Riksrevisionen Criticizes 2015 Swedish Police Reform for Declining Performance and Governance Issues
Riksrevisionen's new report reveals lower crime clearance rates and governance issues following the 2015 Swedish police reform, calling for clearer goals and better management.
- • Crime clearance rates and cost efficiency have declined since the 2015 police reform.
- • Local police presence has not improved despite being a key reform goal.
- • Internal governance weaknesses identified as main operational problem.
- • Riksrevisionen recommends clearer goals and better governance to enhance police effectiveness.
Key details
A recent report by Sweden's Riksrevisionen has found that the comprehensive police reform initiated in 2015 has led to poorer results in key performance areas, including lower crime clearance rates and reduced cost efficiency compared to pre-reform levels. Despite the reform's ambitious goal to strengthen local police presence, this objective has not been met.
The review identifies poor internal governance within the Swedish Police Authority as the main problem undermining operational effectiveness. Helena Fröberg, project leader of the review, noted that governance structures have been weakly anchored in the organization and have failed to address real operational needs. Further criticism centers on the police's excessive focus on numerical metrics—such as counting employees, reported cases, and traffic controls—without thorough evaluation of the actual impact these efforts have on crime reduction. This emphasis on quantitative targets has hindered the Police Authority's ability to learn from its activities and adjust to improve efficiency.
Riksrevisionen's Jenny Lee commented that the reform's implementation and the reform content itself show deficiencies, implying that challenges arise not only from how the reform was carried out but also from its design. However, the Police Authority is currently revising its internal governance model, which may enhance conditions for better performance in the future, though it remains uncertain if these changes will fully address existing issues.
To improve police effectiveness, Riksrevisionen recommends clearer goal-setting, enhanced internal management, and more focus on outcome-based measures rather than solely numeric targets. They also advise the government to closely monitor the Police Authority's translation of government priorities into practice to avoid setting excessive quantitative goals, urging a shift toward assessing the impact of police actions.
In summary, the 2015 police reform's intended benefits have not materialized according to the latest evaluation, signaling a need for fundamental changes in governance and operational focus to realize improvements in Swedish policing.