In the autumn of 2017, the police in Umeå issued a report describing how there were signs in the north-eastern districts of increased social unrest, a situation that began to resemble such areas in other cities that the police classify as vulnerable areas.
In connection with that report, a decision was made in the municipal board to start the municipality-wide assignment "Umeå is growing safely and securely" in order to counteract the development that the police have described.
Now, after almost three years, UmeBrå wants to change the focus of the assignment and go from five to two main priorities: the drug trade and segregation.
Different development at Ålidhem and Ersboda
According to Kerstin Rörsch, process manager at UmeBrå, a lot of efforts have been made to increase security in Umeå, but she says that the districts have developed differently, Ålidhem has seen a positive development while Ersboda has become more insecure.
- A big difference is that the school environment at Ålidhem is highlighted as a successful example and we know that the role of schools in the preventive work is one of the most important protection factors.
At Ersboda, on the other hand, the development has led to more challenges and greater concern among school staff and students, and Kerstin Rörsch believes that it has been seen that there is a distrust and lower trust in community representatives and that it has crept further and further down the ages.
- We are already working a lot with these issues, it is not the case that we have not paid attention to it or done nothing about it, but overall we see that it has not gotten better at Ersboda during these years, she says.
See in the clip why the security investment was made and what challenges remain.