Swedish police officers may be exempt from student loan repayments

The center-right governing parties and the Sweden Democrats announced on Wednesday that they are launching a “major investment” in the justice system, worth several billion Swedish crowns.

One proposal to attract more people to become police officers is that they should be able to avoid paying their student loans “under certain conditions” – and in the long term, the Sweden Democrats wants to see fully paid police training.

“The Government and the Sweden Democrats are implementing a major change in legal policy to restore security in Sweden. In order to implement this change, the government is making extensive investments in the entire justice system”, the Swedish government announced on Wednesday.

“Through further supplements in the budget bill for 2025, the judicial system is expected to grow from SEK 69 billion to SEK 100 billion in the years 2023-2027. The Government’s new reforms for the judicial system in the budget bill for 2025 correspond to SEK 3.45 billion”, it was further proclaimed.

During a press conference, representatives of the center-right coalition parties (Tidö) emphasized that they want to train more Swedish police officers, make them better at fighting crime, and strengthen the ability of the security police (Säpo) to “reduce threats from extremism and foreign powers”.

They also want to continue to expand the prison system and give more resources to the courts “to fight serious crime, but also the crimes that affect people’s everyday lives”.

– Sweden is dealing with three parallel threats to our internal security. These are terrorism and violent extremism, state actors who act in various ways hostile to Sweden, and the systemic threat of organized crime, said Gunnar Strömmer (M), Minister of Justice.

Steps toward paid police training

One measure proposed to attract more Swedes to become police officers is that they simply have their student loans written off if they do well.

– Police trainees should be able to have their student loans repaid or written off under certain conditions, according to the Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson and the Sweden Democrats hopes to eventually return to paid police training – something that the police themselves advocate.

– This is a step in that direction, he says, expressing hope that the change will encourage Swedes who are already working or have completed their education to feel confident in switching careers and become police officers instead.

However, he does not want to answer whether in the future it may be relevant to write off student loans and the like also for other education linked to shortage occupations.