Gunnar Appelgren leads an ongoing research project to find out what separates investigations that lead to crimes being cleared from those who are not cleared. A study has systematically examined all 61 gang-related murders with firearms committed in the Stockholm area between 2011 and 2018.

-We have an extremely low resolution in this type of murder, around 20 percent in general compared to other investigative killings which are close to 90 percent, says Gunnar Appelgren.

According to the police, the low resolution is due to the fact that serious crimes in criminal environments are particularly difficult to investigate, not least because of the so-called silence culture that prevails in the areas characterized by the deadly violence. It means that neither surviving victims, the victims' relatives nor others who can have valuable information want or dare to tell what they know to the police.

Relatives - a clear success factor

In addition to the importance of offensive police work in the preliminary investigation, the use of so-called family police has proven to be successful in solving gang-related murders. The method called FLO, Family Liaison Officers, was developed in England and was brought to Sweden a couple of years ago.

"We need to create trust and this is done with these specially trained police officers who build relationships with the victims' families," says Gunnar Appelgren.

- If you feel confident, you have a greater ability to participate in the legal process and tell. The relatives often have central information that becomes important pieces of the puzzle in our investigative work.

"It seems we made a difference"

Linda Borgsved is an investigator and a relative of the Stockholm Police. She is happy but not surprised by the results of the study.

- We have, from the very beginning of the pilot project, already felt that we made a difference. So it feels very safe and very funny that someone else also sees that this gives results.

Why is it that even relatives whose children have been killed always want to talk to the police?

- There can be many reasons. People may be afraid that, if you have several children, that they may also be affected or that you do not trust the police to do a good job. But these are the fears we want to bridge because we really want to clear up these crimes, says Linda Borgsved.

New training at the turn of the year

Exactly how much influence the FLO method has in relation to other investigative measures is too early to say, but the study shows that it is a clear success factor, according to Gunnar Appelgren. Therefore, the model should now be permanent and included as an ordinary part of the police's method support in investigations of serious violent crimes.

To date, 32 police officers have been trained in the FLO method. They are represented in all police regions and at the turn of the year, a new training program for prospective family police will start.