this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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Sweden’s leader turns to the military for help as gang violence escalates (apnews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
46 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Sweden’s prime minister on Thursday said that he’s summoned the head of the military to discuss how the armed forces can help police deal with an unprecedented crime wave that has shocked the country with almost daily shootings and bombings.

Getting the military involved in crime-fighting would be a highly unusual step for Sweden, underscoring the severity of the gang violence that has claimed a dozen lives across the country this month, including teenagers and innocent bystanders.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that he would meet with the armed forces’ supreme commander and the national police commissioner on Friday to explore “how the armed forces can help police in their work against the criminal gangs.”

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[–] 332@feddit.nu 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (44 children)

And the authoritarians keep moving up their positions.

The debate over here is fucking crazy, the post-fascist backed government is sneering at any proposed solution with any nuance or suggested preventative measures included. It's all fucking military intervention, insane deregulation of policing, surveillance, harsher punishments, regressive drug policy, and anti immigration populism.

Do we have an uptick in violence because of a very specific ongoing gang conflict, yes. But Jesus Christ, not anywhere near the level that would excuse anything close to this.

[–] sarjalim@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I agree that the current government is implementing exactly 0 long-term strategies to help deal with the root cause of the problems, like strengthening and financing social services and welfare, healthcare and mental healthcare, schools and social programs, decriminalizing some drugs etc, to curb influx of underage criminals into the gangs and remove some of the economical incentives. The opposition is coming out with good suggestion after good suggestion, and the right-wing (by Swedish standards) government has basically just slashed welfare across the board in practice. They are going for only the hard-on-crime approach, which as far as I know has no real scientific proof of long-term efficacy unless paired with social/community interventions.

However, I think many swedes agree that the police need more resources - particularly people watching possible targets of future bombings and just more eyes on the gangs. We have one of the lowest number of police per capita in Europe, slightly higher than the rest of the Nordic countries tbf, but with much bigger problems with organized crime and violence.

I'm also horrified at this general societal development, but I can see the merit of involving some of the military in more eyes-on-the-ground kinds of operations for a few years until we have more of a grip on the gang situation. I prefer that to visitation zones, harsher punishments and more generalized surveillance of non-suspects being allowed.

But maybe I'm just naïve to the implications.

[–] 332@feddit.nu 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I don't really disagree fundamentally with any of this apart from the fact that I don't think involving the military at this point is anywhere near warranted. We'll have to see what happens I guess, I think it could be mostly saber rattling. "Look how seriously we're taking this!".

But more police, and specifically more police on tasks that actually matter and aren't just being pursued to pad their stats? That's fine.

[–] sarjalim@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, agreed, some of it is probably just bluster to seem like they're doing something.

However, even if we agree that more police resources are necessary, I don't know how we should get more of competent, educated police in the short term unless we involve military (who do have some education at least). The last thing I want is for us to rapidly employ new "police" (ordningsvakter) with only weeks or a few months of training - that's how we get additional problems with US-style police violence on top of the gang violence problems...

[–] 332@feddit.nu 2 points 1 year ago

Agreed. There are not really any good options here.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

In Ireland we have the special criminal court, it allows for the views of officials to be taken as evidence. Absolutely ripe for corruption but so far it hasn't been used for that. It is a closed door court with only the accused and the verdict being open to the public.

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[–] Spzi@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This was re-posted to the same community, 13 hours later, by the same person.

I prefer actual cross-posts over detached reposts, but still hope this was a mistake. It splits the comment sections.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Thanks for spotting this. Looks like the article changed its title and updated the text after I posted it the first time.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as deadly violence linked to a feud between criminal gangs escalated.

Hours later, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital.

Two gangs — one led by a Swedish-Turkish dual national who lives in Turkey, the other by his former lieutenant — are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons.

Earlier this week, two powerful explosions ripped through dwellings in central Sweden, injuring at least three people and damaging buildings, with bricks and window sections left spread outside.

On Thursday, Anders Thornberg, the police chief, said the feud “is a serious threat to the safety and security of the country” of 10 million people that is often considered a safe place with a low crime rate.

Strömmer said that it was “not relevant to deploy the military,” but that he was prepared to listen to all parties when it comes to solving the wave of violence.

The original article contains 479 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] mightygalahad@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago

I see the Swedish experiment is going just fine