Police violence, reports and violence: the statistics behind the review

[[HTMLTAG0]] Anyone who searches on [[HTMLTAG1]] police violence [[HTMLTAG2]], [[HTMLTAG3]] report police [[HTMLTAG4]] or [[HTMLTAG5]] report police for misconduct [[HTMLTAG6]]] is often not looking for theory. The person wants to know two things: whether what happened was legal, and how to build a dossier that won't disappear when the police's own incident report becomes the first version in the system. [[HTMLTAG7]]] [[HTMLTAG8]] This review is therefore written as a combination of statistics, source criticism, and practical evidence focus. For pure action plan, see [[HTMLTAG9]] important when exposed to the police [[HTMLTAG10]] and [[HTMLTAG11]] report the police way with documented evidence [[HTMLTAG12]]]. [[HTMLTAG13]]] [[HTMLTAG14]]] [[HTMLTAG15]]] [[HTMLTAG16]]] Have you been subjected to excessive force by police? [[HTMLTAG17]]] In case of acute danger or ongoing threat, call 112. This guide is information and documentation support, not emergency legal advice or crisis support. [[HTMLTAG18]]] [[HTMLTAG19]]] Seek care if you have injuries and ask that the injuries be documented in the medical record. Save original footage, photos, testimonials, and timeline before posting anything. [[HTMLTAG20]]] [[HTMLTAG21]]] Support is available at the [[HTMLTAG22]] Crime Victim Support [[HTMLTAG23]]], [[HTMLTAG24]]] Crime Victims Authority [[HTMLTAG25]] and in case of intimate violence at the [[HTMLTAG26]]] Kvinnofridsletlinne [[HTMLTAG27]]. If you are under the age of 18, you can also contact [[HTMLTAG28]] Bris [[HTMLTAG29]]]. [[HTMLTAG30]]] /aside > [[HTMLTAG31]]] The official control track is growing rapidly [[HTMLTAG32]]] [[HTMLTAG33]] [[HTMLTAG34]] The Prosecutor's Office [[HTMLTAG35]] states that the Special Chamber of Prosecutors received just over 8,000 cases in 2019, 14,000 cases in 2024, and had a forecast of 17,000 cases for 2025. That's a sharp increase, though the measure doesn't mean that all the filings relate to physical violence or lead to criminal charges. [[HTMLTAG36]]] [[HTMLTAG37]] The Special Chamber of Prosecutors handles criminal suspicions against, among others, police officers, prosecutors and judges. [[HTMLTAG38]] The Chamber's own page [[HTMLTAG39]] stresses that most cases involve police employees, and that it can range from suspected use of force to meeting and performing duties. [[HTMLTAG40]]] [[HTMLTAG41]]] The most common crime category is [[HTMLTAG42]] misconduct [[HTMLTAG43]]. The prosecutor's office states that intervention cases accounted for [[HTMLTAG44]] 69 percent of [[HTMLTAG45]] notifications in the period January 2024 to May 2025. The Police Authority's [[HTMLTAG46]] Special Investigations statistics for 2025 [[HTMLTAG47]] state along the same lines that misconduct made up just over 70 percent of SU's cases, followed by violent crime and data breaches. [[HTMLTAG48]]] [[HTMLTAG49]]] How many move on and how many fall away? [[HTMLTAG50]]] The [[HTMLTAG51]] Police Authority reports that [[HTMLTAG52]] 9,536 [[HTMLTAG53]] cases were submitted to SU in 2025 and that [[HTMLTAG54]] 9,187 cases [[HTMLTAG55]] were closed in the same year. [[HTMLTAG56]] 254 cases [[HTMLTAG57]] were reported to prosecutors, which, according to the Police, are usually cases leading to prosecution. A simple difference means that [[HTMLTAG58]] 8,933 closed cases were not reported to prosecutors [[HTMLTAG59]]. It should be described as “closed without accounting” rather than precisely “closed preliminary investigations”, since the statistics mix cases where preliminary investigation was never initiated with cases that were closed otherwise. [[HTMLTAG60]]] [[HTMLTAG61]] The critical thing in the figure is not only that