Police officers stand guard outside the adult education center Campus Risbergska school in Örebro, Sweden, on February 6, 2025, two days after a shooting there left eleven people dead.
Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
The police forces should not “mirror” society but “protect” it.
Officials hoping to change police entry requirements to increase diversity are facing pressure from Sweden Democrat politicians who stress that forces should not “mirror” society but “protect” it.
A new report from Sweden’s National Audit Office complains that one-fifth of female applicants to the police fail the strength test—which involves lifting a weight from the ground to the chin—and that one in three applicants with a foreign background fail the aptitude test.
The paper’s project manager suggests that forces should conduct analyses to assess whether these and other steps ought to be softened and to avoid the “risk of suitable people being sorted out or rejected in the admissions process on unclear grounds.”
But Sweden Democrat MP Katja Nyberg, who has 20 years of experience as a police officer, insisted that “lowered requirements like language tests and a lack of clear assessments risk reducing competence.”
We need courageous, sharp police officers—not quota-driven symbolism.
Svensk polis ska inte spegla samhället – den ska skydda det.
Slopade krav som språkprov och brist på tydliga tester riskerar att sänka kompetensen.
Police representatives also noted that the current selection process is already based on “extensive empirical basis.” Police training official Marie Andersson, quoted in Aftonbladet, said that the strength test in particular “reflects the physical demands that the profession objectively places on us” and warned that any changes “could ultimately affect both the individual police officer’s safety and the overall operational capability.”
Swedish lawyer and writer Nima Rostami agreed that lowering entry requirements “could open the door for individuals who do not share fundamental societal values or demonstrate sufficient competence to be admitted, which in turn could lead to inefficiency, increased corruption, and reduced trust in the justice system.”
Recommendations from the National Audit Office are likely to be considered in parliament over the coming months.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
