2015 reform of the Swedish Police Authority – intentions not yet fulfilled
(RiR 2025:26)
Summary
In 2015, the 21 county police authorities, the National Laboratory of Forensic Science and the National Police Board were merged into a single authority. The reform was supposed to provide higher quality, greater cost-effectiveness, increased flexibility and a substantial improvement in police performance. The Swedish National Audit Office has examined whether the Swedish Police Authority has worked effectively to fulfil the intentions of the reform. The overall conclusion is that the Swedish Police Authority’s efforts to fulfil the intentions have not been sufficiently efficient and that it has not fulfilled the reform’s intentions.
Police Authority has not fulfilled the reform’s intentions
Since 2015, appropriations to the Police Authority have almost doubled and the number of staff has increased. Yet, by 2024, there was no notable improvement in its operational results. Likewise, investments in investigative activities have not had any impact on the investigation results. Although local presence has been reinforced, other parts of the Authority have been strengthened more. There is also an inordinate amount of upward movement of staff from the local level to higher levels in the hierarchy. Furthermore, the Authority has not become more cost-effective – rather the opposite.
The Swedish National Audit Office notes that internal governance has not functioned effectively – it has been uncoordinated, weak and ambiguous, and excessively focused on which activities to carry out rather than what they should achieve. The Swedish Police Authority has been unable to fully capture operational needs, secure support for governance in the organisation, adopt a holistic perspective in its governance or follow up activities in a way that enables learning lessons and adjusting governance accordingly. According to the Swedish National Audit Office, inadequate internal governance, coupled with difficulty or reluctance to comply with it, can partly explain the inability to strengthen the local level and improve investigation results.
Police Authority is transforming its internal governance
The Swedish National Audit Office welcomes the efforts currently under way within the Swedish Police Authority to transform its internal governance. In particular, the new governance model’s focus on a holistic perspective, strategic planning and learning should provide better means for ensuring that operations are more efficient and, to a greater extent, achieving the aims of the reform. The operations centres being rolled out should also lead to cooperation across organisational boundaries, priorities and a holistic perspective. However, further work is needed to implement the changes, as well as to enhance the Authority’s internal efficiency. At the same time, follow-up needs to be developed to ensure the proper functioning of the governance model. The Swedish National Audit Office’s assessment is that the Swedish Police Authority’s follow-up has focused unduly on monitoring quantity targets. While this is important, it needs to be combined with analysis of why the results are as they are and how to learn from these experiences. Monitoring also needs to capture the effects of various initiatives and priorities. The audit shows that priorities made, both by the Government and by the Swedish Police Authority, have not always had the desired or positive effects.
Recommendations
The Swedish National Audit Office makes the recommendations presented below. Recommendations to the Swedish Police Authority focus on prioritising the ongoing change process.
To the Government
- Be attentive to the effects of how the Swedish Police Authority acts on the Government’s priorities and direction. In its direction, the Government should also avoid using too many quantity targets and focus instead on impact.
To the Swedish Police Authority
- Develop management of law enforcement within the regular organisation (LiO) and operations centres to ensure their smooth operation. This may include clarifying meeting structures, developing requisite IT support and ensuring that information compiled is used to attain a holistic perspective and efficient use of resources. They can thus contribute to strategic planning and a holistic perspective in both short- and long-term governance.
- Continue to develop internal follow-up and its application to increase the efficiency of operations. The follow-up needs to provide an understanding of operational results and the impact of various priorities, and systematically capture and disseminate experiences.
- Continue to work on securing support for governance, objectives and tasks among employees to ensure proper implementation. It is a matter of creating an understanding of priorities, while allowing room for differing views and an opportunity to influence how set outcome objectives are to be achieved.
- Empower investigators in their role, regardless of the category of personnel, such as investigators, external personnel, Police Contact Centre operators, or others, who perform investigative tasks. This concerns both skills development and understanding tasks, as well as clear priorities in the various assignments in the organisation.
- Take a holistic approach to planning personnel requirements. This may involve giving community police officers time for protected work, or investigators developing in their role. It may also mean meeting a need for specialists, such as financial analysts, IT forensic experts and internet compilers.