few cases go forward. The critical point is that the lapse occurs in a system where the reported person is often a state perpetrator of violence, where the evidentiary situation is quickly shaped by the police's own documentation, and where the individual often lacks film, witnesses, injuries documented by care and precise timeline. [[HTMLTAG62]]] [[HTMLTAG63]] At the same time, one should not pretend that all dropped cases are abuse swept away. The Public Prosecution Service states that prosecution rates have normally been between 4 and 5 per cent, with just over 7 per cent in 2023. It can be due to high evidentiary requirements, statutory violence powers and difficult emergency defence assessments. But for this very reason, the person who reports must work very concretely: time, place, film, injuries, witnesses, what was said and what was written afterwards. [[HTMLTAG64]]] [[HTMLTAG65]]] Lethal intervention: two metrics must be kept apart [[HTMLTAG66]]] [[HTMLTAG67]]] There are at least two different mortality measures that are often mixed up: [[HTMLTAG68]]] [[HTMLTAG69]]] [[HTMLTAG70]]] [[HTMLTAG71]]] Death by police: [[HTMLTAG72]]] people who die in connection with police shooting. [[HTMLTAG73]]] [[HTMLTAG74]] [[HTMLTAG75]] The Forensic Science Board's method of death “police intervention”: [[HTMLTAG76]] deaths that are classed in RMV's forensic statistics as police intervention, which is not necessarily the same as shooting. [[HTMLTAG77]]] [[HTMLTAG78]]] [[HTMLTAG79]] Police report that accidental fire against person or vehicle was 17 events in 2019, 21 events in 2020 and 2021, 21 events in 2022, 19 events in 2023, 14 events in 2024, and 11 events in 2025. Casualties related to industrial fire were 1 in 2019, 5 in 2020, 2 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 0 in 2023, 0 in 2024 and 1 in 2025. The police themselves write that the number of people who died in connection with industrial fire has increased in the last ten years, although recent years show great variations. [[HTMLTAG80]]] [[HTMLTAG81]]] The Forensic Medicine Administration's statistics on manner of death simultaneously show [[HTMLTAG82]] 8 police interventions in 2021 [[HTMLTAG83]], [[HTMLTAG84]] 7 in 2022 [[HTMLTAG85]], [[HTMLTAG86]] 4 in 2023 [[HTMLTAG87]], [[HTMLTAG87]], [[HTMLTAG87]]] [[HTMLTAG89]] 3 in 2024 [[HTMLTAG89]] and [[HTMLTAG90]] 1 in 2025 [[HTMLTAG91]]. RMV stresses that their statistics are based on case management systems and are not Sweden's official cause of death statistics, but it is nonetheless relevant because it captures a different category than just police firearms. [[HTMLTAG92]]] [[HTMLTAG93]] The charts on the [[HTMLTAG94]] statistics page [[HTMLTAG95]] show both tracks separately: actual fire/deaths and RMV's mode of death police intervention. [[HTMLTAG96]]] [[HTMLTAG97]]] Violence outside the service: the uncomfortable DN review [[HTMLTAG98]]] [[HTMLTAG99]]] The older data on police officers' crimes outside the service comes from Dagens Nyheter's review of prosecutions against police officers 1998-2008, reproduced by [[HTMLTAG100]]], SVT [[HTMLTAG101]], [[HTMLTAG102]]] Aftonbladet [[HTMLTAG103]] and [[HTMLTAG104]] SVT Nyhetstecken [[HTMLTAG101]] [[HTMLTAG105]]]. [[HTMLTAG106]]] [[HTMLTAG107]] The essence of that data is serious: between 1998 and 2008, [[HTMLTAG108]] 48 police officers [[HTMLTAG109]] were charged with gross violation of women's rights or mistreatment of a wife, cohabitant or ex-partner. SVT reported that just under a third of all prosecutions against off-duty police officers concerned abuse of women. Aftonbladet reiterated that abuse of women was highest among the crimes of police officers outside of work, followed by beatings and drunk driving. [[HTMLTAG110]]] [[HTMLTAG111]]] It