What Malmö police are doing to stop killings
Malmö is moving police officers from Sweden's southern border controls to the streets – in an effort to crack down on a recent wave of fatal incidents in Sweden's third largest city.
Sweden introduced police controls on its borders in November last year as a result of the refugee crisis, which saw the country take in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in one year.
Police officers stationed at the border checks are now being moved to public areas in Malmö for the next two weeks, following an autumn spate of murders and murder attempts.
"We're going to stop the killing and act on the criminality which gives rise to these conflicts that lead to serious crimes," Malmö police spokesperson Lars Förstell told the TT news agency.
Police work in Malmö is usually focused on trouble spots Rosengård and Seved, but the new operation will see officers having a daily presence across the entire city, reports Sydsvenskan.
It has not been confirmed how many will be involved in the operation – which gets under way at 3pm on Friday and is also designed to crack down on drug trade in the city – but officers have been moved from the border controls.
"The border controls will be slightly patchier some hours of the day," southern regional police spokesperson Ewa-Gun Westford told TT.
Around 400,000 people a week are estimated to pass through the border checkpoints, which are in place on the Öresund bridge and ports in Malmö, Trelleborg, Helsingborg and Gothenburg, with between 40-95 percent of crossing subject to a check. They were introduced on November 12th a year ago and were extended last week for another three months.
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Sweden introduced police controls on its borders in November last year as a result of the refugee crisis, which saw the country take in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in one year.
Police officers stationed at the border checks are now being moved to public areas in Malmö for the next two weeks, following an autumn spate of murders and murder attempts.
"We're going to stop the killing and act on the criminality which gives rise to these conflicts that lead to serious crimes," Malmö police spokesperson Lars Förstell told the TT news agency.
Police work in Malmö is usually focused on trouble spots Rosengård and Seved, but the new operation will see officers having a daily presence across the entire city, reports Sydsvenskan.
It has not been confirmed how many will be involved in the operation – which gets under way at 3pm on Friday and is also designed to crack down on drug trade in the city – but officers have been moved from the border controls.
"The border controls will be slightly patchier some hours of the day," southern regional police spokesperson Ewa-Gun Westford told TT.
Around 400,000 people a week are estimated to pass through the border checkpoints, which are in place on the Öresund bridge and ports in Malmö, Trelleborg, Helsingborg and Gothenburg, with between 40-95 percent of crossing subject to a check. They were introduced on November 12th a year ago and were extended last week for another three months.
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