After Christmas Eve, many have become tired of the quietness of the family in their hometown. The taverns are filled by partygoers during Christmas Day evening, and to some extent even on Christmas Day. This puts extra heavy burden on the police.
"It is happening all over the region and has been going on for 20 years, and each local police area plans for it with a special Christmas Day order," says Martin Hallberg, and continues:
- There is too much alcohol in town, and a moody atmosphere that is mostly positive, but not everyone can. It gets very full and noisy.
"Something quieter"The tradition is strong in different places, emphasizes Elisabeth Glaas, press spokeswoman at the Northern Police Region.
- But from experience we know that there are a lot of people in motion so the resources are adapted to it, she says.
The homecoming celebration has been going on for many years. Thomas Agnevik, press spokesman in the Eastern Police region, however, believes that interest has diminished somewhat.
- A few years ago, Christmas Day was one of the biggest party nights of the year together with New Year's Eve. Now we expect it to be somewhat calmer. But we are manned to deal primarily with drug trafficking, drug offenses and a lot of intoxication and drug abuse.
Extra staffingAgnevik also sees that the pressure on homebuyer nights varies greatly depending on the location.
- It's a little quieter in some places, but in other places it lives longer. Down in Jönköping, for example, the interest seems to be great. We are manned to handle this, and we notice that it is extra messy somewhere we move resources there, he says.
Even in southern Sweden, the police have extra staffing on Christmas Day in all police areas, according to Patric Fors, spokesperson for the Southern police region.
- Christmas Day is the big homecoming night, the pub's biggest night of the year. We definitely take heed because there will be more people outside than a regular evening, he says.