The police now have the right to establish visitation zones in Uppsala

Now the new law on security zones, also known as visitation zones, comes into force after the Riksdag voted yes to it at the beginning of April.

– Now we can control groups and individuals in an area without building suspicion against the individual. It can also dampen the actors in how to arm themselves and move, just by knowing that the police have this option, says Tobias Ahnlund, police inspector in Uppsala.

“Could be a tool in the future”

These are temporary zones that are established for a limited time. But that presupposes that there is an increased risk of serious violence, such as settlements between criminal gangs.

– Historically, we have had conflicts in certain areas. In Uppsala it has been, for example, Gottsunda, where various local groups have exercised violence. There, this could be a tool in the future, he says.

At the same time, he states that the development of violence in the past year has created challenges.

– We have seen that both the geographical spread has been greater, and the actors have also come from larger geographical areas. So this is not a tool that alone can solve the situation, but rather it can be a tool in our toolbox to access the deadly violence, he says.

In the clip above, the police inspector talks about how safety zones can be used in Uppsala.