This chapter presents some of the measures taken against organized crime in Sweden and their impacts. In Sweden, no comprehensive report on the implementation of measures against organized crime and gang crime had been prepared, as in Denmark. Therefore, the following review is based on several documents. They describe the authorities' cooperation model and selected measures to combat the recruitment of children and young people into organized crime and the spread of the criminal economy.
6.1 Diverse cooperation between the authorities
In Sweden, efforts have been made to combat organized crime through cross-administrative and multidisciplinary cooperation. The most important structure of multi-authority action against organized crime is the initiative for cooperation between the authorities, that has been in place since 2009, and that has later been supplemented by new organizational members. It is also known in brief as “OB-satsningen”. Twelve authorities, supported by a network of nine other organizations, are responsible for the core activities. The Operational Council (operativa rådet), the national intelligence center (Nuc) and its steering group as well as seven regional cooperation councils and seven regional intelligence centers (Ruc) are responsible for the practical operations.
In Sweden, strategic coordination is carried out by the Council against Organized Crime, established in 2022. Its aim is to strengthen and streamline the overall work against organized crime. Several smaller expert groups are also involved in the work against serious and organized crime. These include, for example, an advisory cooperation group of the authorities and businesses to promote the prevention of economic crime and cooperation between the authorities to prevent misuse of public benefits. The latter cooperation, referred to with the abbreviation “Mur” (Motståndskraft hos utbetalande och rättsvårdande myndigheter), has been carried out in five sub-working groups. These have considered, among other things, the development of information exchange between the authorities, influencing people’s attitudes and improving the reliability of population register data.
The Swedish Police annually submits a report to the Government on multi-authority cooperation against serious and organized crime (OB-satsningen) and its impacts. According to the report published in 2024, the measures have focused particularly on combating serious violence, breaking the criminal economy and preventive work. Property obtained through crime has been successfully confiscated and unjustified benefits have been recovered. In 2023, the measures were particularly targeted at ports, health care companies, educational institutions, currency exchange companies and companies responsible for waste processing. The report reveals, for example, the following measures that have been successful in significantly weakening the operating conditions of organized crime:
The joint proactive situational picture function can be considered as one significant achievement of multi-authority cooperation. Every two years, it produces a comprehensive public report on the operating models of organized crime and future vulnerabilities. The National Intelligence Center Nuc is responsible for preparing the report.
The exploitation of legal business has been prevented by removing several dozen companies from the employer and/or prepayment of tax register and the register of VAT payers.
The need has been identified to make it punishable for a company to provide an incorrect address as its place of business. Incorrect information makes it significantly more difficult for the authorities to carry out monitoring.
The cooperation groups of the police, the prosecution authority and the Prison and Probation Service have engaged in long-term efforts to capture persons in strategically responsible positions in criminal networks. In recent years, the selection of targeted persons has become increasingly successful. It is estimated that approximately one half of the former target persons of organized crime no longer play an equally strong strategic role in crime later on.
For some time now, activities have been targeted at geographical areas where the influence of organized crime is significant. The selection of targets is based on geographical boundaries defined by the police, targeting vulnerable areas (utsatta områden) and risk areas (riskområden). The results of the work are monitored in a separate situational picture report.
Misuse of social and unemployment security benefits has been better identified, and a significant number of unjustified benefits have been recovered, or their payment suspended. For example, in 2023, there were a total of 287 cases related to the clarification of uncertainties related to social security, and the amount of social security benefits recovered came to approximately EUR 5.7 million (SEK 66 million).
The residence information in the Population Register has been checked and the errors found have revealed misuse related to various benefits and persons involved in organized crime, among other things.
Inspections have been carried out on the corporate activities of child welfare and care services, which have identified links between their activities and organized crime. The most common cases are related to hiring of personal assistants.
6.2 New ways to prevent the recruitment of children and young people
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention Brå’s research report from 2023 describes the participation of children and young teenagers in criminal networks that commit serious crimes. This form of criminality is different from other juvenile delinquency. The operations are led violently and hierarchically, but still loosely. Children and juveniles also recruit each other to these networks. Children who join the network are often tasked with committing serious crimes as soon as they join the network. They engage in trading of narcotics, they store and use weapons, and participate in extortion, fraud and money laundering.
Partly due to the issues highlighted in Brå’s report, it was decided to create nationwide multi-authority cooperation structures in Sweden to prevent children and juveniles from becoming involved in serious crime. In 2023, an initiative called Bob – barn och unga i organiserad brottslighet (Bob – children and young people in organized crime) was launched. Work is carried out in national, regional and local councils and working groups. The highest national council is headed by the police and also includes the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, the National Board of Healt and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the National Board of Institutional Care (Statens institutionsstyrelse SiS), the Swedish National Agency for Education, the Swedish Prosecution Agency and the county governments. In addition, the umbrella organization of municipalities and regions participates in the Council’s activities as necessary. Individual municipalities, academic researchers, lawyers and representatives of business and NGOs are also involved in the work of the national working group.
The operations are based on the situational analysis of local police departments and the so-called cylinder model of criminal networks formed by children and young people created on the basis of the analysis. In the model, young people affiliated with organized crime are grouped on four levels according to how deeply they are already involved in the structures and operations of the local crime network. According to the model, children as young as 7–12 years of age are included in the risk groups.
The most financial resources and personnel have been invested in this activity by the police, county governments, the National Board of Institutional Care (Statens institutionsstyrelse) and the Prison and Probation Service, each annually 18–27 person-years and EUR 100,000–300,000. According to the interim and final assessment, the new Bob cooperation is necessary, but many obstacles have been encountered in its launch. Effective operations are hampered by the following factors, among others:
Uniform methods and tools are not yet used to identify children and young people belonging to the risk group. Coordination at the regional level was seen as a key factor in improving the situation.
Specifying the target group of the Bob cooperation is necessary as the situation of individual customers and the need for support must be assessed consistently. In addition, monitoring of longer-term development requires a shared understanding of the phenomenon.
The geographical and administrative boundaries of different authorities differ, which makes it difficult to plan and organize support services.
At the local level, it takes a lot of time and resources to ensure that all relevant actors are aware of the joint solutions.
Not all actors involved have a legally prescribed role or task in crime prevention. This makes it difficult for them to organize their activities as part of the Bob cooperation. This applies, for example, to social welfare and health care authorities.
The confidentiality requirements of official data and barriers to the sharing of personal data complicate practical work. Examples include obstacles to the exchange of information related to criminal sanctions and social security.
Children’s and young people’s criminality is already extensively prevented in various cooperation structures, including cooperation between the police and municipalities. The new cooperation structure must be coordinated with the existing ones.