According to the latest safety survey, as many as 47 percent of respondents in Upplands-Bro feel insecure when they are out late evenings in their own residential area. Seen to the entire Police Region of Stockholm (Stockholm County plus Gotland), that figure is 30 percent. You are safest in Vaxholm, where only eight percent are worried about being out.

"We have a social vulnerability"

In addition, 51 percent in Upplands-Bro are concerned that relatives will be affected by crime, compared with 36 percent for the entire area. Concerns about being beaten, robbed, raped or subject to burglary are also greater compared to the rest of the municipalities in Stockholm County.

- We have exposed areas right in Bro. It is not a new situation that we have a social vulnerability in a part of the municipality, but we take it very seriously, says Fredrik Kjos (M), chairman of the municipal council.

Fredrik Kjos (M), the chairman of the local council, says that they take security very seriously. Photo: Upplands-Bro

There are also more victims of crime than the average in the Stockholm Police Region. However, if the crimes were committed in the home municipality or elsewhere, the result does not appear.

Several measures will reverse the trend

Fredrik Kjos says that the municipal management is now taking a number of measures to improve security and combat crime. Among other things, a strategy has been laid for a socially sustainable bridge and investigated how physical planning can increase security. The municipality has also increased security staffing and is working to get more surveillance cameras in place.

- Then we have a security center to be erected shortly. There we will gather police, rescue services and ourselves to talk to each other instead of about each other, says Fredrik Kjos.

He also mentions a project called "Sustainable school", a commitment to value-based work in high school.

- We will look for the environments where there is social exclusion and work in those environments more actively than before.

The National Security Survey is conducted annually by Brå (the Crime Prevention Council). 29,773 people participated from the entire Stockholm Police Region, of which 425 from Upplands-Bro.