is the relative placement that makes the review particularly sensitive. SVT reiterated that the most common prosecutions against the public in the same period were for traffic offences/unlawful driving, theft/shoplifting and drug offences for their own use. Assault of man came in ninth place and prosecutions of female abuse in 13th place. In contrast, in the DN review of off-duty police officers, women abuse ranked highest. It does not say that today's police forces have the same pattern, but it does show why violence in intimate relationships within a violent professional group cannot be treated as a normal personnel matter. [[HTMLTAG112]]] [[HTMLTAG0]]] These are older statistics and should not be presented as currently in 2026. But it remains relevant for two reasons. First, it shows that violence is not only a matter of intervention in service, but also of a professional group with a monopoly on violence in which some individuals have also been convicted or charged with violence in intimate relationships. Second, it shows a particular damage to trust: a police officer who himself practices intimate violence is difficult to see as a neutral representative of society when other crime victims encounter the police. [[HTMLTAG1]]] [[HTMLTAG2]]] Critical conclusion: the problem is both legal and documentary [[HTMLTAG3]]] [[HTMLTAG4]] Police have the legal right to use force in certain situations. It is true and must be said. But precisely for this reason, the question of control becomes harder, not softer: was the violence necessary, proportionate and adapted to the situation? Was the person already under control? Was there mental illness, drunkenness, communication difficulties or other vulnerability? Were injuries and witness accounts documented before the police version became the only coherent story? [[HTMLTAG5]]] [[HTMLTAG6]]] For those exposed, the practical lesson is clear: [[HTMLTAG7]]] [[HTMLTAG8]]] [[HTMLTAG9]]] Film and save the original file if it can be done safely. [[HTMLTAG10]]] [[HTMLTAG11]]] Photograph damage and location directly. [[HTMLTAG12]]] [[HTMLTAG13]]] Seek care or legal certification as soon as possible if you are injured. [[HTMLTAG14]]] [[HTMLTAG15]] Gather witnesses before they disappear from the scene. [[HTMLTAG16]]] [[HTMLTAG17]]] Request event report, body camera if available, decision documentation and diary number. [[HTMLTAG18]]] [[HTMLTAG19]]] Report factually to the police office/SU and consider the JO when it comes to exercising authority, response or inaction. [[HTMLTAG20]]] [[HTMLTAG21]]] [[HTMLTAG22]]] A critical tone is not enough. If the control system is narrow and few cases go ahead, the evidence must be as difficult to dismiss as possible. [[HTMLTAG23]]] [[HTMLTAG24]]] Sources [[HTMLTAG25]]]] [[HTMLTAG26]]] [[HTMLTAG27]]] [[HTMLTAG28]]] Prosecutor's Office: This is how the judicial system is examined from within [[HTMLTAG29]]] [[HTMLTAG30]]] [[HTMLTAG31]]] [[HTMLTAG32]] Prosecutor's Office: Special Prosecution Chamber [[HTMLTAG33]]] [[HTMLTAG34]]]] [[HTMLTAG35]]] [[HTMLTAG36]] Police Authority: Special Investigations, Statistics [[HTMLTAG37]]]] [[HTMLTAG38]]]] [[HTMLTAG39]]] [[HTMLTAG40]] Police Authority: How often do police use firearms? [[HTMLTAG41]]] [[HTMLTAG42]]]] [[HTMLTAG43]]] [[HTMLTAG44]]] Forensic Medicine Agency: Statistics [[HTMLTAG45]]] [[HTMLTAG46]]]] [[HTMLTAG47]]] [[HTMLTAG48]] SVT: Female violence most common police crime [[HTMLTAG49]]]] [[HTMLTAG50]]]] [[HTMLTAG51]]] [[HTMLTAG52]]] Aftonbladet: Mistreatment of women, the police's most common crime [[HTMLTAG53]]] [[HTMLTAG54]]]] [[HTMLTAG55]]] [[HTMLTAG56]]] SVT News Characters: Female violence most common police crime [[HTMLTAG57]]] [[HTMLTAG58]]]] [[HTMLTAG59]]]