Shots fired at the police station in Södertälje in 2005, the grenade attack on a police bus in Tumba in 2015 and a police villa that was shelled in Västerås in 2017. These are just a few examples that Sven Granath, criminologist at Karolinska Institutet and analyst at Stockholm Police, mentions when criminals give in the judiciary.
- The police are very difficult to intimidate in this way, it can rather have the opposite effect.
But it can unfortunately strengthen the criminal networks internally because you show your loyalty to each other, he says.
Can be an act of revenge
During Sunday evening and night, about 20 fires broke out in Eskilstuna and the police house was attacked in the course of 90 minutes.
The next day, the police said that a total of 25 cars had burned down.
At a press conference, the police stated that they believe that this may be an act of revenge after a serious criminal was arrested last week.
- To stop this, you have to prosecute these few individuals who are doing this.
Then it's about fighting the crime that exists within these networks.
If you stop it, it will in the long run lead to fewer such events, he says.
How common is retaliation against the police? In the clip above, Sven Granath tells more about it.