Calle Ekberg explains that the work with sobriety checks has been neglected during the pandemic years and he therefore believes that the moral level of people who drive drunk has been lowered.
- "It is risk-free to drive because the police do not check in any case", that is the feeling we have had, he says.
In 2019, the police region East, which includes Sörmland, Östergötland and Jönköping, carried out 226,588 breath tests.
During the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, 59,398 and 20,877, respectively, were carried out.
Need to become routine
Now the traffic police in the East region are scaling up the number of breath tests again and returning to the previous routines.
Calle Ekberg points out that you have to work to make it a daily routine again.
Something that the traffic group in Eskilstuna agrees with.
Björn Thunblad, group manager for the traffic police in Eskilstuna, explains that it is not just a matter of pressing the start button as there has been a turnover of staff during these years.
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There are actually new police officers who have come to us who have not experienced the time before covid and thus were not present when we had these regular sobriety checks and it was part of our everyday life, says Björn Thunblad.
- In terms of craftsmanship, it is important to relax the routines at a stop again, says Per Lange.