244 police officers in the Mittel police region, which includes Västmanland, have responded and 64 per cent of them also report that the violence has become more severe and a third say that the violence has been more frequent in the last five years. This shows an investigation by the Police Federation.
- Exclusion and problem areas have increased throughout the country. When I started as a police officer there were only Rinkeby and Rosengård. Now there are lots of problem areas. The threat picture has been turned up at the low and high level. The high level can be shot at housing for example and the low level can be "I know where your children go to school", says Ralf Andersson, chairman of the Västmanland Police Association.
One in ten says their family has also been exposed to threats, violence or harassment over the past year due to their work as a police officer. Nine out of ten police officers in the Mitt region believe that there are rarely or never enough police officers in the external service to best handle potential or actual violence against police colleagues
- The social picture has changed dramatically over the past 5-10 years and not only towards us but we are the first line. In total, society needs to snap up even for the social service, the school, says Ralf Andersson.
Now, among other things, the Police Union demands that the employer continue to invest in recruiting more police officers, that there are more administrators who relieve police officers. They also want to see sharpened violence and threats against officials and that the right to compensation will be strengthened.
- The police can never be more effective than the political decisions allow. We work as best we can, but doing nothing about this is not a desirable situation for anyone, ”says Ralf Andersson, chairman of the Västmanland Police Association.