A survey of police across Sweden has revealed that a majority of officers want the government to deport more foreign criminals and abolish discounts on prison sentences.
The survey, which was commissioned by the Swedish Police Union and conducted by the firm NOVUS, found that a large majority of police officers, 64 per cent, agreed that the government should increase the deportation of foreign criminals.
A total of 66 per cent of officers said that they wanted to abolish automatic release after prisoners serve two-thirds of their sentences and 64 per cent wanted to get rid of “youth discounts” on sentences for younger criminals, newspaper Aftonbladet reports.
“We see that there are many criminal policy proposals coming from the politicians. Then we think it is important that you listen to the profession, and the police officers who, despite a lack of resources and with an increasingly complex crime development, work to create a safer society,” police union leader Lena Nitz said.
“We have a frustration from our members that you see both serious criminal criminals, but also people who commit mass crimes in droves, if I put it that way, who will soon be out on the streets again,” Nitz added.
Deportations of criminals may have some impact on Sweden’s levels of crime, particularly in fatal shootings, as nearly nine in ten of the suspects involved in such killings in Sweden come from some form of migration background.
Recently, many in the Swedish establishment admitted that there is a link between migration and crime, with Gothenburg police commissioner Erik Nord linking migration to fatal gun crime last year.
“It is no longer a secret today that much of the problem of gang and network crime with the shootings and explosions have been linked to migration to Sweden in recent decades,” Nord conceded.
“When, like me, you have the opportunity to follow matters at the individual level, you see that virtually everyone who shoots or is shot in gang conflicts originates from the Balkans, the Middle East, North or East Africa,” he added.