"We have managers who think more about protecting their backs than taking responsibility"

The handling of the investigation into regional police chief Mats Löfving has received strong criticism.

A police officer within Noa, the National Operational Department, describes it as "hell". 

He wants to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals within the authority, but to SVT he says:

- We have managers who think more about protecting their backs than taking responsibility.

I would have liked the Chief of the National Police to have come out and taken responsibility for the fact that the whole thing has been handled super wrong, and that he is sorry for it.

But he is mainly disappointed with how the authority takes care of its employees in general, and directs the sharpest criticism at the police's HR department. 

"Creates the feeling that you are alone"

According to the policeman, there is a lack of strategic thinking about how mental illness should be handled in an encouraging way. 

- Being a police officer is stressful.

If you search our intranet for help, you will hardly find anything, and it creates the feeling that you are alone, he says. 

If you should feel that you are not feeling well, do you know who you can turn to and do you feel that you can get the right support then? 

- Not really, but I would never take it up with the employer.

Because the focus had not been on helping me out of it, the focus had been on whether I am a security risk – a burden on the authority.

But police chief Tomas Rosenberg in the HR department does not share that picture. 

- If the manager and the employee say they need support, occupational health care is available.

In addition, there are police chaplains and deacons who have conversation therapy training. 

Continued great pressure on the police 

At the same time, the police continue to be under great pressure to curb the wave of violence that has mainly affected the Stockholm region since Christmas Day. 

Are you making any special efforts due to what has happened recently?

- We have published information about what our managers and employees can think about if they feel unwell, says Rosenberg. 

Hear local area police officer Reine Berglund describe the challenges in the video.