- It's a lot about working before something happens, says Angelika Aniol Björfäll, who works outreach to young people as area secretary in the municipality.

Crime in Botkyrka is increasing and more young people are being drawn into established gang structures.

The picture is shared by both the police and the social services.

- Young adults and slightly older criminals are skilled at identifying younger young people who have a vulnerability.

They take care of them and offer them compensation for performing various services that are becoming increasingly advanced.

It's exciting, they get an affiliation.

And then it becomes difficult to get out.

You know too much, you may have started with drugs and then the younger ones are in a spin, says Gunilla Berghager, head of individual and family care in Botkyrka.

To help more children and young people to a safe upbringing, the municipality has area secretaries in schools, leisure centers, streets and squares.

Preschool important

The work is largely about building relationships and identifying protective factors that can help young people at risk away from crime.

And the area secretaries emphasize the importance of getting early in the children's lives.

- The younger a person is, the greater the impact we can have, says Angelika Aniol Björfäll.

Worrying signals can be outspoken behavior in school, negative attitudes in the lessons and incorrect behavior in the group of friends.

Cooperation also takes place with the police, where, for example, they inform each other of ominous behavior in young people who are out late in the evenings and nights.

Despite gang efforts: the deadly violence is increasing in Botkyrka

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The police and gang expert Fredrik Gårdare himself worked as a police officer in northern Botkyrka during the 90s.

The problems with criminal gangs already existed then - and not much has changed for the better, he says.

Photo: Lisa Liljefors