It was in May last year that the police conducted a house search at an address in Alvesta, after a robbery.
When a woman and her two children came home and met the police, she was told that her partner was suspected of robbery and that the home was therefore searched.
The problem was that the police were at the wrong address, something that should have emerged then.
Had the same first name
The woman reported the police for misconduct, but a preliminary investigation was never initiated because the prosecutor did not judge that a crime had been committed.
On the other hand, the woman's report to the Chancellor of Justice (JK) gives her the right.
According to JK's investigation, it has only been possible to find a reasonable explanation for the police entering this particular apartment: That the man who lived there had the same first name as the person suspected of the robbery.
According to the woman, the police must have entered the home while the two children were alone at home, and the children must have been shocked and scared afterwards.
However, this is a task that is contradicted by the police documentation.
Contrary to the European Convention
However, JK writes in its decision that a house search cannot be considered a justified and proportionate encroachment on the right to private and family life, and therefore contravenes the European Convention.
In most cases, a house search is decided by a prosecutor, but JK writes that it can be stated that it is the Police who did not take sufficient investigative measures before the house search was made, or at least not documented well enough what was the basis for it. Therefore, it is the Police who must pay SEK 10,000 in damages to the family.