Eight out of ten Swedish police officers believe that there are rarely or never enough police officers in the field to deal with potential or actual violence against police colleagues.
This is according to a new survey commissioned by the Swedish Police Union (Polisförbundet).
In the survey, conducted by Novus, 66% of the responding police officers said that their mental preparedness has increased due to shootings and explosions by criminals.
– It is important to protect those who protect us. Policing is a risky profession and employers must do everything they can to minimize the risks. We believe that there should be at least two police officers in potentially threatening situations, said Katharina von Sydow, president of the Police Federation, in a press release.
In addition, 61% of respondents said that deployments to other regions to reinforce against the wave of violence take resources away from their own region. At the same time, 56% believe that the record number of shootings and explosions is creating more work for them in their region.
41% of police officers also believe that the most important factor in improving police safety is the need for more police officers. Better management and tougher laws on violence against police officers ranked second and third.
The survey was conducted between October 18 and November 7, with a total of 1043 police officers responding.
