The Moderate Party, who have been leading advocates of the migration policies that contributed to the extensive crime and insecurity Sweden has struggled with in recent years, now want to respond to these developments with greatly increased surveillance. The party’s new election promise is to expand police camera surveillance to 10,000 cameras in Sweden by 2030.
The announcement is being made on Monday as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer visit Skåne on an election tour.
The government’s current goal is to have at least 5,000 surveillance cameras by the end of next year, but the Moderates want to see this figure doubled by 2030. By the end of 2025, there were a total of 3,916 fixed and mobile surveillance cameras in Sweden.
“This is absolutely necessary,” says Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer.
The surveillance may include several types of technology, such as stationary cameras, mobile units, drones, and NPR systems, which enable police to automatically identify license plates in real time.
According to the Moderates’ own calculations, doubling the number of surveillance cameras would mean costs of about two billion SEK.
Effective Against Crime
A report from the National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) from 2018 shows that camera surveillance can be effective against planned crimes such as burglary, vandalism, and drug offenses. However, its effect on violent crimes is assessed to be limited.
“An important reason why serious crimes are being solved today is the access to technical evidence that was not available in the past. Cameras provide that,” says Gunnar Strömmer.