Swedish police force faces staff shortage

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish Police Authority needs to hire thousands of new staff members in the coming years, but more and more are leaving the police to take up better-paying jobs, Swedish Television reported on Wednesday.

In 2012, a total of 179 police officers changed jobs and that figure stayed low and stable for several years, but in 2015 the number increased. A total of 271 police officers quit that year. The figure has since more than doubled, with more than 900 leaving the police force in 2016 and 2017.

"We have to take this seriously and we have to work on it," said Tomas Rosenberg, head of human resources at the Police Authority, which is the central administrative authority for the police in Sweden.

Six out of 10 of those who left the police took up work in other state or municipality agencies, like the Swedish Employment Agency, the Social Insurance Agency or the Swedish Security Service. Around 40 percent have gone to the private sector, according to Rosenberg.

"Many of those who have quit have stated that they don't think the salary levels are competitive enough and that is particularly true for our younger staff members. But they have also mentioned other factors, like the work conditions and the work environment," said Rosenberg.

The profession has also thrown up new challenges. In 2015 and 2016, when a major re-organization was underway within the Swedish police, a large immigration wave and the growing terror threat put great demands on police officers. At the same time, other authorities like the Migration Agency were looking for staff members and so were the growing number of security firms that operate both in municipalities and the private sector.

Rosenberg insisted that the Police Authority is taking a number of measures to turn the trend, including offering better physical protection for employees, higher salaries and more clarity around opportunities for career advancement.

Lena Nitz, president of the Swedish Police Union, believes the Police Authority could, with enough effort, re-recruit around 1,500 - 2,000 of those who have left in the past seven years. One way of doing so would be to improve wages, she suggested. They have slipped compared to wages in other state-sector jobs. In 2000, the typical police salary was 1,600 SEK ($180) above average wages within the state sector, but the year after it was 4,400 SEK below average.