Police: "We must have zero deaths as targets"

In Stockholm, the initiative is called Initiativ Gryning, where you have set up a zero vision - no woman should be killed by a relative.

- Every year, about six to seven women in Stockholm are murdered by a relative. We must have zero deaths as targets, says Varg Gyllander.

- It has been difficult to get police to apply to BIN (Crime in close relation). The reason for that I do not know, maybe it is low status, says Peter Holmstedt at the police in Västberga.

Last year, an internal audit was released by the Police and Prosecutor's Office. It pointed to several shortcomings in dealing with cases involving violent crimes in close relationships and sexual offenses against adults.

Injuries are rarely documented, few preliminary hearings are filmed and police testify that gang violence is given higher priority. In the same year, both the Police Authority and the government decided that the police work on particularly vulnerable victims, including violence in close relationships, should be intensified.

- It is a norm shift that we have to deal with and it will take time. Dawn has had at least ten years to change, says Varg Gyllander.

In recent years, an average of 16 women a year in Sweden have been killed by a man to whom they had a love relationship. Last year, 8,500 cases of trafficking in women were reported in close relation.

"I still think that soon, maybe within a year, we will see trends in the right direction," says Varg Gyllander, as the police now have more resources to better investigate violence in close relationships.

See the full report in Sunday's Agenda at 21:15 on SVT2 or SVT Play.