims. Here, there is potential to increase the clearance rate, but not through further personnel growth," says Kristin Franke Björkman.
