The law on safety zones comes into force

The work machines sound over the square in the center of Fittja, which has been converted into a construction site. The Botkyrka police have had a hand in the planning of the rebuilding to get rid of crime and increase security, says Martin Lazar, municipal police in Botkyrka.

– The roof that went out from the subway is gone. The whole area here was an open drug scene and the roof was a good hiding place. We want to make it more difficult for those who sell and buy drugs.

He points his hand to the roof that is no longer there and then up to the sky to show the surveillance camera sitting on a pillar.

Now he gets the country’s cops yet another law enforcement tool in the toolbox. The controversial law on safe zones, where the police in an area with a “significant risk” of shooting or explosion, can also body search children without concrete suspicion of crime.

At first, Martin Lazar was not convinced that the law was the right way to go, but after the violence in society increased, he changed his foot. Especially since the law on residence bans came into force in February this year.

He says that 5-6 people who live in other parts of the city and who have negatively affected safety in Fittja have been issued with a stay ban, or “red card” as Lazar calls it, in the town.

– The residence ban has had huge effects here. Now is the time to confiscate the weapons and then we need the security zones too, he says.

Martin Lazar glances towards the Skärholmen district, barely ten minutes away by car, where a father was recently shot to death in front of his son. A safety zone can prevent deadly gang violence by the police finding and confiscating weapons, he believes.

– It increases the chances for the police to find weapons during the checks, but we also hope that it will lead to criminals avoiding carrying weapons altogether if they know they can be checked.

Martin Lazar says that the existing police law already allows for searches on suspicion of crime, but that a security zone gives the police room to search people who hang around known criminals or those hired from other cities to commit crimes.

– Today, people who are at risk of being checked have the opportunity to hand over weapons to a child or girlfriend in order to escape the police. With the new law, everyone staying at the site can be checked more easily without a concrete suspicion. It can save lives, he says.

Research shows that he may be right about the guns. A study by Manne Gerell, docent in criminology at Malmö University, followed the Malmö police’s targeted efforts in the form of person and vehicle checks in areas affected by gang conflicts.

– No crime prevention effect could be identified. However, the effort led to more weapons and drugs being taken from the criminal environment, says Gerell.

In general, there is no clear research evidence that safety zones should have any effect on shootings, but it cannot be ruled out, according to Gerell.

One who knows what it’s like to be stopped by the police is 14-year-old Jameel, whose real name is something else. We meet him and his mother Asila Jabir in Rinkeby in northern Stockholm, one of the city’s vulnerable areas. On three occasions he says he has been stopped by the police, twice in Rinkeby and once in the Vällingby district.

The first time was a year ago in Rinkeby one early evening when Asila sent her son on an errand. The incident was filmed by a cameraman and broadcast on TV4. Asila saw the episode by chance and recognized her son’s body.

In the episode, Jameel is seen opening his vest to the police. In the next sequence, he stands with his back to the police, who lift up the vest from behind and search him. According to Jameel, he was not informed why he was searched.

Jameel is unpunished. He goes to a school in Östermalm and is not known by local police that DN spoke to as someone who hangs out in gang criminal circles.

He knows that a concrete suspicion of crime is required for the police to search a person.

– It was embarrassing and I felt irritated. I hadn’t done anything wrong, says Jameel.

“Be cooperative, don’t shut up and answer all the questions but don’t ask any yourself.”

Asila Jabir has previously given advice to her son to prepare him for a future where he may be searched by the police.

– I wanted to prepare my son for the reality that awaits a young, black man living in Järva. It was inevitable that he would be stopped, I just wasn’t prepared for him to be so young, says Asila.

Within a year, Jameel was stopped two more times without an explanation, according to himself.

The most recent occasion was when Jameel got off the bus in Rinkeby centre.

– Then came the questions about where I’m going, where I’ve been and what I did there. Then “legs apart and arms up”. Just answer their questions and get it over with. I have nothing to hide, but it just feels disgusting, says Jameel.

What were you thinking then?

– That I assume this is my everyday life now and what if those who see me being searched start to believe things about me that I didn’t.

In Fittja, Martin Lazar must take breaks in the conversation with DN to talk to residents who come forward and who want to say hello and exchange a few words.

He is not worried that ordinary Fittja residents will feel unfairly treated by the police if they are checked.

– We will certainly make mistakes. The most important thing is that we are good at communicating this work with the public so that people know that the risk of being controlled exists, he says.

In the apartment in Rinkeby, Asila traces the opposite – that the safety zones risk damaging trust in the police, something that is also supported by research according to Manne Gerell.

– Why should you cooperate with the police if you become suspicious? It can also plant a seed in the young guys. If society suspects them as criminals, they may end up on that track of their own accord, says Asila.

The government says that the safety zones are needed so that residents in the affected areas feel safe. Can’t you see their intention?

– Definitely, I am one of the law-abiding people who must be protected. But I don’t think they have found the right method.

Jameel says his well-being has been affected by the searches.

– It has scarred me. As soon as I see a police car, I get a lump in my stomach.

Has it changed your view of the police?

– I have always seen the police as heroes. I don’t do that anymore.

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