Michael de Laine

Swedish police to probe racism accusations against police in Skåne

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 10th February 2009

An independent investigator will probe accusations of racist and threatening behaviour among police officers in southern Sweden. The country’s antidiscrimination bureaux, which can provide evidence about public treatment and attitude problems in the police, will strengthen their work to prevent discrimination. They want politicians to say what has happened is unacceptable.

National police commissioner Bengt Svensson has launched an independent inquiry into actions of the police force in Skåne, southern Sweden, following a number of incidents where the police are accused of using racist and threatening behaviour.

According to reports, the names ‘Negro Niggersson’ and ‘Oskar Negro’ were used during a sequestration exercise at a training course for the police in Malmö in February 2008, while police working to control unrest in the Malmö suburb of Rosengård in December 2008 used several racist terms and made a series of threatening comments directed at rioting youths.

“What has happened is shocking and unacceptable. We have to get to the bottom of this and to do so we need help,” Svensson said. “The investigator will examine whether there are deficiencies in the work to build an ethical system of values in the Skåne police and what can be done differently. This has never been done before and is incredibly important.”

A “very concerned and upset” Justice Minister Beatrice Ask told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that she would ask the police to report about efforts to combat racism within their ranks.

“It was individual participants who chose the names [‘Negro Niggersson’ and ‘Oskar Negro’], which are extremely inappropriate,” said Lars Förstell of the Skåne police to the news agency TT.

Several students reported the issue to senior police officers but such reports do not exist, according to Kaisy Nordin, head of the internal affairs department. No action was taken.

Chief prosecutor Björn Ericsson has decided not to press charges against three Skåne police officers for making racist and threatening comments during the Rosengård incident. The comments were recorded on a police video and have caused a great deal of debate in the Swedish media and soul searching in the Swedish police. But Ericsson said they were not criminal.

“I have received details of the situation in which the police officers expressed themselves, and have quite simply found that what occurred is neither misconduct nor any other offence,” Ericsson explained.

The consequences of the poor judgement of several police officers and the use of offensive or racist language will be felt by the police across the country, Svensson said. He added that the appointment of an independent external inquiry is a step towards restoring confidence in the police force in Skåne and countrywide.

Following these incidents, Sweden’s antidiscrimination bureaux (ADBs) said they will strengthen their work to prevent discrimination. “Discriminatory behaviour does not disappear by itself,” the ADBs said in a joint statement. They also called on politicians to make clear that what has happened is unacceptable and that resources should be devoted to work to prevent discrimination.

“It is a great pity that so many years’ work in building up good relations between the inhabitants of Rosengård and the local police can be destroyed so quickly,” said Alicia Ågren of ADB Malmö. “That several policemen abuse their position of power is a dangerous threat to democracy and people’s confidence in the public community.”

Several Swedish antidiscrimination bureaux can provide evidence about public treatment and attitude problems in the police.

“The police are one of the social actors that we have received reports on in 2008,” said Lina Gidlund of the discrimination bureau at Uppsala. “But they are not covered by the discrimination legislation.”

The ADBs welcome the changes to the antidiscrimination legislation, which will now include the police to a certain extent because of their position as public employees.

But that is not enough.

“Even though the current events do not result in prosecution, it is important to treat what happened very seriously,” the ADBs said in their joint statement. “This is matter of dealing with the public and of the individual policeman’s occupational environment. There is a need for a change in behaviour and for more active work towards human rights and a democratic values basis in the police. Without this, all efforts towards a broader recruitment base for the police college will be worthless.”