- From the police's side, we see an effect of this, says Malmö's police chief Stefan Sintéus.
A first evaluation of Sluta skjut by Malmö University shows that it has worked to introduce an American strategy in a Swedish city, but that adaptations to local conditions are required, for example the Swedish secrecy legislation.
The second part of the evaluation, which shows the effect of the strategy on serious violence, will not be completed until January.
- There are indications that the shootings have decreased in Malmö, but it will be difficult to prove that it is an effect of this work, says Karin Svanberg, unit manager at the Crime Prevention Council.
Municipalities are invited
Although the effect of Stop Shooting has not been fully analyzed, the Swedish Crime Prevention Council has invited municipalities that have problems with shootings and explosions to a meeting, to present the method and find out if more people want to join.
The project is based on an American strategy called Group Violence Intervention, which is based on "focused deterrence".
The individuals who are most active in the gross violence in a city must be reached by a clear message: Violence must end.
For those who continue, there will be severe consequences, both for the individual and the group he is part of. This is combined with an offer of support to those who want to leave the crime.
Four groupings
In Malmö, the municipality, the prison service and the police have pushed Stop shooting together.
Four different groupings or loosely composed networks have been in focus.
- For those who have chosen to continue to be part of the most violent grouping, we have kept what we promised, namely to work with sanctions against these people, says Stefan Sintéus.
He points out that 18 people from the network have been detained and that eight of them still do.
Imprisonment for a total of 30 years has so far been sentenced and there are 25 different preliminary investigations that concern 48 people with connections to the group.
At the same time, more people have turned to Malmö City's defector activities since Sluta skjut began.
Previously it was about 50 people per year, now it is up to about 80.