A Swedish police officer has spoken out on the ongoing out-of-control problems of gang crime in Sweden after resigning from the force, saying the problem requires more than just police.
Christoffer Bohman, who resigned as a member of the Swedish police last week, has claimed that gang violence has become so widespread in Sweden that police alone are no longer enough to contain and deal with the issue.
“Throughout my professional life, I have believed that the police alone can reverse the serious violence that has befallen us. Now I have come to the realization that this is not true and last week I resigned,” Bohman wrote in an opinion article for the newspaper Aftonbladet.
“As a police officer, I, and my colleagues, have come to dedicate our lives to putting people in jail, but I realize that it matters less that we prosecute more people than ever before if there are ten in line for every person we take away,” he said.
Bohman stated that gang crime has become a societal problem and that society as a whole needs to take responsibility for solving the issue, rather than just the police.
“When the police are left to deal with a young man whose standards have been radicalised and his view of life is indifferent, society has failed. It has gone too far and it is too late. That boy would have been dealt with much earlier,” Bohman said and added, “You who are reading this also have a responsibility. I have a responsibility. As a society, we have the entire responsibility in common.”
Bohman’s comments come after Sweden saw a record year of fatal shootings in 2022, with over 60 people dying as a result of gun crime and most of the shootings were linked to criminal gang activity, a massive number in a small and once-peaceful northern European nation.
Since the death of gangster Mehdi ”Dumle” Sachit on Christmas Day, the Stockholm region, in particular, has seen a surge in gang violence, including shootings and bombings. On a single night last month, the region saw five violent incidents, including bombings and a shooting.
The problem of gun violence has become so acute that around 20 per cent of Swedes stated in a survey that they would feel safer if they had the right to defend themselves with firearms.
Torbjörn Sjöström, CEO of Novus, the firm that conducted the survey, stated that the number was extremely high for Sweden. “This is not the United States, and the fact that over a million Swedes would feel safer if they could arm themselves is a huge change compared to what we are used to seeing in Sweden,” he said.
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