'Missing' Swedish teen was held by police
Swedish mother Marie had to wait five days to find out that the police had arrested her 18-year-old son, by which time she had already reported him as a missing person.
”As a parent in today's society, with all the stuff that goes on, you do get worried when your child fails to come home,” she told TT.
Her son, brought in under suspicion of making illegal threats and theft, had asked the officers at the time of his arrest if they could call his mother and let her know what had happened, so that she wouldn't be too worried.
The officers told him both that this had been done and that she sent her regards back to him.
However, according to Marie, no one had called her and the message she allegedly sent her son had been made up by the officers.
Five days after her son disappeared, after she had already reported him missing and had started to hear rumours that he might be held by police, she was informed of his whereabouts.
”I think it is terrible. Even if he is 18 he is still living at home and goes to high school. They really ought to let us know where he is. It was a terrible experience,” she told TT.
However, according to several lawyers that TT spoke to, it is not uncommon that police neglect to contact the families of those they arrest.
”It is fairly common that they don't bother,” said Staffan Berqvist from legal firm Advokatgruppen in Stockholm, to TT.
According to the local Sveriges Radio station P4 Jönköping, the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman (Justitieombudsmannen – JO) is currently investigating several cases where police have failed to inform the families of those they have arrested of what has befallen them.
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”As a parent in today's society, with all the stuff that goes on, you do get worried when your child fails to come home,” she told TT.
Her son, brought in under suspicion of making illegal threats and theft, had asked the officers at the time of his arrest if they could call his mother and let her know what had happened, so that she wouldn't be too worried.
The officers told him both that this had been done and that she sent her regards back to him.
However, according to Marie, no one had called her and the message she allegedly sent her son had been made up by the officers.
Five days after her son disappeared, after she had already reported him missing and had started to hear rumours that he might be held by police, she was informed of his whereabouts.
”I think it is terrible. Even if he is 18 he is still living at home and goes to high school. They really ought to let us know where he is. It was a terrible experience,” she told TT.
However, according to several lawyers that TT spoke to, it is not uncommon that police neglect to contact the families of those they arrest.
”It is fairly common that they don't bother,” said Staffan Berqvist from legal firm Advokatgruppen in Stockholm, to TT.
According to the local Sveriges Radio station P4 Jönköping, the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman (Justitieombudsmannen – JO) is currently investigating several cases where police have failed to inform the families of those they have arrested of what has befallen them.
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